At twelve, while attending Baltimore's Boys' Latin School of Maryland, he organized a "Kids-for-Carter" campaign to support then Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter in his bid for the presidency.

As an undergraduate at Emory University, he volunteered at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, and demonstrated against the Ku Klux Klan in rural Georgia.

While in college Mitchell served as a White House intern under the Clinton Administration, and as a law clerk for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and later with the Maryland Public Defender's Office and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Mitchell served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and was appointed Chairman of Baltimore's Human Services Commission.

A lifelong parishioner at Sharp Street United Methodist Church, he lives in Baltimore's historic Bolton Hill, where he serves on the board of his neighborhood association.

[1] In a poll of likely Democratic voters released by The Baltimore Sun on July 16, 2007, Mitchell trailed Dixon by 32% with less than 2 months remaining in the election.

[2] It seems that crime is the main issue in Baltimore City, and Mitchell has been identified by many as being the only candidate able to quell the rising murder rate.

On September 11, 2007, at 10:45 pm, Mitchell conceded defeat to Sheila Dixon in the Democratic primary for Mayor of Baltimore City.