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Have you or any close family member to you ever run for public office?

I had a boss whose spouse ran for statewide office recently as a Democrat and in a very Replublican state. She was exhausted and said it was one of the hardest things she had ever done. She was motivated to do it for the right reasons. In the end she lost and they spent alot of their own money in the process. I do not believe she was the state party's choice, so that may have something to do with it.
 
The local Democratic Party really pushed my wife to run for school board this last election. For that local election, they estimated that she’s have to raise about $15k to run a decent campaign.

We talked a lot and gained insight/opinions from friends and community leaders we trusted to be honest with us. Ultimately, she decided not to run because of timing with our family and because the Democratic Party asked her to dial back some of her activism, etc. and she wasn’t going to compromise who she was to win an election despite what good she may have done if elected.
 
Two close friends of one of my close friends both ran for state-wide office in Alabama in 2018. One is a conservative who lost in the primary for state senator and did not enjoy the experience at all and has given up ever running for anything again. I think he was a little naive about how cynical the process is. He has a lot of connections in the state and is generally very thoughtful and engaging, and he thought that should be enough to beat the incumbent who he considered to be a horrible Trumpian sycophant who spewed vile nonsense and only cared about reelection and not the constituents. He was wrong and is still bitter to this day. The other is very liberal and she lost in the general for secretary of state to the conservative candidate. The result was a pretty heavy loss (61% to 39%), but not really a surprising one. She's still super fired up and had some broad support from the DNC, but I'm not sure if she'll try again or not. She did a decent job of getting her arguments out there to improve voting rights in the state, but it was a lot of time and energy for what was a major uphill battle with a small chance of succeeding.
 
Yes, my uncle is in the NC House. After he retired from military service overseas, he hated the way his county was being run, so he ran for county commissioner out of the blue and won in a historically very democratic part of the state. Rep. party saw (maybe still does) him as a fast riser, and tapped him for a much higher ranking state office. He lost that election, but McRory appointed him over a very corrupt/horribly run state division that was operating far in the red every year. He quickly turned it around, to the dismay of a lot of old cronies who were benefiting from the previous system, and ended up running for the House once McRory lost.

I don't agree with a decent amount of his political views, but am still quite proud of him. Even for some of the lower offices, the nomination/campaign/primary/election process can be extremely draining and tough on families.
 
My wife's uncle was mayor of Jackson, NC. I think they basically take turns being mayor and on the city council. City council meetings can be pretty intersting anywhere, but sitting through them and testifying in them in small towns can be a special treat.
 
A friend of mine was the Democratic nominee for Governor in a Republican state. He is a phenomenal leader and visionary guy. Lost big and says never again. Other friends have lost their respective races for mayor and city council. So stay away from me I suppose.
 
My grandfather served in the statehouse in Oklahoma (as did his father), but that was in the early 50s and he has been dead since 1999. My grandmother was still bitter at the opponent that beat him to the end. He was the last Dem to represent that district.
 
My wife's uncle was mayor of Jackson, NC. I think they basically take turns being mayor and on the city council. City council meetings can be pretty intersting anywhere, but sitting through them and testifying in them in small towns can be a special treat.

Oh shit I might be related to your wife. My mom’s whole family is from Jackson/Conway/Murfreesboro
 
We talked a lot and gained insight/opinions from friends and community leaders we trusted to be honest with us. Ultimately, she decided not to run because of timing with our family and because the Democratic Party asked her to dial back some of her activism, etc..

curious about what specifically, but understand if you don't want to share
 
Two close friends of one of my close friends both ran for state-wide office in Alabama in 2018. One is a conservative who lost in the primary for state senator and did not enjoy the experience at all and has given up ever running for anything again. I think he was a little naive about how cynical the process is. He has a lot of connections in the state and is generally very thoughtful and engaging, and he thought that should be enough to beat the incumbent who he considered to be a horrible Trumpian sycophant who spewed vile nonsense and only cared about reelection and not the constituents. He was wrong and is still bitter to this day. The other is very liberal and she lost in the general for secretary of state to the conservative candidate. The result was a pretty heavy loss (61% to 39%), but not really a surprising one. She's still super fired up and had some broad support from the DNC, but I'm not sure if she'll try again or not. She did a decent job of getting her arguments out there to improve voting rights in the state, but it was a lot of time and energy for what was a major uphill battle with a small chance of succeeding.

Whoa, you know Heather Milman? I volunteered at a couple of Democratic Party events in 2018 and met her a couple times.
 
Whoa, you know Heather Milman? I volunteered at a couple of Democratic Party events in 2018 and met her a couple times.

Yup, she is best friends from forever ago with one of our closest friends and so we hang out every time she comes up here. She's awesome.
 
Thanks for your insights everyone. I put this on the Pit because I was interested in the human dynamics element and not the party politics. My wife filed to run for a local office recently and I was just curious how people dealt with it. We live in a small place and there’s an interesting dynamic in just seeing people in the grocery store now, even people you’ve know for a long time. By virtue of my job, I’ve worked with and interacted with a lot of politicians over the years but it’s a lot different being in the firing line (or being personally invested in the candidate).
 
I had a friend that served two terms in the US Congress. We met during a period when he was making the transition from state politics to national politics. Our wives had become good friends and our meeting was an attempt to develop a friendship completely apart from the very public life of a high profile politician. It worked. We became one of the very few friends they had that knew them as they were, not as they were perceived by the public or their family. Our relationship was confidential and private. It began prior to his election to office, during his time as a US Congressman and after his narrow defeat following four years in office. I never saw him in his public life, so his public persona was as he described it to me or would be known from the print media or television. It seemed substantially different from the person I knew privately.
 
Wasn’t the poster birdinbama good friends with Doug Jones?
 
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