Asking for your vote
DFLers,
I am looking forward to seeing you on Saturday morning at Edina High School! Safe travels to all who are making the drive from Greater Minnesota. I know that my colleagues in Senate District 50 will greet you with a smile, coffee, and radical hospitality - that is how we roll in SD50 Edina & Bloomington!
As you are preparing to make decisions about this next era of our party leadership, I want to thank you all for the productive and purposeful conversations we've had over the last few months. I hope I have earned your vote, and I really can't wait to get to work with you, and for you.
I have always felt called to do something to make our communities better. I am in this work - politics - to improve people's lives.
I am running for DFL Secretary because I believe we must try new ways of engaging our volunteers and supporting our candidates in order to win.
However, my heart is really heavy tonight as I am reading about an ICE detainment at the University of Minnesota. I know we must do everything in our power to act in radical solidarity with our neighbors, especially our immigrant neighbors. I'm sad and angry over the hateful policies of this second Trump term, and I know we are not powerless (Thank you Congresswoman Kelly Morrison for saying that at your town hall!)
SCC member and friend Dani Indovino Cawley wrote a really moving testament to the way I work in these spaces, and I am so honored to be in here with you all in this moment of our collective history. I know there is no challenge we can't tackle, especially if we tackle it together. We all bring unique perspectives, backgrounds, identities, and ideas to this work. When we uplift each other, we accomplish so much more than when we tear each other down.
I am not the kind of person who gives up. I have a seemingly endless supply of energy and ambition. I believe that we all want the same thing: to be able to afford to live our lives, with safety and a sense of security that there is a future we can count on. I am excited to be part of this next era of our Minnesota DFL, and I am asking for your vote at the business conference tomorrow (Saturday!) morning.
If you still have questions, stop by my table. I would love to chat with you, and have an opportunity to shake your hand.
In DFL Solidarity,
Anita Smithson
Candidate for DFL Secretary
SD50 DFL SCC Member
Nominations Committee Member (recused)
I'll leave you with a few photos over the last few years of my activism work. I'm really proud of all we've accomplished together, and the way I've always led with my values. It's an honor to be a mom and raise children who see their parents as change makers, always standing up for what is right.
Image caption: Top left: snowy selfie wearing a rainbow vest as a volunteer clinic escort; Top middle: a selfie while knocking for David Gottfried; Top right: the IndivisibleMN03 Overpass Light Brigade, built in my garage, outside of Paulsen's office; Bottom right: in front of a mural at Bloomington Pride, a non-profit I serve as a board member; Bottom middle: standing in solidarity with my Muslim neighbors at Dar al Farooq Center; Bottom left: waving from an overpass with the IndivisibleMN03 Overpass Light Brigade.
Image caption: Top left: a parade selfie with now Rep. Julie Greene, I managed her 2024 campaign; Top middle: Speaking at the Mueller Release the Report rally that I helped organize while on the board of Indivisible MN03; Top right: a photo with Governor Walz and Lt. Governor Flanagan from the 2018 CD3 Convention; Bottom right: a selfie with a COACH! sign at the Superior WI rally; Bottom middle: at the State Capitol with my family for a transgender rights rally on a cold day; Bottom left: marching with my children (baby is in a carrier on my chest) at a protest during Trump's first term.