Former White House deputy director for legislative affairs Michael McKenna has joined The Washington Times as a columnist.
A longtime political consultant, Mr. McKenna joined the White House in October as a deputy assistant to the president, working on the president’s agenda with Congress. He departed the White House in March. His weekly column for The Times will be titled “Alternative Hypothesis.”
“From inside the White House to walking the halls of Congress to advising political candidates and polling for industry, Mike McKenna has been at the center of American policies. The Washington Times is thrilled to have him share those decades of insight with our readers,” said Christopher Dolan, president and executive editor of The Times.
A veteran of state and federal government, Mr. McKenna briefly served on Mr. Trump’s transition team for the Department of Energy in 2016. He launched the energy lobbying firm MWR Strategies 15 years earlier.
He also has worked at Republican communications firms, including Luntz Research Cos., Vox Populi Communications Inc. and Andres McKenna Research.
Mr. McKenna holds a master’s degree in public administration at George Mason University and a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania. He also has been a research fellow at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas and the Institute for Public Policy Studies at the University of Denver.
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A staunch Trump supporter, Mr. McKenna was quoted in a 2017 Time magazine story about anxieties among career staff at the Environmental Protection Agency over then-Administrator Scott Pruitt: “We’re not about assuaging the concerns of the 14,000 employees of the EPA. We’re about assuaging the concerns of the 63 million people who voted for Donald Trump.”
On Tuesday, the Indiana-based law firm Ice Miller LLP announced a joint venture with Mr. McKenna to expand advocacy, communications and policy capabilities.
“Mike has a deep and broad understanding of both policy and political processes. We know he can help our current and prospective clients thrive in the federal policy arena. He understands how Washington works, has deep relationships throughout the Administration and Congress and helps position us for continued growth in Washington and across the country,” said Lawren Mills, Ice Miller partner and chair of the Firm’s Public Affairs Group.
A researcher and advocate for corporate and political clients over the last three decades, Mr. McKenna has had his work appear in a host of outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, National Review, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and C-SPAN.
• Christopher Vondracek can be reached at cvondracek@washingtontimes.com.
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