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)

  • Martin Center column questions UNC spending on diversity training

    Anthony Hennen of the Martin Center asks why the University of North Carolina spends money on diversity training that doesn’t appear to work. Higher ed leaders love committees and training sessions. The technocratic mind that rules campus sees a problem and usually decides that the solution is more resources…
    Mitch Kokai, November 30, 2020
    University buildings with trees

  • Bar owner borrows from leftists to keep his doors open

    Bronson Stocking highlights at TownHall.com one pub owner’s response to COVID-19 lockdowns. It mimics a successful left-wing political tactic. A clever bar owner in New York City is borrowing a tactic from left-wing anarchists in an ongoing spat with the government over coronavirus lockdown restrictions. The pub, located…
    Mitch Kokai, November 30, 2020
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  • Whole Foods CEO highlights dangers of socialism

    Nicholas Ballasy writes at JustTheNews.com about a warning from the head of Whole Foods. Whole Foods founder and CEO John Mackey argues that socialism is a failed system that “impoverishes everything.” Referring to the criticism of “trickle down economics,” Mackey said socialism means “trickle up poverty.” “We have…
    Mitch Kokai, November 30, 2020
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  • A ‘dire warning’ for Democrats

    Thomas Beaumont of the Associated Press discerns one message from the 2020 election. Democrats once dominated Koochiching County in the blue-collar Iron Range of northern Minnesota. But in this month’s presidential election, President Donald Trump won it with 60% of the vote. That’s not because voters there are…
    Mitch Kokai, November 30, 2020
    Voteers in election line

  • Trump and the burden of proof

    Andrea Widburg of the American Thinker ponders President Trump’s approach to accusations of election fraud. On Friday, President Trump tweeted something important. He asserted that Biden must prove that his votes did not result from fraud. People scoffed, but as a practical matter, Trump is correct. Most people…
    Mitch Kokai, November 30, 2020
    A man voting behind a desk with a privacy guard that reads

  • Kerry’s climate job scrutinized

    Lisa Schiffren writes at the Pipeline about John Kerry’s latest opportunity to hurt American interests while drawing a taxpayer paycheck. Suppose you are a man with a long history of personal mediocrity in important positions. You aren’t quite as publicly toxic as, say, Hillary Clinton. But no one…
    Mitch Kokai, November 30, 2020
    Sun peaks through bamboo forest

  • New Carolina Journal Online features

    Julie Havlak reports for Carolina Journal Online on a new John Locke Foundation study that advocates state constitutional guardrails for government spending. John Hood’s Daily Journal documents problems of relying on political shorthand about voters’ preferences.
    Mitch Kokai, November 30, 2020
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  • Martin Center column depicts university pandemic power grab

    Neetu Arnold writes for the Martin Center about some university administrators’ dubious response to COVID-19. Universities’ profligate spending habits have caught up with them after substantial losses in student enrollments due to COVID-19. As undergraduate enrollment fell by 4.4 percent and students had fewer “on-campus experiences,” universities desperately began…
    Mitch Kokai, November 27, 2020
    University buildings with trees