Pat Shortridge is a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

lobbyist, former Chair of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the oldest active political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Republican Party’s platform is relatively moderate. The party’s main issues are economic growth, education, healthcare, civi ...

and founder of Conservative Solutions Project.

Early life and education

Shortridge was born in

Winona, Minnesota Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the state of Minnesota. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf. The city is named after legendary figure Winona, who ...

. He attended

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

Political career

After graduating from Macalester College, Shortridge became an intern, then paid staffer, of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

Dick Armey Richard Keith Armey (; born July 7, 1940) is an American economist and politician. He was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Texas's (1985–2003) and Party Leaders of the United States House of Representatives, ...

, eventually working for him for eleven years. He left Armey's employment in 2001 to become a

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

for

Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...

, a position he held for approximately six months before the company went into bankruptcy as a result of the

Enron scandal The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal involving Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Upon being publicized in October 2001, the company declared bankruptcy and its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen then on ...

. After the brief position at Enron, Shortridge returned to

to work for Representative Mark Kennedy for five years. He ran Kennedy's campaign in the 2006 senate election, which Kennedy lost by over 20 percentage points to DFL candidate

Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...

. In 2011, Minnesota Republican chairman

Tony Sutton Anthony G. "Tony" Sutton (born September 1967) is the former chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota and founder of a political public relations firm, Winning Strategies. Biography Sutton was born in Saint Paul, and graduated from Hibbing ...

abruptly departed among controversy. Shortridge was elected by 350 party delegates at a meeting on December 31 in

St. Cloud, Minnesota St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 68,881 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's 12th-largest city. St. Cloud is the county seat of Stear ...

over two other candidates. The

faced a debt of over $2 million at the time of Shortridge's election, which he managed to reduce significantly during his first year as chairman. He has insisted that he would only serve out the remainder of Sutton's term which expires on April 6, 2013, when party delegates will select a new chair. He was succeeded by Keith Downey.

Personal life

Shortridge resides in

Lino Lakes, Minnesota Lino Lakes is a city in Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 21,399 at the 2020 census. Interstates 35W and 35E are two of Lino Lakes's main routes. It is an outer suburb north of the Twin Cities. History When European s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shortridge, Pat Minnesota Republicans Living people People from Winona, Minnesota Macalester College alumni People from Lino Lakes, Minnesota Year of birth missing (living people) State political party chairs of Minnesota