(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



On Offering Choices, Post Virginia's Primary [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-06-25

If you ever have the chance to get to know me, three things will become incredibly apparent almost immediately. The first is that I’m honest to a fault. I’m not a fan of deceit, nor am I a fan of omitting truths to make others feel better. The second, and this is something I say about three times a week, is that I’ll try anything twice - once to know what it is and the second to see if I really like it. It doesn’t matter if it’s fried grasshoppers (delicious with tajin) or running for state office - I’m here to experience everything life has to offer. The third, and one of the most important of my values, is that I want everyone to have the agency to make their own choices, to decide upon how they want to live their own precious life. Whether it’s about abortion access or gender-affirming care or even tacos versus pizza, I want the people in my community to have the ability to choose for themselves how their story plays out.

So how does my personal philosophy relate to the topic of primaries? Well, Virginia just held this cycle’s primary elections, and let’s just say they weren’t pretty. Some of the things I overheard at the Blue Commonwealth Gala regarding them are far from PG, to say the least. What I want to talk about is how, when I was asked the question by one of the victorious candidates “Aren’t you glad you didn’t have a primary?” I wasn’t aware any response other than a relieved “yes” would be considered offensive. Being myself, I spoke my truth - I wouldn’t have minded a contested primary. Not only do I think it would be yet another perspective gained (because that’s what my personal philosophy is all about), but I also think that a critical part of keeping the electorate at least somewhat engaged is allowing voters to choose their nominee. Not only that, but primaries keep pressure on candidates to evolve into the best possible nominees they can be - there are cases where the inferior candidate does win due to outside financing, dirty tactics, or both, but for the most part, primaries are a good thing.

Well, let’s just say my conversation partner was not very happy with me. We won’t get into the optics of how it looks for a black woman to stand there and loudly and publicly tear down another black woman half her age, one who is running in an area so red that her physical safety is at risk in many of her precincts (ask me about Craig County, the police escorts, and the monkey statue!). We also won’t talk about how I was talked down to as if I was an ignorant child, as if I hadn’t already run a campaign without a tenth of the outside support this woman has (and how I’ve already proven myself, outrunning President Biden in some precincts by over 20 points). We certainly won’t talk about how this woman was in fact the winner of her primary and yet still felt the need to badmouth her opponents and their supporters rather than conduct herself in a gracious manner that would welcome them into her fold. What we will talk about is how my conversation partner decried choice while wagging her finger in my face about how it would have been better for her and her opponents to come to a consensus “behind closed doors” (her words, not mine). What I don’t think she knew is that I myself had participated in a caucus before, one that almost did not happen.

In December 2022, I filed my candidacy for the House of Delegates in the former 24th District. So did Sam Soghor, the current candidate for HD53. Right before the caucus, Sam called me and we had a long conversation. I’ll come outright and say it - Sam told me that if I really wanted to run, he’d retract his name from the hat and no caucus would be necessary. I remember laughing on the phone with him and telling him, “No, let’s do it.” I’ll tell y’all the same thing I told Sam - I don’t like being handed things. If something is worth it, it’s worth working for, and I was ready to work for this nomination. I wanted the voters to choose me because they liked me and my ideas, not because I was the candidate by default - especially important when you’re a first-time candidate for the General Assembly, 25 years old, and Black and openly queer in an area with a demographic makeup like the former 24th.

Anyway, we held the caucus and the rest is history. I’d already made my mind up towards the end of that three-week blitz of a campaign that I wanted to keep running. I was warned that if I didn’t file my paperwork fast that there was the possibility of a primary opponent, but I was never all that concerned. To me, it would just be another opportunity to work and improve so that I could be the best hopeful nominee that I could possibly be. If it didn’t work out, then it didn’t work out - but the learning experience would still be there, I’d be better equipped for next time, and the voters would have been enfranchised to make their own choice, and for me, that’s what it’s all about. That is why I’m running in the first place - to give voters in the southern Shenandoah Valley a bold progressive choice on their ballots this November, and to lay the groundwork for a blue seat one day, whether it’s in ten years or thirty (trust me, I’ve got time to wait).

I’d like to go ahead and both congratulate the new nominees on their wins and remind them that at the end of the day, none of this is about ego or backroom deals, or who said what about who, but about honesty, integrity, and serving our people, the citizens of the Commonwealth, in the best way we can. If we aren’t focused on those three things (and treating each other excellently as we do so) then we have no business even bothering. The primary process is just one way (though flawed, as seen from this most recent cycle - but we’ll save comments on June 20th, 2023 for another article) to weed out those with a disinterest in doing so. In short, my answer remains unchanged; I would have happily welcomed a primary challenger this Spring. Hopefully, the work I do now will make this district competitive enough one day for that to happen, and the voters will have even more agency to make their own choices. <3

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/25/2177515/-On-Offering-Choices-Post-Virginia-s-Primary

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/