In The Ballot Box

Last November we saw a wave of trans people elected to office; some of the reasons this happened is because they stayed on local issues, they had good organization skills, and they had money.

Dollars, data support record number of transgender U.S. election candidates
Reuters
By Daniel Trotta
February 8, 2018

(Reuters) - Alexandra Chandler was a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst when she came out as a transgender woman in 2006. She could have been fired, but instead she said the conservative Republicans in her chain of command promoted her to division chief.

A decade later, that kind of acceptance was overshadowed by what Chandler called the hate and divisive language of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, prompting her to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

“The real simplistic answer to why I‘m running: It’s to answer a call. It’s to a answer a call to service like I did after 9/11,” said Chandler, one of more than a dozen Democrats seeking the nomination in the third district of Massachusetts.
[…]
Chandler is among an estimated 40 transgender candidates running for all levels of government in the November 2018 elections, an unprecedented number. Many of the candidates will have the backing of advocacy groups such as Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization in the United States.

HRC’s $26 million commitment to the elections, nearly as much as it spent in the 2012 and 2016 campaigns combined, is part of a push to regain momentum after Trump became president and Republicans kept control of Congress.
[…]
In addition to those who have declared their candidacies this year, nearly as many parents of transgender children are also running, said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, the leading trans advocacy group.

So you want to run for office.

Where do you start?

Well I can name two places to start…

The first is my Alma Mater, the University of Connecticut School of Social Work’s Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work's Campaign School.

I took it when I was a grad student and it is excellent and their next class is March 3 & 4 (You do not have to be a social worker to attend or a UConn student).

My second recommendation is Emily’s List.

EMILY's List members are dedicated to building a progressive America by electing pro-choice Democratic women to office. We believe in the power of women as candidates, as contributors, as campaign professionals, and as voters to bring about great change in our country. EMILY's List is committed to a three-pronged strategy to elect pro-choice Democratic women: recruiting and funding viable women candidates; helping them build and run effective campaign organizations; and mobilizing women voters to help elect progressive candidates across the nation. By working together, we can make a difference -- and change the face of American politics.

They are another excellent source and when I was going to the campaign school (they teach a part of the Friday’s class) they tried hard to recruit me to run for office, they are very trans friendly.

Get out there this year and be active! If you can’t run for office help out on a campaign or donate for a candidate. I will be.