I’ve been so horrified and disappointed by the Presidential election—and all of the ongoing chaos surrounding it—that I can hardly think of anything else. My ongoing OCD is partly to blame; I find that, even when I’m cooking dinner, working, or hanging out with my husband and kids, the ramifications of the Presidential election weigh heavily on my heart and in the back of my mind.
The only way I am able to get myself out of my mental funk—the only way—is for me to take positive action.
One of the criticisms aimed toward what the Democratic Party could have done differently—and I believe it’s a valid one—is that more work needs to be done at the state and local level. Not only do we need to reach out to more voters on the local/precinct level, but we also need to support local candidates who can help strengthen our communities close to home. In short, we need to build our bench.
In North Tampa, about 20 minutes from where I live, a run-off election for the District 7 seat on Tampa’s City Council is taking place on December 6th (early voting runs from December 1-4 and vote-by-mail has already started). It is a non-partisan race, but the progressive in the race is Luis Viera, who’s backed by Democratic leaders such as Congresswoman Kathy Castor and former Congressman Jim Davis.
Viera is a lifelong Tampa resident who is engaged in his community at many levels. He’s been a long-time advocate for people with autism and other special needs; he formed and is currently President of the Lawyers’ Autism Awareness Foundation. He is also Chairman of the City of Tampa Civil Service Board and is the incoming President of the Hispanic Bar Association in Tampa.
Being a Tampa native, Viera knows the area well and knows how to most effectively drive improvements. One of the main issues on which Viera wants to focus is transportation. He also seeks to increase assistance for the city’s police and fire departments (he’s been endorsed by both the Tampa Firefighters (Local 754) and the Tampa Police Benevolent Association).
The Tampa Bay Times has recently given Viera its endorsement, which should give him a boost over his opponent, conservative Jim Davison. Although Davison is currently leading in the polls, Viera is well within striking distance (23 percent of polled voters are undecided). The key will be in turnout, turnout, turnout—and Team Viera doing what it can to help get out the vote.
This past weekend, I volunteered as a canvasser for Viera’s race. I hadn’t met him previously, and being that I don’t live in Tampa proper, I’m not able to vote for him. Nevertheless, I wanted to help a progressive win his run-off race, so I decided to grab a coffee and meet up with the other volunteers at the park.
Luis was there, along with his son, Luis Jr., and other volunteers willing to spend a few hours post-Thanksgiving to help out a good progressive candidate. He shook my hand, gave me a warm greeting, and introduced me to the other volunteers as well as his son. We chatted for a few minutes before his campaign manager gave us our neighborhood assignments. It quickly became clear to me how passionate he was about the city in which he grew up, and was currently raising his son.
He also showed genuine interest in his volunteers as people. He asked me about my own two boys, where they went to school, and how they were spending Thanksgiving break. It turned out that he lived in the same area of North Tampa as two of my friends. When I later texted one of my friends and asked if she knew of him, she said yes, and that she and her husband were already planning to vote for him! Small world.
As it was a busy college football Saturday, I spent three hours in my neighborhood doing “soft knocks” as the campaign manager advised—basically doing lit distribution with voter contact in a non-intrusive way (e.g. if they were outside mowing their lawn, putting up Christmas decorations, and so on).
Being that it was a gorgeous Florida autumn day, quite a few people were outside and happy to chat with me. I didn’t have one bad experience talking with voters—the people with whom I talked showed interested curiosity even if they hadn’t heard of Viera, and some people told me they were already voting for him. Canvassing on a local level for a hometown candidate proved to be a very positive experience.
Even though I ended up with the customary bad blisters on my toes from walking the neighborhoods once again, I left North Tampa with my mood lifted. I felt hopeful in my community even though we were all in a world of uncertainty.
This is where the grassroots starts, I thought, resolving to put in some phonebanking time this week to help out even more. It starts with the next-door neighbor running for City Council and winning. It starts with building our bench.
And it starts with us.
