Local Government

Plus, once you're in, if you have any aspirations to higher office, you'll be The Man as far as party higher-ups are concerned -- especially if you can survive the first re-election campaign (when the bad guys will pull out all the stops to get rid of you).

 

My daughter ran for city council when she turned 18. She's always been interested in local issues and had been a regular at council meetings (the local paper always has someone there, BTW). She actually wanted to run for mayor, but the election cycle didn't match up, so she ran for an at-large council seat (this is a city of 365,000) against a well-entrenched incumbent who is an attorney.

Originally, she wasn't even thinking about winning. She had one specific issue she wanted to raise in the campaign just to bring attention to it. Then she met with a friend of ours who had been elected to his town's school board and he told her if she went into the campaign like that, all she would get was ignored, and that she should be a serious candidate or not run at all.

My daughter took that to heart and jumped in with both feet. She hit all the candidate forums, went door-to-door and talked about all the issues. Eventually, she got a couple of mover/shaker types on her side and got some newspaper coverage, then all the area TV stations picked up on the teenager running for city council. She worked her butt off campaigning during the early voting period.

On election night, we had a get-together with her supporters at a local restaurant to follow the returns. When the polls closed at 7, they posted the early-voting returns on the city website. We were really worried that her total was going to be really embarrassing, like 2 percent or something. Instead, she was right at 41 percent from early voting. My first thought was, "Holy shit, she might actually win this thing." She didn't, but she wound up with right about 40 percent, and it sure felt like a victory.

It was an incredible experience for her. Soon after the election, she was appointed to a city advisory board (by her opponent, no less). She got to know all the council members and a lot of the city and county officials (many of whom wrote recommendation letters for college and scholarship applications). She is currently a college junior double majoring in economics and communications, with an eye on law school and was recently selected for an internship in Washington this summer. She's told me more than once that when she's finished school she's coming back to run for council again -- and this time, she says, she'll win.

 

If you are still seeking to get involved Xan, inquire about serving on a board.
Planning Commission, Zoning, Utility, ... They don't pay but they are important things for cities, that are often undermanned and overlooked.

 

Damn it, Xan. You should have let SJ run your campaign. We'd have gotten you elected and/or indicted.

 

There's always the next go-round when 3 seats open up. I'll win one of them, indictment or not!

 

With crowd-sourcing SJ, there's no way you'll lose.

 

Send me an absentee ballot -- I'll vote for you!