Are you ready to be called a racist: The courage to run for office - CPAC FL 2022

Heather Sellers, Matt Hurtt, and Stephen Rowe from the Leadership Institute take the stage for a panel discussion at CPAC Florida 2022 about the challenges conservative candidates face on the campaign trail.

Sellers and Hurtt share their personal experiences running for their respective offices. Sellers sat on Montgomery County school board for six years. Prior to sitting on the school board, she had been very involved in her local public education system as a homeroom mom, in her PTA, and she became a textbook selector for her local schools. Sellers was motivated to better the opportunities and education for her children and all the children in her district. Her system at the time was a failing one, and she was dedicated to improving the quality of schools. Sellers harnessed that fact to remind the voters that her opponent, a former superintendent, contributed to the failing state of the district and of course, won her seat on the school board.

Hurtt advises potential candidates to campaign for votes, raise money, and confidently present concrete solutions. Real past situations show that this strategy can be effective. If you put the work in, get your message out, and throw passion into your campaign you can be successful. Hurtt himself knows how close local races, especially, can be as a county commissioner candidate at the age of nineteen who came within just ninety votes of defeating an incumbent candidate. Thus, he urges those considering elected office to embark on that effort, knowing that victory is very possible.

The panel overall encourages those considering to run for office to embrace the negativity they will receive and go ahead and take the leap.