Since announcing my run for House of Delegates in the 71st District this past September, there has been no short supply of smear ads and dishonest attempts to manipulate voters. Throughout each one, I’ve taken it as a badge of honor, and with the realization that my opponent and her party realize I’m running a winning campaign. I also remind myself that it’s all just white noise, with the hopes of distracting from Delegate Batten’s poor voting record and dangerous stances on the issues that matter most to voters in Virginia, particularly those in the 71st.
I’ve also learned throughout this process that it’s okay to not always get things right. Running a campaign is a full-time job, some weeks 2 full-time jobs, all to ensure that the community knows you are dedicated to them and their best interests. Even in the nonsense thrown from the other side, I’ve loved every minute of the experience; from community events, to meet and greets, to sending personal messages via letters and postcards, to call time, and especially door knocking. Getting the chance to meet people where they are, find common ground, and share my ‘why’ with the community is what will make this win a reality.
However, many people on the outside don’t understand what goes into a truly grassroots campaign. You are counting on small dollar donors to remain competitive and reach voters in variety of ways. It’s providing data driven responses when asked about policy stances and solutions, as well as admitting when you need more information to make an informed decision. It’s relying on your gut instincts on how to respond to targeted attacks and disinformation campaigns from the opposing side, all while surrounding yourself with qualified and driven people on your team to ensure you stay true to the people you intend to represent. With the additional helping hands comes the reality that mistakes may occur, because again, we are all human. Recently, an article came out about an email the campaign sent back in May, only a few short days after my opponent, for the first time in her 4 years in office, brought a “token of appreciation” to teachers in the new 71st district (yet not the teachers in her current 96th district that she still represents til January 2024). Like clockwork, the trolls descended, trying to find some nefarious story, but there was none there. Keeping to my promise of being a transparent candidate, who recognizes that not everything goes as planned, I want to share what exactly happened.
Like many campaigns, in the process of acquiring data to better engage with voters within your district, someone on my team had requested a FOIA for contact info for our local school division. Having the opportunity to connect to educators and school staff, whether at a door or by phone, when so much is on the line regarding the future of public education, is important to this election. As both a public school parent and WJCC employee myself, I know that my opponent has voted against both our educators and families best interests when it comes to public education, which means this type of voter identification opens the door to a way to better communicate and address their concerns during these interactions. Now at this point of the campaign, we were sending out regular emails for incoming endorsements and unknowingly, one team member uploaded the data, unaware another team member had scheduled an automatic email the very next morning for the most recent NOW endorsement, and the new entries were accidentally attached to said email.
As an employee, I received the email in my spam, we immediately realized the mistake, and removed the emails from our email list to ensure it did not occur again in the future. I also addressed the mishap with my employer, confirming the email was not done so by my direction and that the data was all collected through the proper channels. That was the end of it, yet now, 3 months later and just 5 weeks before early voting, a Substack blogger, looking for clicks and likes, without any evidence, tried to imply I acquired data by misusing my employment, of which is blatantly false. The confidentiality of our families and staff are of the utmost importance to me and I wouldn’t risk a career that I love for anything, including my run for political office. So we set the record straight with a local journalist, which resulted in an article with Virginia Mercury.
What’s most interesting is the folks attempting to equate this clear misstep by the campaign to Delegate Batten trying to “appreciate teachers” with donuts, after she voted against teachers’ ability to collective bargain, voted to punish students whose families failed to pay their meal debt, and this past session tried to defund our school divisions by nearly $5k per student as the co-patron of HB-1508. Our teachers want appreciation through their legislators’ votes, to ensure our schools are fully funded, fully staffed, and giving our students and families the best opportunities moving forward. This is one of MANY reasons I’m running, because I will DELIVER real results for public education and so much MORE!
if you want to ensure I do just that, consider a donation here:
secure.actblue.com/…
Or volunteering opportunities via my website:
jessicaandersonforva.com