Gwen Collins-Greenup is a young, dynamic African-American woman who decided she had had enough and put in her name on the last day to run for Louisiana Secretary of State. The office became available when the previous SOS, Republican Tom Schedler, resigned abruptly in a sexual harassment scandal. The November 6 election was for the remainder of his term, which will be up again a year from now.
Nine candidates ran for the office. Many of Gwen’s opponents were well known, well-financed, and had the backing of labor unions and state political parties. Gwen had smarts, enthusiasm, charisma, and a war chest of approximately $1500. She never ran a single ad. She didn’t even rate an * in the pre-election polling. Her campaign consisted of brilliant use of social media and town hall meetings and luncheons with voters all over the state.
On November 6, Gwen shocked the hell out of the political class by coming in a strong second to Kyle Ardoin, the current Republican Secretary of State. Ardoin got the job after his boss resigned in the aforementioned scandal, and promptly got into his own mini-scandals over contracts for voting machines and sending “informational” letters to key voters in a thinly veiled attempt to raise his profile on the public’s dime.
The conventional wisdom is that Gwen does not have a prayer of winning in very red Louisiana. That was also the conventional wisdom on November 5. Yet here she is, in the runoff for this critical office. In addition to her smarts and charisma, Gwen may have the Pink Wave behind her. The four women in the November 6 election, 2 Dems and 2 Repubs, accounted for 70,000 more votes than their 5 male counterparts.
To say that this race is under the radar is an understatement. Even people in Louisiana don’t realize there is a special election on December 8, and the office is pretty obscure in Louisiana even on a good day. It’s the kind of election where great turnout could have an unpredictable result and carry Gwen into office.
The Louisiana Democratic party has endorsed Gwen, though John Bel Edwards, the Democratic Governor, remains on the sidelines.
I have been beating the drum to get some attention for Gwen in the progressive community — so far, Postcard Patriots has stepped up and I hope others will follow soon. It would be fantastic if the Kos community could help:
1. If you know anyone in Louisiana, spread the word about the election, and ask them to go to the polls with 3 friends on December 8.
2. Postcard Patriots has Louisiana addresses — it’s a really simple postcard, “VOTE for Gwen on December 8”!
3. Gwen could certainly use our help in expanding her $1600 war chest. Her ActBlue page is HERE.
4. There may be texting and phone banking coming up — I will keep you posted if there is.
5. Spread the word about Gwen to your pals in the progressive ecosystem — her remarkable story has gone almost completely unnoticed up to this point.
We are all rightly preoccupied right now getting Mike Espy and John Barrow over the finish line, but let’s make this a trifecta by electing Gwen as Louisiana Secretary of State!