He later worked as a contractor for the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, as a tow-truck operator, and as a sales and marketing representative within the transport industry.

Mitchell then stood unsuccessfully as the Labor candidate for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Benalla at the 2006 state election.

He had initially been announced as the winning candidate, defeating the sitting Liberal member Fran Bailey by a mere seven votes.

Ahead of the 2013 federal election, McEwen was pushed further into Melbourne, technically making it a safe Labor seat.

[1] In November 2021, Mitchell was nominated by his party as a candidate for the Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives but was defeated by Liberal's Andrew Wallace 59 votes to 70.

[12] Following ALP's victory at the 2022 election, he was defeated by Queensland MP Milton Dick in an internal Right faction ballot to become the party's nominee for speaker.