Earlier this year, ProgressWomen paired a group of young women politicos throughout the country with a progressive legislator in their state and invited them to get to know each other via our project, “Legis-Ladies”.
Madison Kimrey, a 12 year old activist from Burlington, North Carolina not only introduced herself to State Senator Mike Woodard but last week spent an entire day shadowing him at the NC State Capitol.
My friend/colleague Sen. Woodard is a progressive champion who consistently stands up for reproductive justice and voting rights. My young friend Madison is a progressive activist who speaks for voting rights, LGBT equality, reproductive justice and many more issues.
They are a perfect fit in my book —-read the account of their day together.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
courtesy of Madison Kimrey
MY DAY WITH SENATOR MIKE WOODARD
by Madison Kimrey of North Carolina
On Tuesday June 10th, I got the amazing opportunity through the Legisladies Project to hang out at my State Legislature with Senator Mike Woodard of North Carolina’s District 22. I’ve been following Senator Woodard on social media for quite some time, and his passion for issues like our environment, economy, and women’s issues is evident.
Senator Woodard and I talked for a bit when I arrived and then went on a little tour, visiting both the House and Senate side of the building. The Senator spoke to lobbyists and colleagues about things like the coal ash spill and the budget. They also made small talk about TV shows and such.
Then it was time to go back to the office. Today was veterinarian day at the Legislature and veterinarians are encouraged to visit. As an animal lover, it’s nice to know that Senator Woodard has connections with vets willing to give him advice when any legislation involving animals arises. A group came by to discuss the fact that Blue Cross doesn’t pay for certain therapies for autistic children. Blue Cross claims this is an education issue, while the autism advocates see this very much as a medical issue. Senator Woodard listened thoughtfully to all their concerns.
Then we had lunch. The food at the Legislative Office Building is really good. I had lasagna. Senator Woodard had pork chops. A lobbyist came by to discuss the budget while we eating.
After lunch it was time to go to committee. On our way, we stopped by the garage. An interesting fact I never knew was that in general, the special numbers on the legislators’ license plates can many times be used to identify that legislator’s party. Low numbers are usually Republicans and high numbers Democrats. I noticed that that a lot of the low numbers were shwanky cars and a lot of the high numbers were nice, but more average cars.
We arrived at committee where the topic was finance. It’s very different reading about the operations of government or even watching it on a live feed versus actually being there to see how things work. The Republicans were extremely touchy when others disagreed with them. The Democrats were a lot more lighthearted about things. They laugh a lot. It made me feel good to be young Democrat amongst that company. During committee, I also got to meet someone else I greatly admire, Josh Stein, who I became a fan of when he spoke out about the elimination of voter pre-registration for teenagers last year.
After the committee meeting, it was time for the legislative session. There was no extremely important business that was ready to discuss, so they decided to adjourn and reset for another day. Again, being in the space gives you a whole new perspective. The buttons they use to vote and the way the votes come up on the screen, even though I’ve seen this on live feed many times, is magical in person. After session, I chilled out while Senator Woodard was in caucus.
Senator Woodard is so humble. He’s not one of those people you think needs to be knocked down a peg. He doesn’t point fingers. He looks for solutions. I think he was a little bummed that there wasn’t more going on today for me to see. Well, for months people have been asking me the question.
Do I plan to run for office later in life? Honestly, I still don’t know the definite answer to that question. What I do know is that seeing the typical day-to-day business, the typical workday when nothing particularly huge was happening, has made that possibility one I will give much more weight to.
READ MORE ABOUT MADISON KIMREY AND HER WORK ON HER BLOG – FUNCTIONAL HUMAN BEING.