Mike Madrid spent 30 years as a Republican consultant specializing in Latino voting trends and behavior before co-founding the Lincoln Project in December 2019 to oppose Donald Trump and going on to advise Democratic candidates. His ability to move between different worlds began in his youth, in the Ventura County city of Moorpark — the only California city at the time that saw a declining Latino population. The grandson of immigrants from Mexico, Madrid grew up learning to navigate and be comfortable within both the lower-middle-class Mexican community he came from and that of his wealthier white neighbors.
