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155 pages

English

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Just weeks before President Trump was inaugurated, President Obama said this: "If you're disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself." Since then, thousands have taken that rallying cry to heart.Why I Run: 35 Progressive Candidates Who Are Changing Politics is a collection of original essays from women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and progressive allies who have recently run for office. Contributors like Stacey Abrams, Deb Haaland, Jason Kander, Andrea Jenkins, and Michelle Lujan Grisham share what inspired them to run, what it takes to win, and what lessons can be learned in the face of a loss. Featuring a foreword from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, Why I Run is a powerful testament to the importance of following your principles in a precarious political landscape. INCLUDES A RESOURCE LIST TO HELP YOU GET INVOLVED PART OF THE PROCEEDS FROM THIS BOOK WILL BE DONATED TO RUN FOR SOMETHING

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Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	12 mars 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781683354994
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0862€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Contents
Foreword by Tammy Duckworth
Introduction
STACEY ABRAMS
AMY MCGRATH
KWAME RAOUL
HELEN GYM
ASHLEY BENNETT
ZACH WAHLS
SAIRA RAO
BARBARA LEE
DANIEL HERN NDEZ JR.
HEATHER WARD
SHEILA OLIVER
DEBRA HAALAND
VALERIE HEFNER
MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM
JASON KANDER
JENNIFER CARROLL FOY
PRAMILA JAYAPAL
ALEXANDRA CHANDLER
SHOSHANNA KELLY
KATE BROWN
MICHELLE DE LA ISLA
ANDREW GILLUM
NELSON ARAUJO
JENNY DURKAN
ANDREA JENKINS
KAREN CAUDILLO
TOM PERRIELLO
KEVINDARY N LUJ N
VI LYLES
DIMPLE AJMERA
WILMOT COLLINS
KELSEY WAITS
ANNA V. ESKAMANI
MAI KHANH TRAN
TYLER TITUS
Resources
Acknowledgments
About the Editor
About In This Together Media
Foreword
TAMMY DUCKWORTH
U.S. Senate // Illinois // Elected in 2016
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to win the United States presidency. Late that evening, he stood at a podium in Chicago s Grant Park and said to the 200,000 Americans gathered there that his victory belonged to all of us.
More than eight years later, after serving two terms as our president, he returned to Chicago to give his farewell address. The atmosphere had a different charge. Yes, there was a lot to celebrate-big achievements like the Affordable Care Act, marriage equality, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Wall Street reform, and the end of the war in Iraq. Not to mention that our country was finally recovering from the Great Recession.
But that night, the celebration was mixed with apprehension. There was a new president just days from being sworn in. A man who had risen to power while attacking women, people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, and prisoners of war-all while seeming to embrace enemies foreign (Russia) and domestic (hate groups). It felt as if all the progress we d made was on the line.
Across the country, people were scared and angry and restless. President Obama understood that. He probably felt some of that himself, too. So, that night, he challenged the American people. He called on us to do more, saying that our democracy needed us-all of us.
If you re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself, President Obama said. Show up. Dive in. Persevere. Sometimes you ll win. Sometimes you ll lose.
Within a year of that speech, tens of thousands of people had signed up to run for office. Not just career politicians with deep campaign coffers but people who were brand-new to politics, people who didn t have a seat at the table before. And by the first anniversary of President Donald Trump s inauguration, these progressive candidates had flipped dozens of legislative seats from red to blue.
Running for office is tough, and winning can be even tougher-especially if you don t fit the expected mold. This reality can be particularly discouraging when you consider that we d just witnessed an incredibly qualified candidate-the inimitable, inspiring Hillary Clinton-lose the presidential election. It was a crushing blow, but these progressive candidates forged ahead, undaunted. All with their own stories, their own missions driving them forward.
My story began with my military service.
November 12, 2004, is my Alive Day. It was the day I almost died but didn t-and it was a good day for me. I was flying high over Iraq in my Black Hawk with the best crew out there when, without warning, a rocket-propelled grenade tore through the cockpit of my helicopter.
It was a lucky shot for the enemy. One of my legs was vaporized, and the other amputated by my helicopter s instrument panel. The explosion blew off the entire back of my right arm. I was, quite literally, in pieces. My pilot-in-command managed to land our aircraft, and the crew started pulling out the wounded.
They thought I was dead at first, but when they tried to give medical attention to one of my crew members, Chris, he refused help and told them to assist me instead. He saw that I was still bleeding and realized that maybe my heart was still beating.

