Maintaining Passions in the Face of Adversity

0:06

hello my name is Justin Hodge I'm a

0:08

clinical assistant professor at the

0:09

University of Michigan School of Social

0:11

Work and after winning an incredibly

0:13

tough primary election the Democratic

0:15

nominee to represent District 5 on the washtenaw

0:17

county commission I'm going to share a

0:19

bit about my story to illustrate the

0:20

importance of maintaining your passions

0:22

in the face of adversity I pursued a

0:24

career in social work because I have

0:25

always been passionate about working to

0:27

make positive change in the lives of

0:28

others and my community Throughout my

0:30

career I provided mental health care

0:31

services to children and families

0:33

services to build wealth and communities

0:35

and promote economic mobility including

0:37

creating college savings accounts for

0:38

children and providing free tax

0:40

preparation for low-income families And

0:42

now as a professor of social work I

0:44

prepare my students to find solutions to

0:45

address the most pressing challenges

0:47

facing our society and working with

0:50

countless individuals and families I

0:52

grew to see government as a powerful

0:53

vehicle for making change in people's

0:55

lives both positive and negative And

0:58

seeing the direct impact that policy has

0:59

on people's lives compelled me to get

1:01

engaged in politics and over time I

1:03

became more and more involved With this

1:05

being 2020 the year of a monumental

1:08

presidential election many people are

1:09

paying much more attention to politics

1:11

and elections than usual However it's

1:13

been my experience that most people

1:14

don't pay attention to local politics

1:16

nor do they know who their local elected

1:18

officials are or what they do Despite

1:20

that the people on school boards city

1:22

councils county commissions and many

1:23

other local governing bodies make

1:25

decisions that affect your day-to-day

1:27

life If you care about quality public

1:29

education mental and physical health

1:30

care clean drinking water parks roads

1:33

and transit and so much more you should

1:35

be paying attention to who your local

1:36

elected officials are In 2018 I decided

1:39

to put my values and experience in

1:41

action and ran for county commissioner

1:43

From the beginning I knew that I was

1:45

facing an uphill battle I was

1:46

challenging an incumbent that had served

1:48

in various elected offices for more than

1:50

three decades There are many people that

1:52

told me that I should wait my turn and

1:54

not to make any waves But I couldn't do

1:56

that Our county was and still is facing

1:58

many serious issues that I felt the

1:59

incumbent had not been addressing We

2:01

were falling far short of my vision of a

2:03

county in which everyone has the

2:04

opportunity to be healthy to build

2:05

wealth and to be safe with the county

2:07

being a place where everyone has access

2:09

to quality and affordable healthcare can

2:11

get a good job to provide for themself

2:12

and their loved ones and where zip code

2:14

does not determine the opportunities

2:15

that are available to people But life

2:17

doesn't take a break for a campaign and

2:18

there were obstacles both expected and

2:20

unexpected that were thrown in our path

2:22

Professionally the campaign took place

2:24

during the extensive interview process

2:25

that I was going through for the

2:27

position that I have now at the

2:28

university Personally my wife and I were

2:30

looking to purchase our first home So

2:32

much of the campaign period was spent

2:34

with our realtor looking at properties

2:35

and then moving into our new home just

2:37

weeks before the election In the midst

2:39

of all of that my brother-in-law was

2:41

both diagnosed and passed away from

2:43

brain cancer a loss that my family was

2:45

in no way prepared for We kept fighting

2:47

though and I was committing all of my

2:49

time to furthering our campaign And as

2:52

we waited for the results to come in on

2:53

election day we were hopeful My opponent

2:55

had done next to no campaigning relying

2:57

instead on decades of name recognition

2:59

Now I wish this was a part of the story

3:01

where I could say that all the hard work

3:02

had paid off and that we won But we

3:04

didn't And after everything that we had

3:06

gone through I was crushed and extremely

3:08

