“Someone Should Run”
I have heard the same sentence at almost every fundraiser; every meeting; and every rally. It usually comes from someone with a sign in one hand and a coffee or donut in the other. “Someone should run and stop this.”
I’ve spent fifteen years working in the northeast but specifically in NJ. I’ve heard that sentence way more times than I can count and timeless times – I’ve even said it myself. Somewhere along the way it became one of those things we say instead of doing something, like “we should get together again soon!”
Town council seats with one name on the ballot; school board races nobody knows are happening until the sample ballot shows up in the mail; or candidates chosen months before voters hear there’s an election at all. We’ve all just grown to accept that … but none of that is normal.
A few months ago – I got to talk with someone my age and who ran for Congress in the Democratic Primary. She literally had no business running other than “she just cared”. She had policies; experience; and was a typical every day American in the State of New Jersey.
Before she ran – she didn’t know how petitions worked or how many signatures she’d need. She didn’t have money. She didn’t know anyone on the county committee. She had a job and was getting married soon and had no idea where the hours would come from.
Here’s the thing: she wasn’t wrong. Every one of those barriers is real. Running for local office in New Jersey isn’t hard because the work to get elected is hard … It’s hard because the way to run was built for people who already know the people. If you have a party chair who returns your calls and a friend who knows how to check petitions, it’s doable. If you don’t, it’s like trying to scale Mt Everest with no oxygen tank.
I went home thinking about that and I haven’t really stopped. We fill the streets; make the signs; stand in the rain; and chant until our voices give out. Then November comes and too many of the seats that decide our schools, our zoning, our taxes, and our police budgets are simply “given up”.
So, I decided to try to close it and I started New Terrain USA to recruit and support everyday people running for town council, county, school board, and legislative seats across New Jersey. That means help with petitions, strategy, and volunteers, the kind of support that usually goes to people who already have a path. It isn’t for the insiders – It’s for the person at the rally who said “I’ll run”
If you’ve ever been the one saying it, sign in one hand and coffee in the other: someone should run … and it’s you … and here’s a teaser … you will win.
Dave Reichers, 32
Sr. Political Strategist
www.newterrainusa.com