In 2020 it seems quaintly naïve to write about "believing" in a candidate. Who can believe anything anymore? Belief is a sucker's game. Belief is so 2012. But my wife Emilie and I believe passionately in Stephanie Schmid, the Democratic candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 4th Congressional District, where we have lived for the past 15 years.
If we didn't believe in Stephanie, there would be little point in my writing this blog post. The story of why we are voting for her is too boring for words. We are lifelong Democrats, we generally vote blue, and could have been counted on to do so this year. Voting for someone and believing in them are not the same thing, however.
I confess, neither Emilie or I paid much attention to the Democratic primaries here in NJ-04. Like many others who are terrified of what has been happening for the past four years, we were distracted by national politics. We were impressed by Stephanie's resume: career diplomat and foreign service officer, human rights attorney, legislative advocate for reproductive freedom. But we didn't exert any special effort to persuade our fellow Democrats to support her. Partisan cynicism: we preferred Stephanie, but we knew we would vote blue regardless.
To be fair to us, not all of our motivations in this congressional election are strictly partisan. Chris Smith has been in office for almost forty years, that is much too long for a representative of any party to effectively serve his constituents. Though he has had some achievements, he has grown completely entitled and out of touch. He hasn't held a town hall here in New Jersey for almost two decades. Even more than that, his priorities are from another century. He has been crusading against a woman's right to choose and against the civil rights of LGBTQ citizens more generally since 1978. However much we admired Stephanie on paper, we didn't really need or seek reasons to support her candidacy beyond the fact that she was running against Chris Smith.
All of that changed when we first had the opportunity to meet Stephanie in September. Whether you are talking with her one-on-one or hearing her address a group, her intensity and intellectual firepower knock the wind out of you. She has the kind of command of the facts that only comes from a lifetime of study and experience, combined with a passionate commitment to public service. We have become so used to leaders who speak in half-baked grunts and childlike taunts that hearing someone speak in paragraphs freighted with facts and ideas is as much a shock as it is a pleasure.
But that alone wouldn't have been enough to sway us to belief. Stephanie has something much more rare than intelligence and knowledge. She has integrity. That came through in everything she said and did that first day that Emilie and I met her, but one moment stands out in my memory. She was addressing a group of voters and someone asked about the Green New Deal. Stephanie paused for a moment and took a breath. "There is going to be a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court," she said. "The Green New Deal is not going to pass judicial review. That is why we need people in Congress who understand the law, and who can achieve the goals of the Green New Deal with carefully crafted legislation."
I almost fainted. We have become so accustomed to snake-oil pitches, "miracle cures," and empty promises from on high that it was incredible to hear a candidate talk straight with voters: to tell us about what might be possible with hard work, instead of giving us a fairy tale about how all our dreams were a hand-clap away. That is perhaps the single greatest reason that we believe in Stephanie: she believes in things greater than her own ambitions (what a concept, right?). Even more than that, she believes in us. Unlike so many of our leaders, she isn't so jaded as to assume that we must be talked to like children.
On our way home from meeting Stephanie, Emilie and I looked at one-another, and I could sense that we were both thinking the same thing. We knew we had just met someone special, someone who could confront the daunting challenges that threaten our future and that of our teenage daughter. "How much should we donate to her campaign?" I asked, knowing that like most families our finances have been under strain recently. "A thousand dollars," Emilie said without blinking. It is more than we have ever given to a single political campaign.
Emilie and I have no illusions. Though Stephanie has performed magnificently in debate and on the campaign trail, we know that she faces a hard fight to get to Congress. But we believe in her, just as we believe in our neighbors and friends here in Monmouth and Ocean. We know that if the word gets out about what is at stake, and of just what a special opportunity we have in Stephanie's candidacy, the best woman can and will win. If you have read this far, please give Stephanie your vote. And please spread the word. When Stephanie is in Washington and begins working for all of us, you'll be glad you did.
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