I’m voting for Andrew Gounardes today not just because he’s the better person, but because he makes me and everyone else around him a better person. When you think about who should hold an office like State Senator, it should not only be someone who can make a difference in their community, but this person should also inspire their community to make a difference. Andrew not only does that, but he excels at it.
Though I made sure to register to vote as soon as I turned 18 and exercised my right at the ballot box each Election Day, I never got involved in a campaign. Though I followed politics and had clear preferences as to who I wanted to represent me, I never volunteered for a candidate. None of my friends did. It just wasn’t on my radar. And then in 2008 Barack Obama was elected President and I was inspired. I immediately changed my party affiliation from Independent to Democrat and set out to get involved.
For as long as Marty Golden has been an elected official, he has been my elected official. For twenty years. In late 2008, I was determined to get involved in flipping my State Senate seat. I was aware Marty had run unopposed but surprised to learn he hadn’t been challenged in three consecutive elections. As I dug into poll results, I was shocked to find out nearly as many people had left their ballots blank in each of those years as had cast a vote for Golden and that the district’s party affiliation was two to one in favor of Democrats. Surely some Democratic challenger could best Marty when he’s been nearly losing to ‘Blank.’ And when someone – I’ll simply refer to as Mike — did declare that they would run against Marty in 2010, I was excited. I connected to Mike on Facebook and reached out to him with a message. I explained that I’d been focused on working to end Golden’s reign and said I was eager to help in whatever way might be needed. Mike responded that his team had everything under control and that they didn’t need any help. Having never sought to volunteer for a campaign, I just figured that’s the way things are done.
Two years later, in 2012, I learned that Andrew Gounardes would be running against Senator Golden. I connected to him on Facebook, but this time I didn’t follow up with a message offering to help. It wasn’t until 3 days after Superstorm Sandy hit that I messaged Andrew asking for him to help me. I had decided to turn my running in the NYC Marathon a few days later as a fundraiser for recovery efforts, but I was having no luck finding a local charity. I took a shot and sent a direct message to that young guy who was running for State Senate I had connected with on Facebook a few months before.
Thanks to the magic of the Messenger app, I can look back and see that Andrew literally replied to me two minutes later, telling me he was looking into it and asked if it would be ok if he got back to me tomorrow, apologizing that it was “a bit hectic” and he was “battling a cold.” He didn’t mention all the work he was doing to help his community recover just 5 days before Election Day. He got back to me the following day with info about the Borough President’s Relief Fund, apologizing to me for the delay — now, just 4 days before Election Day.
Later that day, the Marathon was officially canceled. Members of ‘The Owl’s Head Running Club’ scrambled and merged the bar’s supplies drive and my fundraiser into our own marathon event, with 7 of us running from Bay Ridge to Broad Channel, carrying supplies on our backs while a caravan of cars delivered the rest. In less than 2 days, we raised $2,000, and thanks to Andrew, it went to neighbors in Brooklyn who were affected.
Like so many, when Donald Trump was elected President, once the initial shock wore off I quickly moved on to thinking about how to get involved in making a difference. Similar to 2008, I focused on flipping my State Senate Seat. I helped organize a meeting of like-minded community members so we could brainstorm what to do in the two years leading up to the 2018 election. One member of our group confided that he had reached out to Andrew Gounardes about what it would take to mount a challenge to Marty Golden. The feedback from Andrew was that it would be an uphill battle on several fronts.
A year later, when he declared his candidacy, it should have been surprising based on his own assessment in 2016, but Andrew doesn’t seem to shy away from uphill battles. This time I didn’t hesitate. I shot him a message, offering to help in whatever way I could. Once again, he responded, literally, in two minutes. A few weeks later a dozen of us were meeting in an unheated basement in the middle of the winter to help Andrew begin a campaign operation that now consists of an army of volunteers and supporters, including the likes of U.S. Senators, Members of Congress, the Governor, Alyssa Milano, and Ben Stiller.
I’m proud to have been just one of many who have been a part of Andrew’s campaign. I’m proud of everyone who has devoted their time and effort to help Andrew’s campaign. I’m proud of Andrew. I’m proud to call him my friend. I’ll be proud to call him my State Senator.
