Leave the world better than you found it.
My earliest political memory is of being brought along with my mom to knock doors for Barack Obama in 2008. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for her to have a 10 year old (and probably my little brother too) at her heels, on what I remember to be an unseasonably blustery fall day. But she did it because in my family we live by a timeless creed: “Leave the world better than you found it.”
I don’t come from wealthy donors or a long dynasty of politicians–my one grandfather was raised in Baltimore’s subsidized housing projects and the other as the son of immigrants–so for most of my life that motto had little or nothing to do with politics. It was about shoveling my elderly neighbor’s sidewalk because it’s the right thing to do or about picking up litter someone else would walk past.
Building strong communities wherever I go honed my ability to feel the pain of others and inculcated in me an obligation to not just leave some amorphous “world” better than I found it but to make real improvements in the real lives of very real people.
My first job working at a farmers’ market made me fall in love with organic farming, because I knew I was leaving people and soil healthier than before. So I planned to make my mark on the world by studying agriculture and becoming a farmer. A couple years in, disillusioned at the prospect of starting a farm that would have to compete against corporate goliaths, I spent months soul searching for the intersection of what I love, what I am good at, and what the world needs; ultimately, I landed on agriculture policy.
When I moved to Annapolis after graduation, I didn’t get involved in politics so much because of a higher calling–much less my own ladder-climbing–but because a friend was running for office and needed a hand. We worked really hard and eventually came up short by a couple hundred votes, but what I remember most from that race is connecting the real problems I heard folks were experiencing when I knocked on their doors to the power that local government has to address them.
Sometime around when I joined the Annapolis Democratic Central Committee at the end of that campaign in fall of 2021 is when all of those life experiences coalesced into a relentless focus on improving individuals’ lives through politics and policy. I’m proud of the work I did to strengthen Annapolis’ Democratic party so it could elect Democratic candidates. But I honestly did not ever think I would be one.
When Alderwoman Tierney announced her resignation, I spent a couple of months and many conversations trying to find a candidate other than myself who could fill the impressive shoes she was leaving. First and foremost, they had to be a Democrat, the party of opportunity and abundance for all. But beyond that, I knew our Ward needed someone who would focus on the biggest issues affecting everyday residents’ lives and who could bring together the best minds to develop out-of-the-box but sensible solutions to those problems.
When I couldn’t find someone who would live up to that bar, I faced two options: sit around complaining for the next five-plus years or replace a lot of time that I could be using to enjoy our beautiful waterways and our charming restaurants with committee meetings, late-night constituent calls, and dense briefing books. And as much fun as the former sounds, “Leave the world better than you found it” told me I needed to choose the latter.
Local government determines where we're born, how we live, and when we die. It has tremendous power to make consistent improvements in residents' health, wealth, and happiness. As alderman, I pursue common sense policies to do just that.
It is a monumental honor, opportunity, and responsibility to be your alderman, and I promise you that I will leave the Ward better than I found it.