ASHFORD ACHIEVES: Students help candidate win congressional election
Senior Tom Ashford, son of congressional winner Brad Ashford, talks to supporter LaDonna Gaines during the Democratic watch party at the Ramada Plaza Convention Center Tuesday, Nov. 4. Tom is one of three children of Brad Ashford, a Westside alum. Photo by Sarah Lemke
Monday, Oct. 20, senior Peyton Wells walked into Brad Ashford’s East Omaha field office. The windows were lined with “Ashford for Congress” signs, and the familiar sound of phone calls could be heard in the background.
She was greeted by a volunteer and walked to a room near the back of the office. Four tables, each equipped with two computers, two phones and one Tylenol bottle.
Wells sat down, picked up the phone, and began dialing.
“Hi, my name is Peyton Wells,” she said. “I am a volunteer with the Brad Ashford for Congress campaign. Can he count on your support in the upcoming election?”
“No,” said the person on the other line, and they immediately hung up.
This is not an unusual call for Wells. In fact, she estimates that around 10 percent of people pick up, and around 5 percent of those who pick up actually hold a conversation with her.
Wells had been a volunteer for Brad Ashford from mid-September to election day, Tuesday, Nov. 4. Brad, a Westside graduate, is the Democrat who ran for Congress in Nebraska’s 2nd District this election. Although negative calls are discouraging, Wells feels like she has made an impact by volunteering.
“There are some days where you’re on the phone and you get mostly no answers or you get a crotchety old person,” Wells said. “But when you get the calls when you talk to someone and have a conversation about the issues they care about and figure out how they should be putting their vote in this election, when I feel like I’ve made a connection with another person on that level, I know I’ve made a difference.”
Senior Tom Ashford is Brad’s son. He, and many of his friends, have volunteered during this election to support his father.
“A lot of my friends and kids I know from school volunteer often, and it means a lot to me knowing that they want to help out,” Tom said.
Tom is no stranger to politics. Brad has run for several government positions since Tom was born, running as a Republican, as a Democrat and as an independent. The foundation of his platform is that he works across the aisle, and he believes solutions to our government are grounded in principles of transparency.
This ideology is the main reason Wells began volunteering for Brad’s campaign. She contacted her former debate coach and fellow volunteer Ian Lee about volunteering and immediately joined. Wells believes
her history with debate has helped her talk on the phone, but she has also learned a lot from volunteering.
“There are situations on the phone where you get someone that just doesn’t agree with you or the person that you’re working for, and I think that above all, this campaign has taught me how to work with others, whether we see eye to eye or not,” Wells said.
Although she is too young to vote, Wells sees the importance of being involved in politics at a young age.
“It’s really important that people our age care about what’s going on in the world around them,” Wells said. “I think people think politics is a really immaterial thing, and it can seem like that from the outside, but this is literally the process where legislation and laws are being formed and passed, and we are deciding the people who are making these laws that shape our very lives and change the course of how we live.”
Although school and basketball often get in the way, Tom is also involved in his father’s campaign. Brad has got an influx of support running against Republican nominee Lee Terry, who has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 16 years. As of June, Terry’s approval rating was 38 percent. Prior to the election, Tom was hopeful about his father’s chances in the election.
“I think my dad really [has] a chance to win this,” Tom said. “Lee has been in office for a long time, and my dad has run a very strong campaign. I’m very excited to see how it ends.”
Elections are extremely busy, not only for the candidates, but for the families as well. Tom’s mom is a business woman, and the whole family was involved in the election.
“I can tell that this is stressful to him, and he always has things going on,” Tom said. “Even when he’s not working on a campaign, he is always working hard.”
During the election in 2012, Lee won by less than a 2 percent margin. On Wednesday, the Omaha World Herald announced that Ashford won the election. He is the first Democrat to represent this district in two decades.
This story first appeared in Issue Three of the Lance, which came out Friday, Nov. 7. Read the rest of the Lance here:
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