Former Trump Presidential Campaign Chair Paul Manafort, who’s been charged with multiple crimes in a federal indictment, started his political career as a teenager in his hometown of New Britain, Connecticut.
Manafort started learning politics at the age of 10, long before he became a high-powered Washington lobbyist and international political operative. That’s when his father joined the New Britain Board of Aldermen.
As a teenager, Manafort worked on his father’s successful campaign for mayor of New Britain. The older Paul Manafort was a three-term Republican mayor, serving from 1965 to 1971, in a city that was dominated by Democrats.
In a 2016 interview with the Hartford Courant, Manafort said his father was a successful politician because he understood working class Americans – something he said Trump was also able to do in 2016. Manafort said his teenage days in New Britain were a galvanizing experience for him. He said that’s where he learned the nuts and bolts of a political campaign.
