Michael Stephen Steele was born on October 19,1958 and is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator who served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007 and as chairperson of the Republican National Committee from 2009 until 2011; he was the first African-American to hold either office.
54 Facts About Michael Steele
2.
Michael Steele made numerous appearances as a political pundit on Fox News and other media outlets prior to running for public office.
3.
Michael Steele made an unsuccessful run in the 2006 US Senate election in Maryland, losing to Democrat Ben Cardin.
4.
From 2007 to 2009, Michael Steele was chairman of GOPAC, a 527 organization that trains and supports Republican candidates in state and local elections.
5.
Since 2011, Michael Steele has contributed as a regular columnist for online magazine The Root and as a political analyst for MSNBC.
6.
Michael Steele was born on October 19,1958, at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George's County, Maryland, and was adopted as an infant by William and Maebell Michael Steele.
7.
Michael Steele's mother, who had been born into a sharecropping family in South Carolina, worked for minimum wage as a laundress to raise her children.
8.
Michael and his sister, Monica Turner, were raised in the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest, Washington, DC, which Steele has described as a small, stable and racially integrated community that insulated him from some of the problems elsewhere in the city.
9.
Michael Steele attended Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, DC, participating in the glee club, the National Honor Society and many of the school's drama productions.
10.
In 1981, Michael Steele received a BA degree in international studies from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore City, Maryland.
11.
Michael Steele subsequently attended Georgetown Law School where he graduated with a JD degree in 1991.
12.
Michael Steele failed the Maryland bar exam, but passed the Pennsylvania exam.
13.
Michael Steele left the firm to found the Steele Group, a business and legal consulting firm.
14.
Michael Steele was a founding member of the centrist, fiscally conservative and socially inclusive Republican Leadership Council in 1993 but left in 2008, citing disagreements over endorsing primary candidates.
15.
Michael Steele worked on several political campaigns, was an alternate delegate to the 1996 Republican National Convention and a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention.
16.
In 2005, Michael Steele was named an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership and was awarded the Bethune-DuBois Institute Award for his continuing efforts to improve the quality education in Maryland.
17.
At the 2004 Republican National Convention, Michael Steele gave the Republican counterpoint to Barack Obama's 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address; it was Michael Steele's first major national exposure.
18.
When Paul Sarbanes, Maryland's longest-serving United States Senator, announced in March 2005 that he would not be a candidate for re-election in 2006, top state and national Republican officials began pressing Michael Steele to become their party's nominee for the seat.
19.
Michael Steele formally announced his candidacy for the US Senate on October 25,2005.
20.
Michael Steele won the Republican nomination after facing little opposition in the primary.
21.
Michael Steele's opponents were Democrat Ben Cardin and Independent Kevin Zeese.
22.
Michael Steele focused on low taxes, less government spending, free markets and national security.
23.
Michael Steele lost the general election to Cardin on November 7,2006,44 percent to Cardin's 55 percent.
24.
One day after Michael Steele conceded defeat in the senate election, Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post reported that Michael Steele was hoping to succeed Ken Mehlman as the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
25.
In February 2007, Michael Steele became chairman of GOPAC, a political action committee that helps fund state and local Republican campaigns around the country and is responsible for training future Republican candidates.
26.
Michael Steele is considered a possible candidate for Governor of Maryland in the future and said he was "intrigued by the idea" for 2010.
27.
Michael Steele said that he would not run for president in 2012.
28.
Michael Steele appeared several times on HBO's political show Real Time with Bill Maher, and was on Comedy Central's talk show The Colbert Report on January 23,2007.
29.
Michael Steele hosted a PBS Republican Primary debate in Baltimore, Maryland on September 27,2007.
30.
Michael Steele coined the phrase "Drill Baby Drill" during the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota, where he promoted offshore drilling as an alternative to dependency on foreign oil.
31.
On November 24,2008, Michael Steele kicked off his campaign for the RNC chairmanship by launching his website.
32.
On January 30,2009, Michael Steele won the chairmanship of the RNC in the sixth round, with 91 votes to Katon Dawson's 77.
33.
Michael Steele is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.
34.
The stops in individual districts gave Michael Steele, "known for his bomb-throwing speaking style", an opportunity to fire up local GOP activists.
35.
In December 2010, Michael Steele declared that he would run for re-election as RNC chairman.
36.
Michael Steele withdrew from the race after the fourth ballot, urging his supporters to vote for Maria Cino.
37.
Michael Steele was hired to be a columnist for the online magazine The Root, an African-American news and commentary site owned by The Washington Post Company.
38.
On C-SPAN's Washington Journal on the Sunday after the 2012 Obama reelection victory, Michael Steele expressed some interest in running for RNC Chairman again.
39.
Michael Steele emphasized the need to make conservative minorities feel comfortable and welcome in a party that offered them opportunities to launch political careers in counties and statehouses.
40.
In 2018, Michael Steele was named a faculty fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, where he will lead seminars.
41.
Later that month, state delegate Lauren Arikan filed a campaign finance complaint against Michael Steele, alleging that he was illegally using a 527 committee to coordinate campaign activities.
42.
Michael Steele later attended the inauguration of Governor-elect Wes Moore on January 18,2023.
43.
Michael Steele criticized the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
44.
Michael Steele rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, claiming in 2009 that the Earth is "cooling" rather than "the supposed warming".
45.
Michael Steele was openly critical of Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and has continued to oppose President Trump during his subsequent administration.
46.
In 2008, Steele said he was opposed to abortion and thought Roe v Wade was "wrongly decided".
47.
In 2008, Michael Steele said that he personally opposes a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, saying that he believes states should decide the issue for themselves.
48.
Michael Steele has indicated he would uphold the Republican Party platform and support the amendment.
49.
However, in 2012, Michael Steele said that LGBT couples deserve full privileges and benefits under the law.
50.
In February 2006, Michael Steele compared embryonic stem cell research to medical experiments performed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, remarks for which he later apologized.
51.
In contrast to his position on Afghanistan, Steele has been a supporter of the Iraq War and President George W Bush's war strategy.
52.
Michael Steele criticized President Obama on the issue, complaining that he had "demonized" the Iraq War.
53.
Michael Steele is a supporter of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
54.
Michael Steele has been awarded honors and awards in recognition of his political career.