Interview With Lisa Hendrickson
Primaries, propositions, and partisanship, oh my! Does political jargon make your head spin? In Part 2 of her interview with Know Why, campaign manager Lisa Hendrickson explains primaries, offers tips on staying engaged in between election cycles, and discusses the importance of finding common ground with your political opponents.
Inform Yourself
Lisa strongly encourages people to become more politically active. During election season, this includes voting in primary elections. Many people misunderstand primaries, or prefer to only vote in general elections, Lisa told Know Why. In her opinion, not participating in primaries is equivalent to letting someone else make important decisions for you.
She also encourages young adults to dedicate the time and energy to researching candidates for themselves to become truly informed. Even though it’s time-consuming, it’s worth it.
Lisa Hendrickson
“It’s the day-to-day, moment by moment staying involved that makes a difference.”
“You know more about the Kardashians or Taylor Swift, but will take no time to make sure you have freedom the next election cycle,” she said of people who don’t take the time to research candidates and issues.
Stay Engaged
While becoming an informed voter is arguably a first step to becoming politically engaged, Lisa told Know Why that staying active in between election cycles is just as important. “It’s the day-to-day, moment by moment staying involved that makes a difference,” she said. “It’s not just showing up in an election year, then going home.”
While Lisa doesn’t like the word “compromise,” she does believe it’s crucial to have civil conversations with political opponents in order to find common ground and make a difference in those areas. That can’t happen if opponents aren’t willing to talk.
“You need to sit at a table long enough with someone to find out what you can agree on,” she said.
Listen to Part 1 of Lisa’s interview with Know Why here.
More Resources
- All Politics is Local: And Other Rules of the Game by Tip O’Neill and Gary Hymel