Love the image above? We’re bringing back our Read. Resist. Vote. shirts. Get yours now!
Hey, everyone! It’s week three in this year’s Read. Resist. Vote. series (you can find week one right here and here’s week two). This week, we again have two more candidates to rally around. We’d like to extend a very special thanks to The Guerrilla Politic for connecting us with this week’s candidates.
We hope you continue to get pumped up by brilliant women making waves, and that you consider contributing to their campaigns.
And as always, there’s still more to come!
Emily Busch — Michigan — State Representative House District 66
My name is Emily Busch and I am mom to a high school sophomore who was in our community high school the day a 15-year-old brought a gun to school, killing four kids and injuring six more and a teacher. I was a working mom who thought everything was OK in schools until it wasn’t.
I have never been involved in politics outside of voting, but after attending my first school board meeting two weeks following the shooting, I knew I had to stand up and do something. A decision to run for school board quickly turned into running for something a little bigger, State Representative for Michigan’s new House District 66. I am a “recovering Republican,” which I don’t think enough people talk about; this process of running for office has shattered the walls I built over many years of my adult life.
I truly want to make this District, State, and Nation a better place for everyone, but especially kids. Our kids deserve better than the example we are setting for them as adults. I truly want to effect positive change. We need to leave this place better than it was the day we landed upon it.
How do you utilize social media and canvassing to share your values and platform as you run for office?
I use my social media to “talk” to the constituents in the district. Since I am balancing so many plates in the air, I haven’t had as much time to canvass as I would like or as often as the party would like me to. I knew early on this would be a challenge as I could not quit or pause my job; I also didn’t want to pause my Masters, being 3/4 of the way finished. So, social media is one way I’ve been able to get my stance out there on critical issues facing our state and nation.
What is your favorite resource at the library and why?
I hope this doesn’t sound funny, but I would have to say the building itself! I think of the library as a neutral, quiet, welcoming place for anyone in the community to meet, gather, reflect, relax or just be. When I reflect on being a little kid, I remember going to the library, whether community- or school-based, and feeling calm and respectful. People go to the library to feel safe and enjoy the quiet. A library, to me, represents community, learning, peace, and knowledge.
What organization would you like to amplify to our audience?
Since deciding to run for office, I have interfaced with so many new people and have been introduced to so many organizations I never would have known had I not taken this step. A few weeks ago, I enjoyed the honor of being recognized at the NOW candidate endorsement luncheon, the National Organization for Women. It has taken me many years to recognize the importance of having women in leadership roles in every sector, public and private. This organization supports and elevates women and their contributions to all professions: corporate business, skilled trades, healthcare professions, education, etc.
I was given a brief moment to speak and was able to share my life experience as a woman who was raised by a passive misogynist; I say passive because I recognize that my father did the best with what he had learned in his upbringing and life experience. But I bring this up because we need to pave the way for younger generations of women to break free from their upbringing, which may keep them under the proverbial thumb of negative family pathologies. We need to support and continue to elevate women so they know they can be all they want or dream to be. NOW represents this ideology in organizational thought and action. I’m proud to have their endorsement. I’m proud to pave the way for generations of women coming up behind me.
You can learn more about Emily at her website, www.EmilyForMichigan.com. She is also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok
Kim Jorgensen Gane — Michigan — State Senator
[tw: sexual assault, abortion]
When I introduced Cecile Richards, former President of Planned Parenthood, on the evening of Power of Pink in Detroit in July 2018, after telling my story, I said that we were basically BFFs because I’d read her book Make Trouble. And I sure have been living it ever since!
I collect books signed by authors because I’m a writer myself. I’m always working on my book-in-progress, #MotherActivist: Raising Ourselves and the Men We Fall For, a love story. I’ll have no trouble finishing it after this wild ride!
How do you utilize social media and canvassing to share your values and platform for your campaign?
I use my personal Twitter. I also use Facebook and a Facebook group called “Kim’s Squad.” With more help, I could be more effective. I take pictures everywhere I can. I speak about issues of concern. The same for canvassing. I meet people where they are and have real conversations. I am better in a group. Never thought I would be, but it’s necessary. The doors are terrifying. Politics is a science and an art. It’s emotional. I am a sexual assault survivor. It feels safer to be in a room than standing at a doorstep. I canvas with a door buddy. I put my head down and do what I can do.
What is your favorite resource at the library and why?
The meeting spaces. They are used by activists and for community meetings. I came into this work as an activist. I have the privilege to buy books. The library offers access to information, education, broadband, books, and computers. There is community. Libraries are critical, especially in a time of banning books.
What organization would you like to amplify to our audience?
Independent abortion clinics. The National Network of Abortion Funds. Planned Parenthood gave me life-saving care. I received care before the bombing at the clinic in Kalamazoo in 1986. There is a both and. You support Planned Parenthood for its resources and the smaller, more local clinics. I am an abortion rights storyteller. I take care of myself as the work retraumatizes.
Cecile Richards endorsed Kim in a glowing tweet. You can learn more about Kim at her website, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and on TikTok.
