The Massachusetts High School Democrats Go to New Hampshire
Thousands of doors knocked? Check.
By Jeremy Ornstein
Massachusetts High School Democrats Chair
WHAT IS MASSACHUSETTS KNOWN FOR? Well, for starters, we’ve got one of your favorite Senators — the great Elizabeth Warren. The state is also home to one of the the High School Democrats of America’s most active chapters, and we’ve had a jam-packed season so far.
WE BEGAN OUR SUMMER WITH EXPLOSIVE CHAPTER BUILDING and used social media to create a network of passionate, interested and ready-to-work students. We now have 27 chapters — a sharp increase from six at the beginning of this year! Some chapters, like West Springfield, are run in standard fashion. This chapter, led by the imaginative Joe Callahan and the able adult advisor Dan Kelly, a state Democratic Committee member, has registered voters and sent high school activists to campaigns. Even more importantly, perhaps, their chapter has built an unofficial internship program that pairs students with politicians at the local and state level. Both the internship program and other programming serve to keep students excited, and we are looking to export more than one of the West Springfield models to our other schools.
Other chapters, like the Philips Andover Liberal Action organization, are slightly different in their methods. Philips Andover Academy is a boarding school, so students are stuck, to some degree, on their campuses. However, through the valiant efforts of leaders like Shoshi Wintman, we’ve managed to work through the limitations of a boarding school model, and the Philips Andover chapter has sent several activists to more than one of our canvassing events. Chapter building for Massachusetts is fairly new — we’ve been around for less than two years! We want chapters wherever we can get them, and our leadership is open to new ideas about what structure those chapters will have. U.S supreme court justice Louis Brandeis called states laboratories of democracy; here in Massachusetts, we’re constantly experimenting, always trying to find the perfect model for each unique setting. At the same time, even a chapter of 100 students is powerless if they have no grassroots impact.
Grassroots
OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF MONTHS, WE HAVE KNOCKED ON LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF DOORS. We have had hundreds of conversations with voters and made serious relationships with campaigns. We’ve registered over 900 voters, but we’re nowhere near done. Plus, a new role means that students 16 and 17 years old can be pre-registered to vote. We have no deadlines, and our goal is to keep registering through the year. The possibilities are huge; we have a slightly unrealistic goal of registering over half the students in Massachusetts, but even if we fail at that goal, we’ll still have registered thousands. Moreover, that sort of grassroots impact does not just represent Massachusetts students passion when it comes to politics; MAHSD’s grassroots impact is not only about making political change. The work we do, we hope, will come back to benefit us, in more ways than just progressive policy. Campaign work has also become the advocacy of political opportunity. In other words, the more we knock on doors, the more power we will have after November. By showing up with twenty students in New Hampshire to fight for what may be the highest stakes of our lifetime yet, for both the senate and the presidency, we make clear to the Democratic Party of Massachusetts, and to Democratic activists and officials all over, that we can and must be trusted with responsibility. A comprehensive internship program between us and the Democratic Party might be difficult to organize, but the real challenge we have is to prove that we can do the job.
In many ways, we have stepped up to face that challenge. From knowing staff in Nashua on a name-to-name basis to literally becoming the staff on Eric Lesser’s campaign, we have become a part of the Massachusetts political scene. Political relationships, we have found, are one of the most substantial tools in our work. Several MAHSD activists were supporting Jack Lewis since the primary in his campaign for a state representative seat, and during the present general election. His campaign was part of what made it so important for us to participate. Not only was his staff highly organized and supportive, but he is genuinely warm, intelligent and capable. One of the most exciting parts about working with Jack Lewis was after our endorsement of his candidacy. When accepting the endorsement, he wrote that he was “humbled.” While MAHSD are the ones to be humbled by that kind of response, it’s exhilarating that we could form that kind of relationship with a future representative.
We were ecstatic, too, when canvassing efforts in Brockton last fall paid off. Not only was the Brockton campaign with Mike Brady successful, but our tremendous effort was recognized. When MAHSD students went to an Elizabeth Warren-launched campaign event, Roger Lau, an aide to the Senator, remembered our contribution the year before. He quickly and quietly brought us through the back of the packed headquarters to hear and see the Senator’s speech, closer than front row. In a miraculous moment, the Senator spoke to us directly! I remember one of our activists from the Wakefield chapter, a chapter that has been very robust and dependable in their canvassing efforts, held Senator Warren’s hand while she talked to us. When Senator Warren let go to talk to the next VIP group, the student activist nearly fainted with happiness. Even if the meeting between the Senator and our group was not constructive in terms of advocacy, it represented a crucial fact: Massachusetts High School Democrats are respected.
We still have more work to do in terms of campaigns, grassroots work, expansion and programming. But we’ve legitimized ourselves as a statewide organization to high schoolers and professionals alike. Of course, we could only achieve so much with help. That help came from other organizations, like GSA, Model UN, and more, as well as aid from leaders like Kate Donoghue, who works tirelessly both for Democratic Party ideals and our well-being as an organization. We have more work to do, but we have succeeded in building a community of activists, succeeded in making change, succeeded in fighting for our own opportunities, and, we hope, succeeded in electing the first female president of the United States of America. MAHSD Mic Drop!
