The Helen Edison Lecture Series hosts Mike Madrid Principal at Grassroots Lab

About this event

Helen Edison Lecture Series hosts Mike Madrid Principal at Grassroots Lab, a premier campaign management and lobbying firm located in California. Madrid has been changing the outcomes of political campaigns throughout the country. His active involvement in local, state, and federal races has helped him to develop a keen insight into the successful characteristics of winning campaigns.

Madrid is a nationally recognized expert on Latino voting trends. He graduated from the Edmund G. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1997, where he wrote his senior thesis on Latino politics and the perspective that politicization of emerging Latino voter groups in Southwestern states was unique in American history.

The completion of his thesis at Georgetown University in Washington DC on Latino voters became the basis for his pioneering work on Latino communications and outreach strategies in California, Texas, Florida and nationwide. He has served as the press secretary for the California Assembly Republican leader and as the political director for the California Republican Party. In these roles, Madrid played a key role in pioneering Latino outreach and communications strategies.

In 2001 he was named as one of America’s “Most Influential Hispanics” by Hispanic Business Magazine. He is a regular commentator on Latino political issues in statewide and national media publications.

Since 2000, Madrid has also developed an expertise in local governments in California. He served as the public affairs director to the League of California Cities. He was also a key adviser in the defeat of Proposition 90 (The Taxpayer Trap), No on Prop 98, Yes on Prop 99, and Yes on Prop 22.

In 2011, Madrid helped develop the Leadership California Institute, an organization dedicated to educating and training future legislators before they get in office. He is regularly sought out by statewide campaigns seeking key messaging and support.

Madrid is the editor and publisher of California City News, a news site dedicated to “the best politics, policy and practices of local government in California.”

The Helen Edison Lecture Series is the result of a major gift from the late Helen Edison, a San Diego philanthropist who supported numerous local educational, cultural and arts efforts. In accordance with the gift, since 1985 the series has presented free public lectures on issues that advance humanitarian purposes and objectives.