Kyle Glenn
Position: Deputy chief of staff for Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla.
Hometown: Alexandria, Va.
Age: 29
Alma Mater: Indiana University
Washington Examiner: How did you end up in Rep. Ross’ office?
Glenn: I worked in a few Florida offices before this. In college, I interned for the House Republican conference for then-conference Chair Adam Putnam from Florida. When I graduated from college, I ended up getting a job pretty quickly in Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite’s office. I worked there for a little bit over a year, and then she announced she was retiring. I did some campaign work for Congressman Nugent, who ended up replacing her. I worked for him for two years, and then I came over here a little over four years ago now.
Washington Examiner: Are you from Florida?
Glenn: I grew up in this area. My family’s always been kind of retiring down to the Clearwater area.
Washington Examiner: So you’re one of the few D.C. natives on the Hill.
Glenn: I was actually born and raised in D.C. I was born in Greater Southeast Hospital — I don’t think it’s around anymore.
Washington Examiner: What do you for fun?
Glenn: My wife and I have two rescue dogs from West Virginia. We love taking them for hikes, walking them on the Mall, walking them around Alexandria, where we live.
Washington Examiner: OK, so how do you spend your free time when you’re not taking care of the dogs?
Glenn: I love playing pickup basketball with my buddies. We try to get some games going with some folks from the Hill, too.
Washington Examiner: Ted Cruz?
Glenn: No — ha, no.
Washington Examiner: What position do you play normally?
Glenn: I mean, hustler, scrappy. I don’t know.
Washington Examiner: Do you throw some elbows?
Glenn: Absolutely. It’s for pride out there.
Washington Examiner: What is a lesson you learned the hard way as a staffer?
Glenn: I think one of the toughest things is: Your boss is obviously very successful. They wouldn’t get here if they weren’t. And they’re used to being able to get their policies implemented quickly. It can be frustrating for me and for the member to maybe not get something done as quickly as they’d like to see it done.
We have to get buy-in from so many other members as well. It’s just not quite as easy or timely as they’d like. So that can be pretty frustrating. Trying to manage that — managing expectations, but also delivering.
Trying to stay positive every day. It’s really rewarding work, but it’s not always instantly rewarding. You can be working on a project for months and months until you come to a positive conclusion. But when you get that, it’s a great feeling.
Washington Examiner: What are some big moments for you in particular?
Glenn: One that’s very important to my boss, being from Florida, is flood insurance. We worked really hard on a flood insurance bill for two Congresses, and it took us almost four years to get a bill passed in the House that would create more of a private flood insurance market. It took us a really long time, but we felt like getting that through the House was a great step. It passed 419-0, and we feel like we have some good momentum to keep that moving this Congress and get something enacted.
Washington Examiner: You went to Indiana University. So I have to ask: Tom Crean’s firing. What’s your instant reaction?
Glenn: I loved him as a person around campus. But the expectations to win are pretty high out there.
Washington Examiner: So you would have given him the boot, too?
Glenn: … I’m very excited about Archie Miller.
