I don’t get excited too often when I read the news, but this piece got my blood pumping:
On Wednesday, she woke up inconsolable. On Thursday, angry. But on the Friday after the presidential election, as she prepared posters to join thousands in protesting Donald Trump’s victory, Mia Hernández came to a quiet realization: If she found her country’s direction intolerable, she would have to try to change it.
She would change it not just by signing petitions, or protesting, or calling her legislators. For the first time, she sketched out a plan to run for elected office.
In 2020, Hernández intends to make a bid for a seat on the San Jose City Council or the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Her focus will be reproductive rights and community empowerment, she said.
“Everybody says organize, don’t mourn, make a change,” said Hernández, 22, a student at the University of California at Santa Cruz. “So I said to myself, ‘How am I going to be an active member in this? You know what, I need to run for office. I need to be a part of that decision-making. I need to make sure Trump’s voice is not the only voice out there.’ ”
Among young, liberal women who expected to see the country elect its first female president Nov. 8, Hernández is not alone; many are responding to Hillary Clinton’s defeat with a new sense of obligation to seek political power. After years of never imagining a career in the public eye or only vaguely entertaining the idea of working in politics, these women are determined to run for elected office.
YES! This is exactly what we need. We need it in every single county election, we need it in every single state election, and we need it in every national election. In my state alone, so many elections don’t even have two candidates. Not only is there no choice, there is no accountability.
Several extra thoughts:
1.) The local level is where people will feel the impact of positive governance most immediately. It actually has more of an impact on your daily lives than people realize.
2.) This can serve as the pipeline to higher office for candidates that Democrats desperately need. Republicans are always puking up bilious up an comers, and there seems to be no deep bench.
3.) The thing about organizing is it is exceptionally difficult when there is nothing to organize around. I started a grass roots group of fb for our area, got a lot of people in the group, we talked and talked, and then we did jack shit. Why? There were no candidates to support, no useful county organization, and so forth. Organization takes time and practice- they aren’t like a drag car that you run every now and then for 10 seconds at high speed, they much more resemble a diesel 18 wheeler that takes some time getting started and once you get the engine running performs best if it doesn’t stop.
Once you get some candidates around which you can organization, then the magic happens.
If This Is Hillary’s Legacy, It Will Be a Good OnePost + Comments (189)