Across the nation, hate lost and diversity won. The resistance roared back and one of the sweetest victories came in Northfield, New Jersey, in a local race for the Atlantic County Freeholder’s Board. It all started when Republican Freeholder John Carman shared two memes about the women’s march on his Facebook page. One meme had a woman standing over a stove (seen below) and the caption “Will the woman’s (sic) protest be over in time for them to cook dinner?” The other read “There must be a large sandwich making class going on in D.C. today.”
Needless to say, Ashley Bennett and a whole lot of other women in Carman’s hometown were upset with his misogynistic comments. Inspired by the resistance, the women’s march and the “run for something” campaign, Bennett decided to go for it. From The Inquirer:
Ashley Bennett, 32, a psychiatric emergency screener from Egg Harbor Township who showed up at an Atlantic County Freeholder’s meeting to protest comments made by Freeholder John Carman mocking the Women’s March, and then decided to run for his seat, knocked Carman off the board Tuesday.
If you ever consider running, remember, people like John Carman get elected across this country nationwide. You are good enough, you are smart enough and you can win! Northfield, New Jersey is going to be a better place for it. Take it from Ashley Bennett:
“People want change,” Bennett wrote by text early Wednesday. “”I am beyond speechless and incredibly grateful to serve my community. I never imaged I would run for office.”
Carman, interviewed several days before the election, had been confident that voters would see through all the negative publicity and said he was not the person he was portrayed to be. He got in to additional hot water this summer after a photo surfaced of him wearing a vest bearing a patch in the shape of New Jersey with a confederate flag covering the southern half.
Here are the memes that sparked it all:
Congratulations Ashley Bennett!