He did what every service member in combat is willing to do, even if they hope they never have to: He refused treatment for himself to save someone else.
My buddies wouldn t give up on me. They refused to leave me behind. They picked me up, covered in blood and tissue, and tried to keep my body intact.
It was a good day for me because good men saved me and I lived. I survived to serve my nation again.
The days, weeks, and months that followed were some of the hardest of my life. But in those challenging moments, my life s mission couldn t have been clearer. I knew from that moment on that I would spend every single day of the rest of my life trying to honor the courage and sacrifice of those who had saved me that day. So, with the help of my family, friends, and fellow service members at Walter Reed, I began my recovery.
It was anything but easy. Tasks like picking up a pencil or even just sitting up without passing out were no longer simple. At first, it was unclear how I would lead a regular life, let alone continue serving my nation. But I decided not to give up. It wasn t a choice, really, because giving up would have been a betrayal of the effort my buddies had put into saving me, and I knew I couldn t betray them.
So, I got back up, I dusted myself off, and I got back into the arena. I may have been broken, but I could still be an Army officer. I could still take care of my troops. Maybe I was done serving in combat, but I could see that the next step in my life s path still meant serving my fellow veterans.
After I got out of Walter Reed, I went to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs, I ran for Congress, and then I won my seat in the Senate. I was sworn into the Senate just days before President Trump took his oath of office.
I ran for Congress because I felt I had a debt to repay to those men who d saved my life. And whenever things get tough, I just think of them, and I keep going.
When running for office, I ve found that the why often explains the how. That s certainly true of the stories you ll read here.
In these pages, you ll hear from a refugee who is now a mayor in rural America, a black woman who confronted voters who were wearing Confederate flags on the campaign trail, and a mom who wants her transgender daughter to be able to use the girls bathroom at school. You ll learn from incredible people and unlikely leaders who have stepped up to serve their communities.
They all grabbed a clipboard. They all ran for office. They showed up. They dove in. They persevered. Some won. And some lost.
The people in this book-and so many others-are changing the face of politics in our country. I ve often said that if we want to make our democracy more representative, our leaders need to look more like the people we represent. But the fact is that, traditionally, certain people have been shut out of politics in our country. Studies have shown that women, for instance, are less likely than men to think about running for office. They are less likely to be encouraged to run, too. I m thankful that that s starting to change.
I was at the Women s March the day after the inauguration. I wore my Don t F--- With Me jacket. I had my daughter with me. She was two at the time, and it was her first protest. I asked the crowd not to let the energy fade after that day. I asked them to build on that energy. To act. To run for office. To be the change we want to see. And I m so proud that so many have done just that.
President Obama was right. Our democracy takes all of us. And that s why we run.
Introduction
KATE CHILDS GRAHAM
Everyone has a story about the 2016 election.
My story is about the 2017 elections.
I went to sleep knowing that Phil Murphy had won in New Jersey. When I woke up the next morning, I looked at my phone and learned that that was just the beginning. In Virginia, New Jersey, Washington, Montana, Kansas-in states across the country-progressive Americans who had stepped up to run for office, many of them for the first time, won.
Ravi Bhalla. Danica Roem. Kathy Tran. Melvin Carter. Wilmot Collins. Jenny Durkan. Sheila Oliver. Michelle De La Isla. Andrea Jenkins. The list scrolled down my screen.
I read their stories. I read their stories again.
They were activists and teachers, doctors and parents, students and veterans. They were from cities and towns, red and blue. They d run for every office imaginable. They d run on big, bold platforms. Some ran against longtime, right-wing incumbents. Many refused to take corporate PAC money. And they won.
They were women, people of color, and queer people. They ran for office right after America failed to put the first woman president, the most qualified candidate we ve seen in generations, in the White House. That takes guts.
As a speechwriter, I ve read a lot of politicians stories. But these were different. No poll-tested platitudes. (I doubt some of them could even afford to put a poll in the field.) No timeworn truisms. The candidates weren t always refined, but they were clear: We love our communities. We believe in progress. We want to serve. And we ll do whatever it takes.
They woke me up from what felt like a year of dreaming-or, more accurately, a waking nightmare. Like everyone else, I was doing what I could, but I wasn t pushing myself. Not the way they were.
I asked myself what more I could do. This book is my answer.
We were getting most of their stories in snippets. Scrolling through our Twitter feeds. Listening to NPR while driving. Watching MSNBC while making dinner. After a news cycle or two, the stories faded away. But on November 7, 2017, these brave people didn t just make national news. They made history. So on November 8, I decided that that history deserved to be written down by the people who d made it and continue to make it.
Why had they run? What platform had they run on? Whom had they