Pat Shortridge, left, chatting with delegations in St. Cloud Saturday before he was selected as Chairman of many of the Republican Party of Minnesota.
St. CLOUD-Minnesota Republican activists ended a month of disaster on Saturday by choosing political pro Pat Shortridge as party leader, hope he can restore confidence among donors and straighten out the financial Party in time for a critical election in 10 months.
Shortridge, 44, a political consultant of the Lino Lakes has worked for elected officials and candidates across the country, said his mission is to ensure that the GOP candidates are competing vigorously while the party began to chip away at a debt that can run as high as $ 2 million.
Shortridge replaces Tony Sutton, who retired on December 2 as the party’s financial progress. Shortridge overwhelmingly chosen by about 350 members of the Party Central Committee in St. Cloud Civic Center, garnered two-thirds of the votes in a three-way race. Burnsville activist Terry McCall finished second with 31 percent, while the entrepreneur Todd McIntyre Plymouth received less than 3 percent.