Mary Anne Mohanraj: From prolific author to local politician
After Trump’s election, Mary Anne, an author, academic, and progressive from Oak Park, decided to get active in local politics.
She attended an Oak Park Progressive Women meeting and was approached about running for office.
Mary Anne spoke with her husband, who was supportive of the idea, and decided to attend a local democratic meeting to see what she could run for.
“The meeting was swamped with a huge wave of civic engagement. I asked where I could be helpful, and though they weren’t able to provide support to my potential campaign, they suggested library board or school board. I only needed 25 signatures to get on the ballot for library board; over the next few days, I went to parties, gathered signatures, and filed papers to run in the first hour filing opened.”
It was only after filing paperwork to run for office that Mary Anne realized she’d have to fund her run somehow.
“It’s never easy to ask for money. I used to fundraise for arts programs, and I spoke with a friend who is professional fundraiser — she told me my mindset had to be that it’s not asking for a favor, it’s giving people the opportunity to support something really special. It’s a value add to them, not an ask.”
At the same time, through Facebook, Mary Anne heard about Crowdpac.
“Crowdpac makes it easy for FEC reporting, which made my choice easy. It’s been super smooth working with the tools.”
Surprised by the cost of running for local office, Mary Anne put her writing skills to use, penning a blog post about her campaign which raised significant cash for her.
She’s using the money to pay for palm cards, bookmarks, buttons, yard signs, and a part-time employee who is helping send thank you cards and buttons to those donating outside of Oak Park.
Her Crowdpac campaign — thanks to her career as a writer — has attracted at least one high-profile donation: Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin.
How does Mary Anne see her campaign for local office within the national dialogue around Trump’s presidency?
“Number 1: we need more women in politics. Number 2: I think you need people to work within the system, and you also need people to work outside of it in resistance and protest. So I’m working within.”
