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 Documents Ongoing Student Anxiety About the Pandemic

    Tahra Jirari writes for the Martin Center about college students’ continuing concerns about COVID-19’s impact. Students have had to make many sacrifices over the past year, be they financial, academic, or personal. The sudden changes and conflicting campus policies have taken a significant toll on their well-being and mental…
    Mitch Kokai, May 17, 2021
    University college lecture

  • New Yorkers Flocking to Florida on a Permanent Basis

    Conor Skelding writes for the New York Post about a common destination for people leaving the Big Apple. Florida might as well be known as the sixth borough. New data from the Sunshine State’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles offers the latest glimpse of just how…
    Mitch Kokai, May 17, 2021
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  • Biden’s America Feels Like the 1970s … in a Bad Way

    James Antle writes at NBCNews.com about disappointing facts of life in Joe Biden’s America. Break out the eight-track tapes and the disco balls. Inflation in a time of unemployment and gas lines is suddenly giving the economy a decidedly 1970s feel. We’re a long way from the stagflation…
    Mitch Kokai, May 17, 2021
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  • Signs of Trouble in the Biden-Harris Relationship

    Monica Showalter of the American Thinker asks whether the vice president is engaging in “open rebellion” against President Biden. Seven weeks after being named Biden’s border czar, she’s in some sort of defiance against the job Biden gave her and racking up failures. The attorney general of Arizona…
    Mitch Kokai, May 17, 2021
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  • Texas Fights Biden over Medicaid

    Caitlin McFall reports for FoxNews.com about the Lone Star State’s dispute with the Biden administration over health care policy. The Biden administration was slapped with a lawsuit on Friday after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a suit countering changes to the state’s federally funded portion of Medicaid…
    Mitch Kokai, May 17, 2021
    Stethoscope and money

  • Mask Mandates on the Way Out

    John Hinderaker of the Powerline blog explores the likelihood of mask mandates going away completely. The CDC has finally bowed to reality, acknowledging that there is no reason for vaccinated people to wear masks indoors, let alone outdoors. Call me cynical, but my guess is the polling has…
    Mitch Kokai, May 17, 2021
    A white woman with chestnut brown hair is wearing a satin royal blue face mask and a white sun hat looks into the distance

  • New Carolina Journal Online Features

    David Bass reports for Carolina Journal Online on the N.C. State Board of Elections’ decision to rehire Karen Brinson Bell as executive director. John Hood’s CJ Opinion relates a lesson learned from his work with noted political columnist and television pundit Fred Barnes. Brian Balfour’s CJ Opinion…
    Mitch Kokai, May 17, 2021
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  • The Right AOC on Point: Pipeline shutdown offers preview of Green New Deal

    John Locke Foundation CEO Amy Cooke, “The Right AOC,” explains why this week’s pipeline shutdown should make us more concerned about the Green New Deal. Contact Amy at [email protected] Follow her at https://www.facebook.com/TheRightAOC and https://twitter.com/TheRightAOC.
    Mitch Kokai, May 14, 2021
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