We “the People” have lost faith in politics, and I don’t blame us. The priorities shared by legislators and the average candidate ignore that most residents in our country, whether in the cities or rural areas, are still struggling to get basic needs met. At this moment, the power is ours.
We know the ways we are impacted by reproductive rights; violence; racism; employment and the size of our paychecks; transportation; human services; civil rights; lending institutions; healthcare; education; aging; childcare and parenting; disabilities; relationships and mental health; immigration; lack of support for small businesses and nonprofits; policing; incarceration; and on and on…
We know better than anyone how these issues affect our lives, where the gaps are and how the balls can get dropped. We can best come together in the decision-making rooms at the Capitol, in Our House to offer recommendations toward fixing them.
That is what Democracy is supposed to look like, those impacted representing themselves, and that is why I am running for State Representative in the new 77th Michigan House District.
I am a regular person. I straddle the line between low-income and middle-class and recently opened a nonprofit civil rights bookstore. I rent a small home in North Downtown Lansing. I depend on seizure medicine. I’m an LGBTQ+ person and have spent a career in human rights. The people I’ve met throughout my career in public service have proven that the hardest workers often struggle the hardest.
We are fighting to feed ourselves. Without a living wage, we make sacrifices to get our everyday bills paid -- if we can get them all paid every month. We also know that our own communities are doing hard work to prevent everyday gun violence and need to be supported in that work because research supports that working to address the root of violence is more effective than scrambling to fix wounds after the fact.
Our neighbors, right now, are thinking about how to secure their right to safety and how to find the resources necessary to get through the average day. After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, this includes our right to control our bodies and our relationships. Justice Clarence Thomas would like us to reexamine the rights of all communities and relationships since our country’s founding. This is about the families we have built, rights long fought for, and humanity we still work to see recognized.
We need a community builder who is a collaborator, not a savior or voice in place of us. We need somebody to hold “down the seat” and not their tongue on the issues that matter. A representative must have a spine to fight with the community in the now, ensuring those most impacted by each issue are informing and building the solutions.
That’s why in March of this year, after a lifetime in advocacy, human rights, and public policy, I knew I wanted to step up to ensure our voices were truly represented. We must be in Our House and we need to be unflappable in the face of special interests and extremism.
My Republican opposition in the general election is an election denier who doesn’t believe in racism and mocks efforts to address discrimination. I will bring to the capitol a background in responding to hate and bias incidents and addressing hate and bias in our communities.
I have worked in the legislature under two Democratic legislators - in the midst of the foreclosure crisis - to keep people in their homes. I have run a statewide civil rights organization helping to build movements, halting harmful legislation and passing policy for human rights. I’ve worked in the community with several of the advocacy orgs and neighbors you know well, in partnership, because it is important and necessary to be a part of progress.
It is essential we have somebody in that office that knows the process and the decision-makers but can’t be swayed by special interests. That door needs to be open to all of us. Without a price tag.
We are in this together. Every election matters. This Election is about doing democracy better for all. We are the power of this moment, community voices speaking together for ourselves.
I'm Emily Dievendorf and I hope I have earned your vote for State Representative on November 8.
*Text and photo provided by Emily Dievendorf for State Representative
Emily cares so much that she has ignored outreach to the vast majority of the 77th, especially the rural areas, focusing only on a few neighborhoods in Lansing. Her "for the people" stance is laughable as she has no interest in representing anyone other than those in her narrow circle of friends. The 77th is stuck with two terrible candidates thanks to the new boundaries.