Mitch Kokai

Senior Political Analyst
Mitch Kokai is senior political analyst for the John Locke Foundation. He joined JLF in December 2005 as director of communications. That followed more than four years as chief state government reporter for News 14 Carolina, now known as Spectrum News. The job included extensive coverage of the General Assembly for the 24-hour local regional television news channel.

Before News 14 Carolina, Kokai worked as a radio news reporter for seven years. He started a radio news department at WENC-AM in Whiteville, then led Chapel Hill’s award-winning radio news team at WCHL-AM. He spent two-and-one-half years as news director and assignment editor for Raleigh’s WPTF-AM.

Mitch is a Columbus, Ohio, native, and a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate. He has lived in North Carolina since 1989.

Posts by Mitch Kokai (page 1)

  • College students need to study more than just the classes that sound good to them

    Shannon Watkins of the Martin Center takes aim at the UNC-Chapel Hill curriculum. Recently, a general education course at UNC-Chapel Hill, “Big-Time College Sports,” was canceled. This sparked controversy after the course’s professor, Jay Smith, argued that the class, which he had taught in previous semesters, was axed because…
    Mitch Kokai, July 25, 2017

  • An argument for firing Jeff Sessions … but not because of Russian nonsense

    Glenn Reynolds explains at USA Today why he would get rid of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to steal from you. Oh, he doesn’t call it that. He calls it “civil forfeiture.” But what it is, is theft by law enforcement. Sessions should…
    Mitch Kokai, July 25, 2017

  • Placing the Senate’s Obamacare process under increased scrutiny

    Christopher Jacobs uses a Federalist column to raise concerns about the process the U.S. Senate is pursuing to address the repeal of Obamacare. In trying to win support for their Obamacare “repeal-and-replace” bill, Republican Senate leaders are making a process argument to their fellow senators: We know you…
    Mitch Kokai, July 25, 2017

  • Meadows attracts increased attention

    Al Weaver of the Washington Examiner profiles N.C. congressman Mark Meadows. Less than 24 hours after Washington celebrated Independence Day, in the midst of a two-week stretch of round-the-clock discussions on healthcare reform and the GOP agenda, Rep. Mark Meadows drove up to the White House to talk…
    Mitch Kokai, July 25, 2017

  • Climate alarmists oppose summer fun

    Julie Kelly parses the latest pronouncements from the prophets of climate doom in a National Review Online column. The Merchants of Misery — a.k.a., climate scientists — are working overtime to shame you about all the pleasures you’re enjoying this summer and how your selfish indulgences will cause…
    Mitch Kokai, July 25, 2017

  • Ending Title IX’s ‘kangaroo courts’

    Tiana Lowe uses a National Review Online column to send a message to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. DeVos has taken it upon herself to deconstruct perhaps the most contentious of the Department of Education’s jurisdictions: Its directives for campus sexual-assault cases, which are issued pursuant to Title…
    Mitch Kokai, July 25, 2017

  • New Carolina Journal Online features

    Dan Way reports for Carolina Journal Online on two N.C. State researchers who say they’ve been silenced by the solar energy lobby. Rick Henderson’s Daily Journal explains why a special N.C. legislative election might not produce the results Democrats seem to expect.
    Mitch Kokai, July 25, 2017

  • Energy expert Daniel Fine examines Trump plan for U.S. energy ‘dominance’

    The Trump administration has pushed an energy policy based on the notion of American self-sufficiency and energy “dominance.” Daniel Fine, associate director of the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy and senior policy analyst for the New Mexico State Department of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources, explored the Trump team’s…
    Mitch Kokai, July 24, 2017
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