Ben Golnik
| Ben Golnik | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | •Golnik Strategies •Minnesota House Republicans Caucus |
| Role: | Principal, Executive Director |
| Location: | Minneapolis, Minn. and St. Paul, Minn. |
| Education: | Middlebury College (international politics and economics (Russian language)) |
Ben Golnik is a political consultant and executive director of the Minnesota House Republicans caucus as well as a principal at Golnik Strategies. He has been active in state and federal politics for 15 years and has contributed to numerous political campaigns, including John McCain's presidential campaign and Marty Seifert's gubernatorial campaign.[1] In 2011, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal mentioned him as part of its "40 under 40" list of Minnesota influencers.[2]
Career
Ben Golnik attended Middlebury College from 1996 to 2000, where he received a B.A. in international politics and economics (Russian language).[1] After graduating, he studied in Russia through a U.S. State Department fellowship.[3]
In 2001, Golnik worked as a legislative aide for Mike Crapo, a Republican Senator from Idaho. He then served as executive director for the Vermont Republican Party from 2003 to 2004, and worked as campaign manager for Brian Hamel’s 2004 congressional campaign.[1][3]
Golnik moved to Minnesota politics in 2005, first serving as political director for Minnesota Republican Party in April of that year and then serving as its executive director starting in January 2006.[1][3] He also was a volunteer for the International Republican Institute in 2005.[4]
In 2008, Golnik contributed to John McCain’s presidential run as regional campaign manager for Midwest/North Mountain area.[1][3] A year later, he served as part of a delegation sent by the International Republican Institute to monitor elections that took place on August 20, 2009 in Afghanistan.[5]
Golnik managed Marty Seifert’s gubernatorial campaign in 2010, and founded a 501(c)(4) organization called Minnesota Jobs Coalition in 2013.[6][7][8] He was the chairman of the organization until he became executive director of the Minnesota House Republican caucus in 2014.[9]
As of November 2015, Golnik is a principal at Golnik Strategies, a public affairs and relations firm. He speaks Russian and also still serves as executive director of the Minnesota House Republican caucus.[1][10]
Media
2016 Republican National Convention
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
Golnik was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Minnesota.[11] In the Minnesota Republican caucuses on March 1, 2016, Marco Rubio won 17 delegates, Ted Cruz won 13, and Donald Trump won eight. Ballotpedia was not able to identify which candidate Golnik was bound by state party rules to support at the national convention. If you have information on how Minnesota’s Republican delegates were allocated, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.[12]
Delegate rules
Delegates from Minnesota to the Republican National Convention were elected at district conventions and the state convention in May 2016. Delegates from Minnesota were bound to the candidate to whom they were allocated through the first round of voting at the national convention unless their candidate "withdrew" from the race prior to the convention.
Minnesota caucus results
- See also: Presidential election in Minnesota, 2016
| Minnesota Republican Caucus, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
| Donald Trump | 21.4% | 24,473 | 8 | |
 Marco Rubio |
36.2% | 41,397 | 17 | |
| Ted Cruz | 29% | 33,181 | 13 | |
| John Kasich | 5.7% | 6,565 | 0 | |
| Ben Carson | 7.4% | 8,422 | 0 | |
| Other | 0.2% | 207 | 0 | |
| Totals | 114,245 | 38 | ||
| Source: Minnesota Secretary of State and CNN | ||||
Delegate allocation
Minnesota had 38 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 24 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's eight congressional districts). District-level delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 10 percent of the vote in a district in order to be eligible to receive any of that district's delegates.[13][14]
Of the remaining 14 delegates, 11 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 10 percent of the statewide vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's at-large delegates. If a candidate won more than 85 percent of the statewide caucus vote, he or she received all of the state's at-large and district-level delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.[13][14]
See also
- John McCain
- Marty Seifert
- Mike Crapo
- Republican Party of Vermont
- Republican Party of Minnesota
- 501(c)(4)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 LinkedIn, "Ben Golnik," accessed November 30, 2015
- ↑ Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, "Business Journal names 40 under Forty honorees," March 18, 2011
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 George Washington University, "Key People-Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)," August 31, 2009
- ↑ International Republican Institute, "2005 Annual Report," accessed November 30, 2015
- ↑ International Republican Institute, "IRI Preliminary Statement on Afghanistan’s Presidential and Provincial Elections," August 21, 2009
- ↑ Guidestar, "Minnesota Jobs Coalition 2013 IRS 990 Tax Form," accessed November 30, 2015
- ↑ Minnesota Jobs Coalition, "About Minnesota Jobs Coalition," accessed November 30, 2015
- ↑ MPR News, "Golnik to direct House Republican Caucus," November 17, 2014
- ↑ Star Tribune, "Ben Golnik named executive director of House Republican caucus," November 17, 2014
- ↑ Minnesota House of Representatives, "Minnesota House of Representatives Employee Ben Golnik," accessed November 30, 2015
- ↑ MN GOP, "National Delegates and Alternates," accessed June 20, 2016
- ↑ To build our list of the state and territorial delegations to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ballotpedia relied primarily upon official lists provided by state and territorial Republican parties, email exchanges and phone interviews with state party officials, official lists provided by state governments, and, in some cases, unofficial lists compiled by local media outlets. When possible, we included what type of delegate the delegate is (at-large, district-level, or RNC) and which candidate they were bound by state and national party bylaws to support at the convention. For most delegations, Ballotpedia was able to track down all of this information. For delegations where we were not able to track down this information or were only able to track down partial lists, we included this note. If you have additional information on this state's delegation, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
