1) John Kerry (General, 2004)
I’m pretty sure this was the first time I voted. I was in college at Drake University during Bush v. Kerry. They had a voting drive in the student union and I filled out an absentee ballot. I got a C in political science (worst grade on my transcript!) and wasn’t following the election closely but it was still obvious that Bush was a piece of shit. I didn’t like voting for a boring, elitist dorkwad but that’s what you gotta do sometimes.
2) Barack Obama (Iowa Caucuses & General, 2008)
Like many other young, progressive-minded people I got involved in Obama’s first campaign. Did a lot of door-to-door canvassing and some volunteer hours in the headquarters on Locust street in downtown Des Moines. I wasn’t ever on staff or anything, but I do remember that the night he won the Iowa caucuses I ended up babysitting the campaign office by myself since all the regular staffers had gone down to a hotel to watch his victory speech. I followed along on a little TV in the office and it felt like my own special way of connecting with an historic moment.
3) No One (Iowa Caucuses, 2012)
With Obama as the incumbent in 2012, the blue side of the Iowa Caucuses was perfunctory. My partner at the time and I still attended our caucus and effectively caucused for no one. Doing so had some official name that I can’t remember now. The Democratic-lifer retiree running our table was very gracious about it but a little confused. We explained our concerns about extra-judicial killings, the failure to close Gitmo, and a few other things as reasons for our objection. We weren’t even trying to persuade anyone, but another guy at the table ended up joining us! We were able to assign one delegate as what was effectively a null vote for the state convention. Democracy!
4) Roseanne Barr (General, 2012)
I followed Occupy Wall Street closely and became deeply involved with the Des Moines iteration of it (#OccupyDSM) for a couple of months. I was young and articulate and ended up doing a handful of interviews for radio, TV, and the papers that are mostly lost to the archives now.
I didn’t have anyone I really wanted to vote for in the 2012 general, especially with it being very obvious that Obama would win re-election. Comedian Roseanne Barr was one of the highest-profile people supporting the Occupy movement at the time and ran a “campaign” for President that I didn’t precisely take seriously, but it made me feel better than writing in Mickey Mouse. (Not voting at all is not my style.)
To be clear: Barr is bonkers and her politics have gone from weird to horrifying. She’s wrapped up in Trump and the alt-right of late, unfortunately. So…yeah. I don’t regret my 2012 vote but I would obviously not vote for her again.
5) Ginger Jentzen (Minneapolis City Council, 2017)
I’m traveling this week and thus voted early in the upcoming election in Minneapolis. Jentzen was a key figure in the local Fight for 15 campaign for a $15 minimum wage. She’s also done a great job organizing to run for the Ward 3 City Council seat. The old money in town is in a tizzy because she’s an out-and-out socialist (gasp!) and is proposing rent control. Excited to see how it turns out for her tomorrow.
6) Ilhan Omar (Minnesota House, 2016)
My first opportunity to vote as a Minnesotan came during the August 2016 primary for the Minnesota House of Representatives. I voted for Omar then and again in November, and was excited to watch her win and become the first Somali-American legislator in the United States.
7) Mike Draper (Des Moines Mayor, 2011)
Late one morning in Des Moines I learned that we were having an election that day. That day! The incumbent mayor, Frank Cownie, was unopposed. I liked Frank well enough but I felt a little cheated that we didn’t get any debate on the issues. It also seemed bad in the sense that most folks (myself included) were about to miss out on an opportunity to practice their voting habit.
My coworkers and I got to talking about who would make a good write-in and settled on Mike Draper, congenial rabble-rouser and proprietor of the local t-shirt shop Raygun. We spun up a social media campaign and asked all of our friends to go write him in. Long story short, after our unofficial six hour mayoral campaign, 8% of the votes that day were write-ins. Not bad! There’s some more detail on this old Storify I made about it, though many of the links are broken now, sadly.
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My policy? Always vote, even if it’s for no one, or a comedian, or a t-shirt shop owner.
*** Originally published as List No. 33 of the 7x77 newsletter project.