discouraged After taking a few months to

3:10

reflect on the experience and get some

3:12

much needed rest I got back in action I

3:14

knew that the same issues that drove me

3:16

to run in 2018 would still need to be

3:17

addressed in 2020 So I continued working

3:20

building my connections to my community

3:21

and preparing to run again Not long

3:24

after I began my campaign the incumbent

3:26

announced that she would not be seeking

3:27

re-election Given how well we performed

3:29

in the last cycle by most people's

3:31

account I was now the favorite to win

3:33

Moreover the other candidates in the

3:34

race were also African-American which

3:36

meant that regardless of who won it

3:38

would be the first time in history that

3:39

someone non-white would represent this

3:41

district The campaign was proceeding

3:43

smoothly and our team was feeling good

3:45

We were preparing for our kickoff

3:46

fundraiser event in March which happened

3:48

to be the same week that the COVID 19

3:50

pandemic began ramping up As a result we

3:52

had to cancel our event and as we came

3:54

to find out completely change our

3:56

strategy to adjust to campaigning in our

3:58

new reality Despite those new obstacles

4:00

we remained optimistic and continued

4:02

working to spread our message Little did

4:04

we know there was one more surprise

4:06

obstacle that we would need to overcome

4:08

On the last day to file to run for

4:10

office a political rival of the

4:11

incumbent that I ran against in 2018

4:13

another politician that has been in

4:15

elected office for decades withdrew from

4:17

running for re-election to the office

4:18

she had been serving in to run in my

4:20

race Things suddenly changed and I now

4:22

found myself in another uphill battle

4:24

just like 2018 But unlike 2018 because

4:27

my new opponent's political maneuvering

4:29

was viewed as an obstacle to increased

4:30

diversity among elected officials the

4:32

media and more community members took a

4:34

greater interest in the race for this

4:35

seat than ever before This increased

4:37

interest was a benefit to all candidates

4:39

in the race but there was a growing

4:40

concern that would result in my new

4:42

opponent's victory as voters would be

4:44

split between the three African-American

4:45

candidates I knew that for us to win we

4:47

would need to run a campaign so

4:49

effective that we both overcame my new

4:51

opponent's decades of name recognition

4:53

as well as the votes that we would lose

4:54

to the other three candidates So we got

4:56

to work and we worked worked and worked

4:59

It was a long bumpy road to election day

5:01

with plenty of ups and downs There were

5:03

some people who had supported me prior

5:04

to my new opponent entering the race

5:06

that became too afraid to continue their

5:08

support and some that even shifted their

5:10

support to her I received vicious

5:12

race-based attacks and someone even

5:13

burned one of my yard signs being

5:15

displayed by a supporter But that didn't

5:17

deter me We kept campaigning We got that

5:19

supporter an even bigger yard sign to

5:21

replace the one that had been burned We

5:23

persevered After candidate forums

5:25

countless virtual events and creatively

5:27

engaging voters from a distance due to

5:29

the pandemic we arrived at election day

5:31

And again unlike 2018 this time we

5:34

emerged victorious It wasn't by as

5:36

comfortable of a margin as I would have

5:38

liked but given all that we had to

5:39

overcome I would have been happy to win

5:41

by just one vote After years of hard

5:44

work it really did pay off There's no

5:46

way that I could have done it without

5:47

the support of my family friends and the

5:49

community members that supported me in

5:50

my vision In the face of overwhelming

5:53

obstacles having people around that

5:54

believed in me and were willing to

5:56

commit their time and energy to my dream

5:57

helped me stay encouraged and passionate

6:01

I hope that hearing a bit about my story

6:03

and some of the obstacles that I

6:04

overcame encourages you to pursue the

6:05

things important to you the things that

6:07

really make life worth living It was

6:09

never easy but every challenge I

6:11

overcame every step I took closer to my

6:13

goal reaffirmed to me that I was on the

6:15

right path My advice to you is to find

6:18

what excites you and pursue it with

6:20

everything you've got