Pat Shortridge is a

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

lobbyist, former Chair of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the state affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in Minnesota and the oldest active political party in the state. Founded in 1855, the party is headquartered in Edina, Minnesota, E ...

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, Minnesota, United States. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf (Winona, Minnesota), Sugar Loaf. The population was 2 ...

. He attended

Macalester College Macalester College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate institution with an enrollment of 2,142 students in the fall of 2023. The college ha ...

Political career

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

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Representative

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 Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by various entities, in ...

for

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

, 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 sparked by American energy company Enron, Enron Corporation filing for bankruptcy after news of widespread internal fraud became public in October 2001, which led to the dissolution of its accounting ...

. 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 politician and lawyer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member o ...

. In 2011, Minnesota Republican chairman Tony Sutton abruptly departed among controversy. Shortridge was elected by 350 party delegates at a meeting on December 31 in St. Cloud, Minnesota 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.

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