Instead, this post is about what Christine Cegelis did post-primary. I think it’s an and astonishing example of what one person is capable of doing for the Party even after it threw her under the bus.

Let’s be clear right off the bat. I’m biased. Heavily. I got to work closely with Christine in the primary both as a volunteer and paid contractor. During the campaign, like she did with many of her volunteers, we became friends. My daughter still calls her Auntie Chris. The relationships formed in that campaign are still active and a wonderful outcome of that difficult primary. But that doesn’t change what I’d like to share in this post.

After the primary, Christine Cegelis could have easily went and said “screw it” and walked away from politics, especially given the number of knives stuck in her back by the party leadership. I think many of her more “green” and independent supporters did just that unfortunately.

Instead, after the primary, she went back to her job as an IT professional; a job held for her by her employer - a Republican - who admired what she was doing. After a few short weeks of being out of the political spotlight, settling back into a normal life, she took a position with Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) as a Midwest organizer. She gave up a secure, comfortable, good paying job with benefits, took a significant pay cut, and started traveling between several states in the Midwest helping to manage field organizers working 10-plus House races.

*snip*
As an ADA organizer, Christine worked on the following races:

OH-18: Space (W)
IA-01 Braley (W)
WI-08 Kaegan (W)
MN-06 Wetterling (L)
PA-06 Murphy (L)
PA-10 Carney (W)
PA-04 Altmire (W)
NH-02 Hodes (W)
NC-08 Kissell: too close to call
WA-08 Burner: too close to call.

Christine will be the first to point out that she was just one of many people helping in these races. But to me 6-2-2 is a good record to be involved with.

IMO we’re lucky that she’s one of the good guys working for us. Because of her actions, and many like her, there is greater Democratic infrastructure in place in several states, and a new organization functioning in the GCC. I can’t help but think that this will pay greater future dividends than the media consultants and network execs who get to buy new cars with the profits made through enormous media buys.

Labels: feminism