Michael Donald Brown
| Mike Brown | |
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United States Shadow Senator from the District of Columbia |
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Assumed office January 3, 2007 Serving with Paul Strauss |
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| Preceded by | Florence Pendleton |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 5, 1953 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Political party |
Democratic (Before 2014) Independent (2014–present) |
| Education |
University of Maryland, College Park (BA, MPP) |
Michael Donald "Mike" Brown (born August 5, 1953) is a shadow senator from the District of Columbia.
As a shadow senator, Brown receives no pay from the government, receives no budget from the government, and cannot vote on matters before the Senate. While he does not have an office in the United States Senate, the Government of the District provides the position with an office. Brown lobbies the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives on behalf of the citizens of the District in their attempt to gain full representation in Congress,self-determination, and eventually admittance to the Union as a state. As shadow senator, Brown also works with the District's delegate, mayor, and council to advance the interest of local residents on Federal issues. Brown was a member of the Democratic Party, until he changed his party registration to independent in 2014.
Brown ran for the position of shadow senator in 2006, using campaign posters with the slogan "the last Shadow Senator you'll ever need" and registering the domain name "shadowsenator.com" for his website. Brown opposed a bill to give the District a full representative in the House of Representatives because it did not make the District a state. In the Democratic primary in September, he received 73 percent of the vote, defeating his opponent, Ward 8 activist Philip Pannell. Incumbent shadow senator Florence Pendleton was not on the primary ballot after Pannell challenged her nominating ballots. Of her required 2,000 ballots, only 1,559 were found to be valid. She campaigned as a write-in, but received only 2 percent of the vote. Pannell blamed his loss at least partly on voter confusion, since the better-known Michael A. Brown was running for mayor at the same time; others, including Michael A. Brown himself, agreed.
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