You Should Run
Many of us didn’t grow up in a political dynasty. So, understanding the ebbs and flows of politics can be very confusing and scary for many.
We can all relate to those in High School or even college that swore they would be President one day to now doing a job that is as far away from politics that you or they could have ever fathomed back then.
For me, it was losing and then winning campaigns for student government and then Black Student Union that taught me about the amount of work to do for the 99% is vast. There was a huge difference in the access and money available to me as a Senator in Student Government and President of the Black Student Union.
One would think this would push me to want to run for office, but really it told me that we need more folks at the table to get others into office.
My first campaign was thrilling. I like so many others had already picked out my office and desk in the Governor’s cabinet to then realize we were down 10 points the entire time and were out-raised by a wide margin. As a lower level staffer, I didn’t understand at that time the complex political landscape and what it really takes to win a campaign.
My next race was on a different side, the independent expenditure side. This is where my mind was blown away. These folks swooped in, had a field plan laid out in the matter of hours and knew how to win the race without even talking to the campaign.
Because I was so active in church in my hometown and I knew or at least thought I knew all the ministers. I remember them asking me on a Thursday night did I believe we could get into the churches on Sunday. I was like, “uhh no, you can’t ask them this late and expect them to comply.” I was wrong, not only did they get most of the African American ministers to come to a last-minute meeting on a Saturday night, but we did about 5 or 6 churches in a day.
I learned that when you come from the outside you can see what’s possible even when the insiders can’t, I’ve never forgotten that lesson.
While all of this was going on, I was President of our local Young Democrats chapter, on the Statewide Young Dems exec board and working another job. I really thought I had made it in politics, until I started to shine a little too much and some folks knocked me down, but not out. I ended up working in fundraising for a crazy U.S. Senate primary, where I again got to work with some of the best fundraisers ever—including this woman that left the DSCC to go work for some guy named Obama.
When that race fell apart I ended up working at a Clinique counter and people let me put makeup on their face—makeup application is not my ministry, and this was well before YouTube.
After dusting myself off from what I thought was the end of my life in politics, I interviewed and got a job to work on the Kerry Presidential campaign. At that time all of the ‘field operatives’ from across the country were to go to Atlanta and complete field training for the campaign through a new organization called Democratic Gain.
I had no money, the makeup gig wasn’t paying that much back then, and we were supposed to pay a training fee, eat and everything else. I was determined to get there, so I made a call to the Democratic Gain offices and one of my greatest political friends I had yet to know, answered the phone and said, “if you get here, I got you, just get here.”
I got there, and he did exactly what he promised to do. I had a room, I didn’t miss a meal and I got a better job than what I came there with and ended up moving to Atlanta.
You probably thought I was going to tell you that you should run because of this statistic and that, but you should run because there are folks like me wanting to work with candidates like you. You should run because we need more mom’s, more black and brown folks and people with no political experience but life experience to help this country move forward.
You should run because you can do it. You will believe you don’t have the time, but we will show you how to squeeze 50 hours into 24. You should run because running for office will be one of the greatest achievements of your life, regardless if you win or lose.
I tell candidates all the time that, I’ve never worked with a candidate that has lost and ended up in a worst position than they started unless they wanted too. Your network will expand, your ability to ask for the impossible will be normal and the fast pace of accomplishing 24 hours in 8 will be easy for you.
You should run because you may not win the first time, but there is a next time and you will be better for it. You should run because there will never be a perfect time, or the right amount of money to be the perfect candidate. You should run knowing you could very well lose your job for getting political or leaving work too much or too early and although they told you it was fine, politics does and will change everything.
You should run because there is someone right now putting makeup on a willing participant that should be helping you run for office. You should run because through running you learn who you are, who really has your back and whether being in office or helping someone get there or just being a great community leader is where you are best.
2020 is right around the corner and I am not just talking about Congress—run for city council, school board, coroner, tax commissioner or President. Go and turn the impossible into your possible. #YouShouldRun!
#youshouldrun #runforoffice #campaigns #makeup
