Where You Choose to Be

There are many moments that remind us what it means to show up for each other.

This week marks 25 years since September 11, 2001.

For those of us old enough to remember that morning, there are images that never really leave us. Images we can still see when closing our eyes. The smoke. The towers. The confusion. The faces of people searching for their loved ones.

But alongside the horror are the memories of extraordinary courage. Firefighters climbed stairwells while everyone else was coming down. Police officers and first responders ran toward danger. Ordinary people helped total strangers they had never met. And in the days, weeks, and months that followed, whole communities across the country responded to unimaginable tragedy with a remarkably simply question:

What can I do to help?

Twenty-five years later, that spirit of service is worth remembering for its own sake. September 11th should never become just another political prop.

In fact, that’s part of why it was so disappointing to watch President Trump use an event honoring the anniversary this week to once again insert himself into the story, repeating disputed claims about bringing in construction workers to Ground Zero and adding an account of firefighters carrying him away from a nearby building.

There were thousands of real heroes that day. We don’t need to invent any. Perhaps the best way to honor them isn’t by arguing over who gets to place themselves closest to history. It’s by remembering the lesson they actually taught us.

Showing up matters.

And that lesson applies long after the emergency is over.

Where is Your Local Representative?

That brings us back home to Minnesota’s Sixth District.

After a long absence from any public-facing campaigning here, Congressman Tom Emmer is making a campaign appearance this week.

There’s just one big fat problem.

It’s in Texas.

Tom Emmer is among the Republican leaders scheduled to appear at the party’s two-day midterm convention in Dallas, a national gathering built specifically to cater to President Trump’s ego and the Republican campaign for November.

Now here’s what makes that choice particularly revealing:

Not every Republican is going. Some Republican candidates have decided that, with Election Day approaching, their time is better spent back home campaigning with the people they’re asking to represent and not showering praise on the man single-handedly destroying our Country.

Tom Emmer made a different choice, and representation is about priorities. It’s about where you spend your time. It’s about whose voices you seek out. Ultimately, it’s about where you choose to be.

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Because while Congressman Emmer is in Dallas, Minnesota’s Sixth District is still here.

Families are still standing in grocery store aisles doing mental math before they reach the checkout. People are still wondering what their next healthcare bill is going to look like. Farmers are still trying to make the numbers work in an incredibly difficult economy. Parents are still juggling work, childcare, school schedules, and everything else life throws at them.

And not a single one of these people should have to travel to Texas just to get their representative’s attention.

The People Who Are Here

This week also brought another kind of return. Across Minnesota, students are heading back to school.

There’s something wonderfully ordinary about it. Backpacks. School buses. New teachers. Parents taking pictures on their front steps. Kids seeing friends they haven’t seen all summer. Teachers standing in classrooms they spent days preparing.

Custodians, paraprofessionals, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, administrators and countless others getting ready to do the work that keeps our schools running.

Doug wrote this week about how, growing up, the day after Labor Day always felt a little like a second New Year’s Day.

A fresh beginning. A sense of possibility. And maybe there’s something worth holding onto with that. Public schools represent something bigger than buildings and textbooks. They’re a promise we make to one another.

A promise that the child growing up in St. Cloud deserves opportunity. So does the child in Elk River.

And Monticello.

And Lino Lakes.

And every rural community, suburb, and neighborhood in between.

Public education is one of the clearest examples of what government can accomplish when we decide that some things are worth investing in together. Teachers show up. School staff show up. Parents show up. Students show up. Communities show up.

Our elected representatives should too.

What You Hear When You Listen

There’s another reasoning being here matters. You learn things.

When you spend time talking with people all across the Sixth District, you discover pretty quickly that most people aren’t walking around thinking about whatever political controversy happens to be dominating the news that afternoon.

They’re thinking about their lives. They’re thinking about why their paycheck doesn’t go as far as it did six months ago. They’re thinking about the payment plan they have with their health care provider to pay outstanding medical bills. They’re thinking about their kids. They’re thinking about whether their family farm will still be there for another generation. They’re thinking about retirement and how it seems to be a pipe dream. They’re thinking about housing. They’re thinking about whether government is actually making any of those things easier.

And they’re allowed to be frustrated.

They’re allowed to believe Washington isn’t working for them.

They’re allowed to question the people they’ve voted for before.

That doesn’t make someone an extremist. It doesn’t make them un-American.

It makes them a voter asking the most basic question our democracy allows us to ask:

And if the answer is no, there’s another question we’re allowed to ask:

It’s Okay to Choose Another Door

I’ve heard Doug say a line a few times that always stays with me after he says it:

“It’s better to admit you walked through the wrong door than spend the rest of your life in the wrong room.”

