Why I’m Voting for Ayanna
I like Congressman Capuano. I’ve been proud to vote for him and think he’s been a great Congressman, but this year I will be voting for Ayanna Pressley. I’d be lying if I said this decision was a simple one for me because I have no objection to Congressman Capuano.
No, it’s not just because I’m a woman. No, it’s not just because I’m a millennial. Yes, I’ve heard the arguments that they will vote exactly the same way. Yes, I understand if Democrats take back the House that he will be in a more powerful Committee position than she. Yes, I know that on the eve of my thirtieth birthday, I look of questionable voting age, but a woman younger than me just won a Congressional primary in New York.
Mansplaining and generationsplaining happen a lot in politics; people want to discredit a conscious decision by slotting someone into a demographic box in order to erase a thought process that is inconvenient for them.
Let’s start by doing away with this notion of waiting your turn. Timing is a critical component to successful campaigns. Opportunism tends to have a negative connotation in most contexts, but with political campaigns, opportunism is all about seeing an opening, checking which way the political winds are blowing, and running. Look no further than Congresswoman Katherine Clark for an example of the smartest kind of political opportunism. Her races to join the MA House and the US House of Representatives were both special elections. If she had waited her turn, we’d be without her tenacious advocacy in Washington. Or look to Congressman Moulton, who as a USMC officer would wait to eat last after his men, but understood that waiting your turn in politics only punishes voters by robbing them of a choice.
Maybe younger Americans aren’t so comfortable waiting our turn because we’re uncertain that strategy will pay off for us when it comes to things like social security. We deserve to be at the decision-making table, we have a stake in this too.
I’ve watched in dismay as important female voices have departed the Massachusetts political scene. I worry that in the next decade many of today’s most powerful females elected officials will have retired. Most women don’t run for office until their children are adults, which has the indirect effect of giving them shorter political lifespans… in turn, based on the time it takes to rise through the political ranks, fewer women are in influential positions.
So I’m less concerned about Massachusetts’ political capital in Washington if we retake the House and are nine of 435 members. Our state has always punched above our weight in political influence based on the power of our ideas. I am more concerned that I can count on my two hands the current female elected officials that I expect will still be in the game ten years from now. Ayanna’s voice and perspective are too important to lose.
So I’m voting for a voice that I need to see in Massachusetts politics ten years from now. I will vote for Ayanna while feeling gratitude for the decades of public service that Congressman Capuano has given us.
