Seth Scott, who has served as Rep. Harry Mitchell’s press secretary since 2006, resigned from Mitchell’s House staff on Tuesday, May 20, to take a position in the private sector.

Specifically, his private-sector job is campaign manager for Mitchell’s re-election campaign. His first day on the job was today, Wednesday, May 21.

Scott has a certain amount of familiarity with the job. He served on Mitchell’s campaign in 2006 when the Democratic challenger unseated six-term Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth.

Former newspaper man Robbie Sherwood, who serves as Mitchell’s state director, will take on Scott’s press secretary duties on Mitchell’s House staff until after the November elections.

Mitchell is preparing for an expected vigorous re-election campaign. He’s a Democrat in the Republican-leaning 5^th Congressional District, which takes in Scottsdale, Tempe, Fountain Hills, Ahwatukee Foothills and west Mesa.

Five Republican challengers are seeking the GOP nomination to oppose him in November. The challengers: state Rep. Mark Anderson, former Scottsdale City Councilwoman Susan Bitter Smith, former state Rep. Laura Knaperek, former lobbyist Jim Ogsbury and former Maricopa County treasurer Dave Schweikert.

Mitchell will keep his official House office in Scottsdale, but he’ll open his campaign headquarters in Tempe, where his political base always has been. Mitchell previously served as mayor of Tempe, where a larger than life statue of him stands outside City Hall.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 3:37 pm and is filed under CD 5 race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.