Voice of the People: Radio By and For the 99%
Oct 20, 2026 · 1 hr 55 min · 15 segments
Missoula City Councillor Kristen Jordan speaks about how and why to run for office in Missoula. This was part of the Socialist Speakers Series 2026 sponsored by the Western Montana Democratic…
Mark AnderlikHostKelly SatherGuestI really appreciate everybody taking their time to come and listen to how to run for office.
I'm going to talk about two things tonight with a lot of detail, why you should run for office and how you can actually do it.
A few offices have some extra requirements and I'm going to walk you through them.
I also want to put the caveat on this that even though I am a proud DSA members paying, dues paying member, this is a bit more of a general why you should run because I think that representation really matters to have a healthy democracy.
And so this is more toward generally just running rather than coming from a DSA slant, although I would argue that DSA is happy for a healthy representative body.
All right, so my first thing, if everyone that can, can get out their smartphones, we're gonna start with a quick survey.
We're gonna do a pre and a post survey, and I'll give you a minute to get your phones out.
How likely are you to run for office in the next five years? Someone like me could be elected to local office.
And what's the biggest thing holding you back? So go ahead and scan that QR code and answer those questions.
And so my hope is that with this speech tonight, we might see some of these numbers change because perhaps You don't want to run because you don't know how, or you're worried about public criticism, or you're not sure which office you would run for.
And I want to make sure that everybody understands what they can do, how they can do it, and that we need people just like you to run.
So I see that people are still responding, so I'm going to wait another minute.
How likely are you to run for office in the next five years? Look at that, very unlikely, 33%.
I really appreciate everybody taking their time to come and listen to how to run for office.
I'm going to talk about two things tonight with a lot of detail, why you should run for office and how you can actually do it.
A few offices have some extra requirements and I'm going to walk you through them.
I also want to put the caveat on this that even though I am a proud DSA members paying, dues paying member, this is a bit more of a general why you should run because I think that representation really matters to have a healthy democracy.
And so this is more toward generally just running rather than coming from a DSA slant, although I would argue that DSA is happy for a healthy representative body.
All right, so my first thing, if everyone that can, can get out their smartphones, we're gonna start with a quick survey.
We're gonna do a pre and a post survey, and I'll give you a minute to get your phones out.
How likely are you to run for office in the next five years? Someone like me could be elected to local office.
And what's the biggest thing holding you back? So go ahead and scan that QR code and answer those questions.
And so my hope is that with this speech tonight, we might see some of these numbers change because perhaps You don't want to run because you don't know how, or you're worried about public criticism, or you're not sure which office you would run for.
And I want to make sure that everybody understands what they can do, how they can do it, and that we need people just like you to run.
So I see that people are still responding, so I'm going to wait another minute.
How likely are you to run for office in the next five years? Look at that, very unlikely, 33%.
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