Earlier this week I was feeling overwhelmed - it seemed that I couldn't help but put my foot in my mouth when talking to people. I kept making faux pas that should have been obvious. Something felt uncomfortable in the aether around me. That's when I realized that my new reality as a candidate has begun to set in throughout the community. You know what I'm talking about: that way you interact with someone campaigning for whatever. Well now for the first time I'm on the other side of those interactions, and it's new.
Novel experiences should be uncomfortable to an extent. It's almost like I'm relearning how to talk to people that I've known for decades, and that's okay. If you feel awkward around me because I'll be on your ballot in April, that's understandable - it feels weird and exhilarating to me, too. Remember, yes I'm a candidate now, but I'm a real person, too. I'm still Kristopher Ulrich.
In the spirit of collaboration I've been meeting with other declared candidates. Kris Larson was a gracious host to me at Beckets one night, Michael Rust and I had a terrific conversation about his ideas for Circuit 1, I purposefully invited DJ Nichols to a place I thought would be out of his comfort zone to see how he'd react and he completely won me over, and I eat lunch with Jacob Floam at Rotary almost every Wednesday.
My promise to you is this: my campaign will never be a "them vs me" campaign. If anything you'll see me at special events working with these people or going out collecting signatures with them and others. In the end, three of us are going to be working together next spring no matter what. How horrible and disingenuious would it be to work against any of these people during a campaign only then to have to pivot and work together once it's done. Remember, everyone who is running is passionate about something, so much so that they are putting themselves in the spotlight for all of our scrutiny and it's still worth it to them. That's one reason why I admire local candidates. We're all neighbors, and we deserve each other's kindness.
Last Sunday was Reign of Christ Sunday - the final week of the liturgical calendar. Our pastor at church gave a thoughtful reflection wherein she reminded us to remember that quite simply - we are all people. She mused on elections as an example where we easily fall into groupthink and sometimes forget that the people on the other side of the aisle are real people with their own joys and sorrows, worthy of being loved. And tying that back into this blog, I assert again that all candidates running in this election are good people worthy of our patience and consideration.
This is another reason why I think nonpartisan elections are so important. Once you tag a candidate as running on a Democratic or Republican ticket, you can't help but be confounded by that influence, and you lose sight of the issues facing our city and the governance work that needs to be done. So much of that gets replaced with concerns for whatever is being promoted by their party of backing, and we get distracted from the real hyperlocal work that needs to be done.
I will run my own race in a way that I can look back on and be proud of, and I'm confident that anyone else on the spring ballot will do the same. Please get to know all of your candidates. Ask us questions. Invite us to thing. Let us listen to you and take that next step forward together.
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