That’s worth remembering as we head toward November. Elections shouldn’t be loyalty tests. Voting for someone one doesn’t mean you owe them your vote forever. Voting for one political party of your life doesn’t mean you’re required to keep on doing it.

Changing your mind isn’t a weakness.

Listening to new information isn’t betrayal.

Deciding that something isn’t working anymore doesn’t mean that everything you believed before was wrong.

Sometimes it simply means you’re ready to try another door.

Our campaign has heard from voters across Minnesota’s Sixth District who are asking those questions.

Republicans.

Democrats.

Independents.

People who haven’t paid much attention to politics before. People who have voted for Tom Emmer before. People who simply know that groceries are too damn expensive, gas costs way too much, healthcare in this country is a joke, and Washington may as well be on it’s own planet in an entirely different reality.

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We don’t have to agree on everything. Most of us never will.

We only have to agree that we can expect more from the people we send to Congress.

Representation Starts Here

Twenty-five years ago this week, Americans witnessed acts of service and sacrifice that are almost impossible to comprehend. We remember the people who ran into danger. We remember those who helped strangers. We remember those who simply asked what needed to be done and then did it.

Absolutely nothing happening in our politics today compares to the sacrifices made that morning, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise.

But, the principle behind service certainly hasn’t changed.

Teachers do it every morning. Farmers do it long before sunrise. Nurses do it for eighteen-hour shifts. Parents do it every single day. Neighbors do it when someone needs help.

And representation, at it’s most fundamental level, is supposed to mean showing up too.

Not just in Washington. Not just at party functions. Not just when your nose is powdered and the cameras are rolling.

Here.

In the communities you were elected to represent. Listening. Learning. Answering questions. And remembering who sent you there in the first place.

That’s what Doug Chapin has spent the last year and a half doing across the Sixth and that’s what he’ll keep doing.

Because ultimately, public service isn’t about where you get the biggest audience (news flash: it ain’t in Texas that’s for sure).

It’s about remembering who your audience was supposed to be all along. Us.

What’s Going On Around the Sixth?

Tom Emmer may be in Texas, but Doug and the rest of the team will be all over the Sixth District across the coming weeks.

Whether you’ve volunteered before or are ready to jump in with both feet, there are so many great opportunities to choose from. Knock doors, make phone calls, send post cards, join a parade, we’ve got something for everyone!

Saturday, September 12 — All Hands on (the) Deck: Weekend of Action

10:00 AM & 2:00 PM
Team Chapin HQ, Monticello

We’re kicking off a major weekend of action with opportunities for everyone to help.

You can knock doors, make phone calls, deliver yard signs or write postcards — whatever fits your comfort level. Doug will also be stopping by for the kickoff.

Never volunteered before? That’s okay. This is a great place to start.

Saturday, September 12th — Carver County Pride

11:00 AM–8:00 PM
Carver County Fairgrounds, Waconia

Team Chapin will join the SD48 DFL booth at Carver County Pride alongside other candidates and community members.

Doug is scheduled to attend, with his exact appearance time still to be determined.

Stop by, say hello and celebrate with the community!

Saturday, September 12th — CD6 Working Families Potluck Picnic

4:00–7:00 PM
Aquatore Park, Blaine

Join local party leaders, candidates, activists and neighbors for an evening centered on the working families who make our communities run.

Bring something to share, meet people from across the district and spend some time with the people doing the work right here at home.

Tuesdays & Saturdays — St. Cloud Grab-and-Go Postcards

9:00 AM
St. Cloud DFL Office, 1729 W. St. Germain St.

Want to help on your own schedule?

Stop by the St. Cloud DFL office and pick up a postcard packet. Each packet includes postcards, addresses, instructions and sample messages — everything you need to reach voters from home.

This is what showing up looks like.

Sometimes it’s a conversation at someone’s front door. Sometimes it’s a phone call. Sometimes it’s celebrating with your neighbors at Pride, sharing a meal at a picnic or writing postcards from your kitchen table.

No matter how you do it, every conversation matters. With Election Day getting closer, there’s never been a better time to find your way to help.

Come show up with us.

Be sure to check out the Doug Chapin for Congress Mobilize page for details and many other opportunities!

Ready to Try a Different Door?

If you’ve voted Republican before, there’s room for you here.

If you’ve voted Democratic your entire life, there’s work for you here.

If you’re independent, undecided or simply exhausted by politics, there’s room for you too.

You don’t have to agree with Doug about everything.

You just have to be willing to have the conversation.

We deserve an economy that works for us. Healthcare that cares about us. Schools that prepare their children for what’s ahead. A government that serves them rather than itself.

And a representative who remembers that the Sixth District isn’t somewhere you visit when there’s an election.

It’s home. It’s our home.

The door is open.

Come on in.

54 days until Election Day, let’s make every one count!

#Flipthe6th #LFG #ReadyforBetter

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