My Heart & Mind Agree: Vote Teresa Mosqueda
Due to the personal nature of the Position 8 City Council race for me, this is a weird post. There are personal anecdotes, lists of citations, and even poems. I hope it works for you; but even if not, thanks for reading.
Okay, Seattle. On November 8th, you’re going to have the opportunity to elect a powerhouse Latina to represent you on Seattle’s city council. Her name is Teresa Mosqueda, and this is a very personal race for me.
La Progresivista
If you have ever had the bad luck to be cornered by me while I tell you my political philosophy, you’ll know I gravitate towards candidates with concrete accomplishments. I believe a good idea only becomes a good policy when you put it into practice and make people’s lives better. So real quick, here’s what first drew me to Teresa’s campaign:
- She was the campaign chairwoman of Raise Up Washington, the Yes on I-1433 organization that lobbied successfully to increase our state minimum wage. She also co-wrote the legislation, because she’s a double threat like that.
- She was legislative director of the Children’s Alliance, where she guided the successful implementation of Apple Health for Kids (WA state’s Medicaid), begun in 2008. This provided healthcare to thousands of children regardless of immigration status — children Teresa unfailingly refers to as “kiddos.”
- There are no children in Teresa Mosqueda’s Washington state: only kiddos.
- NBD but she also worked on Seattle’s paid family leave policy. It’s among the best in the nation! Our nation is almost the worst in the entire world, but she’s worked tirelessly to put us on the right trajectory.
Trust me when I say there is much, much more. Teresa has a hand in so many progressive causes in WA state that it makes me incandescently angry to remember she’s only 37. She has a reputation for building strong, diverse coalitions of people with diverging interests, which sounds bananas until you meet her: Teresa is one of the most joyful people you’ll ever encounter. I raised the issue of the SPD’s Community Service Officer Program with her at a campaign event (putting unarmed SPD employees on the street to respond to 911 calls), and she immediately said, “I love it! Let’s do it,” like we were agreeing to go skydiving together. She rattled off at least three REALLY GOOD IDEAS I hadn’t even thought of, and followed up promptly with SPD’s budget office via email.
Teresa is also gracious in the face of criticism. Her general election opponent, who we’ll get to in a moment, said in a totally cool and non-catty way that “she’s been around, but I haven’t really seen any new ideas from her,” and whereas I would have smacked him in the mouth, Teresa recounted, “It gave me a great opportunity to hone my message and communicate it more effectively to the people of Seattle.”
!!!
Vote for Teresa. She would be the third Latina on Seattle City Council, and while you might ask me, “Elisa, isn’t that a lot? When will there be enough Latinas on SCC?” I must answer in the words of the Notorious RBG: “When there are nine.”
Venganza del gringo mediocre
That’d be a cool way to end this article! Sadly, it doesn’t get to be a sunshine-and-arcoiris story of a badass Latina bringing her extensive getting-good-done experience, public health lens, and consensus-building spirit to city council. Not just yet.
Because due to Teresa’s opponent, Jon Grant, the rhetoric in this race has managed to mimic some of my least favorite brocialist talking points vis-a-vis women.
Who is Jon Grant?
Well, he’s very proud of issuing the sole “no” vote on HALA — you know, that thing that is the only reason even our insufficient housing efforts have gone anywhere? POC employees allege that while he was executive director of the Tenants Union, he promoted them without board approval for their positions, and without the support they needed to succeed. He also accosted a random Team Teresa volunteer on the street about how she was “violating campaign finance laws.”
Despite those less-than-stellar credentials, Teresa’s faced allegations from him and his team that she’s the weak candidate here. She’s “just another lobbyist,” she’s backed by “Big Labor” (?????), she has no new ideas. In other words, shit people say about accomplished women because they haven’t burned everything down yet.
I am not as good as I want to be in terms of explaining how baseless, ridiculous, and diminishing these types of allegations are. So where my head fails, my heart picks up the slack:
I’ve even seen a dude allege that he’s worried about Teresa’s immigration policy. Jon Grant has one! Where’s hers [third-generation Mexican-American who has secured healthcare for undocumented children]?
You know who’s not concerned about Teresa’s immigration policy? Jorge Barón, Executive Director of the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project; Rich Stolz, Executive Director of OneAmerica; and the United Farmworkers, all of whom have endorsed her.
But I’m not really surprised. A man’s ~bold ideas~ always seem, for some, to weigh heavier than a woman’s measurable achievements. Like how a woman’s extensive resume won’t get her as far as the feeling that the man has ~so much potential.~
In other words:
Apoya a Teresa para un Seattle mejor
We live in a fractured time. In an era of terrifying partisan chasms, I think what we need more than ever are candidates who can unify people with different interests and philosophies.
We are so unspeakably lucky that we have a candidate in this race who combines the lenses of being a woman of color, being a Latina, and being a renter with an ability to create consensus and a passion for concrete achievements. I share Teresa’s commitment to looking people in the eye and being able to say, “I did this for you.” When it comes to ideology versus people, I pick people every time.
I also believe that if she is elected, Teresa will listen to the concerns of Jon Grant’s most passionate supporters, and will work to represent them. I have no confidence that Grant has any interest in representing me.
So there you have it. Please vote for Teresa. She’s the one who has what it takes to do right by Seattle.
