About Kristen

Kristen Soltis is one of the Republican Party’s fresh young voices on politics and policy. She is currently the Director of Policy Research at The Winston Group, a Washington DC based polling and strategic consulting firm.    She has appeared on television and radio programs including appearances on CNN’s “Political Mann’, RT (Russia Today), America’s Morning News, Ireland’s RTE, UK’s BBC Radio, and KCRW’s To The Point.   Her analysis and commentary has appeared in POLITICO, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, Pollster.com, RealClearPolitics, The Next Right, and other online and print publications.   She earned her Master’s degree in Government from Johns Hopkins University where she graduated summa cum laude with an award for Best Thesis for her work on young voters and the Republican Party.   She also received her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Florida, and her undergraduate thesis on campaign finance was published in American Politics Research. She has been invited to speak at George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University and Loyola University in Baltimore.

Kristen has an extensive level of political experience and completed the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University.   She has also worked with Future Leaders for McCain on their education policy team and has served as a judge for the Pollie Awards. Prior to her work at The Winston Group, her political experience included an internship at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Oh, and then there’s the fun stuff.

Kristen was born and raised in Orlando, FL and is a proud Florida Gator with an affinity for warm weather, theme parks, and meteorology.  Growing up, politics was always of interest, and in high school she spent her days on the debate team, eventually winning the national Congress Tournament of Champions.  She was also appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush (FL) to his Florida Commemorative Quarter Committee in 2002, helping to decide what design would grace the Sunshine State’s edition of the Mint’s 50 States collection. Once in Washington, she was the lead singer of rock band The Frustrations, performing sets of originals and covers at venues all over the east coast.   She is a member of the Junior League of Washington and is a current resident of the District of Columbia.