Now that the dust has settled, and all the ranked choice votes have been counted, we know that two longtime TakeAction Minnesota members have climbed another rung on the political ladder: Betsy Hodges will be Minneapolis’ next mayor, and Dai Thao will be joining the St. Paul City Council. Both of these candidates – and their campaigns – teach important lessons about what progressives need to do to win at the ballot box and set the stage for bigger change once in office.
First, people-powered campaigns matter. Both campaigns had the largest grassroots operations of any in their respective races. Both campaigns made grassroots organizing a key strategy. Just as important, both candidates inspired grassroots organizations and volunteers to volunteer their time. Alongside other endorsing groups, TakeAction Minnesota members contributed over 1,000 hours of volunteer time knocking on doors, dialing phones, and talking one-on-one with voters. We reached out to more than 17,000 households in our membership about our endorsed candidates. In any campaign, headlines and campaign ads get the most attention. But all of that is just noise if it isn’t backed up by thousands – and tens-of-thousands – of individual, personal conversations with voters about what matters in this election and why their support is crucial.
Second, putting conversations about race and racial inequities front-and-center in campaigns made a difference. Betsy Hodges built her entire campaign around the need to close racial gaps in our communities – a priority shared by most Minneapolis voters. Dai Thao focused on seeing Ward 1’s diversity as its greatest strength. In both cases, these candidates were taking on risky and uncomfortable issues – but issues that voters know must be addressed in order for us to improve our quality of life together. The shifting demographics and growing racial disparities in Minneapolis and Saint Paul are a foreshadowing of the changing political dynamics that we are going to see statewide in the coming years and decades. If we are going to confront these challenges and flourish, our politics must catch up.
Finally, having candidates and campaign teams that were developed in the progressive movement matters. Betsy and Dai are both long-time members of TakeAction Minnesota and developed their leadership in our issue campaigns. In addition, they built campaign teams with extensive experience across many organizations that work for social, racial, and economic justice. As a result, each campaign conveyed a sense of humility, passion, and purpose that inspired people to believe that we all can be part of making larger change happen.
As we head into 2014, it’s important that we keep these lessons in mind. While statewide campaigns operate in a very different political context, the same concepts will apply: putting people first matters, the courage of our convictions matters, and staying grounded in a larger sense of purpose matters. These are the things that inspire voters, change hearts and minds, and set the stage for making positive change happen.
