A Guest Post From Robb Ryerse-- What Have We Done?

Like many other people, I woke up on Wednesday, November 9, 2016, with a gnawing question, “What have we done?” The election of Donald Trump to the presidency had seemed both far-fetched and preposterous to me. I could not believe the choice that part of the American electorate had made.

Also like many people, I was convinced that I needed to do something about the direction of the country. I needed to be involved in some way. Many of my friends began getting involved in local Indivisible groups or attending rallies and protests. Some were writing and calling their Senators and Congresspeople for the first times in their lives. It was inspiring to watch.

But I still wasn’t sure how I personally was going to be involved in opposing the Trump administration.

On Inauguration Day, I got up and went to work like normal. When I arrived home, I learned that during the day, my wife had listened to a podcast about a new group called Brand New Congress. I walked in the door from work, and she held her phone out at me and said, “You’ve got to listen to this. You’ve got to do this.”

I did. I drank the kool-aid. And a journey began that I never would have imagined.

Brand New Congress is an organization that formed when a group of politicos recognized that who we elect to the presidency is really important and rightfully gets a lot of energy and attention, but at the same time, who we elect to Congress is of equal importance. However, congressional elections don’t get nearly the same attention and focus. Polls show that Congress has a dismal approval rating and yet a remarkably high reelection rate.

So, Brand New Congress was started with an audacious idea-- what if we ran as many regular people as could be found in congressional races around the country? What if we gave them the support they need to run viable campaigns? And what if we try to find progressive-minded candidates regardless of political party?

That last part really got my attention. Because of gerrymandering and demographics, there are some districts across the country that aren’t very competitive for one of the political parties. In those districts, the best chance to beat an incumbent is in a primary, not in the general election. And so, strategically, Brand New Congress took a post-partisan approach-- recruiting progressive Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run in deep blue districts and progressive Republicans to run in bright red districts.

Yes, progressive Republicans exist. I know this because I am one.

I’m a life-long Republican who has been horrified to see what my party has become. I like to call myself an Eisenhower Republican. There used to be a time when Republican values included equal pay for women, increasing the minimum wage, expanding needed services, taking care of the environment, and reducing military spending. The Republican party used to be known for who it was for, but now it’s known for who it is against. The Republican party used to stand for liberty and opportunity for all people.

In the era of Trump, I had a decision to make-- should I leave my party for good like Joe Scarborough and others have, or should I stay in it and fight for its future? I decided to stay and fight for historic Republican values.

(And I’m not a unicorn, by the way. In 2018, progressive, moderate, and independent Republicans challenged Trump-supporting incumbents in congressional races from New Jersey to Ohio, North Carolina to California.)

One evening, when I was sitting on my back porch enjoying a cigar with a buddy, my phone rang. It was a representative from Brand New Congress asking me if I’d be interested in running for Congress in Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District.

This began a process of me getting to know the folks at Brand New Congress better and them getting to know me. I went through a program of candidate training. I attended a weekend retreat with other potential candidates, including a couple who would eventually be successful in their primaries-- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York and Sarah Smith in Washington. My wife called it “Congress Camp,” a nickname that stuck.

In May 2017, I was announced as Brand New Congress’ first Republican candidate. I launched my campaign to unseat Trump supporter, Representative Steve Womack in the Republican primary.

Over the next year, I had the privilege of meeting really extraordinary people all over my district. I met people in Arkansas who are deeply committed to solving our country’s problems with creativity and dignity. They were my inspiration and motivation as I campaigned.

As a first-time candidate, even with the help of Brand New Congress, I really had no idea what I was doing, and I made a ton of mistakes. But we persevered. We held dozens of meet-and-greets. I spoke to any group who would listen. We knocked on thousands of doors, made hundreds of phone calls, and even filmed a commercial that aired during the final week of the campaign.

Ultimately, there was no way I would be able to overcome my opponent’s name recognition and war chest. He had over $2 million in the bank and ended up spending $681,000 of it against me. I raised $30,000 but had to spend half of it just to get my name on the ballot. Arkansas, incidentally, has the highest filing fees in the country-- by far. The $15,000 filing fee is highway robbery designed by the political establishment to protect incumbents and keep regular people from running for office.

On May 22, 2018, I got just about 16% of the vote. My friends all told me they were proud of me, and I believed them. But I was still deeply disappointed that the miracle upset didn’t happen.

Here’s the thing I feel the best about in the campaign: once you take out the ridiculous filing fee, my opponent spent over $12 per vote he received. I spent $1.77 per vote I received. And, I never compromised my values, which helps a person sleep better at night.

Immediately following the election, my family took a much needed vacation. When I got home, I knew I would still be involved in politics, but again, I wasn’t sure how. And again, my phone rang. This time, it was a friend of mine telling me about an idea he had.

It was another audacious plan.

He began to describe to me Vote Common Good, an ambitious bus tour of 30 congressional districts around the country where rallies would be held to engage faith-based voters with the idea of voting differently than they have in the past. 81% of white evangelicals had voted for Donald Trump, a number that astonished many of us. What if some percentage of that vote could be convinced to vote differently? Could that be a deciding factor in close congressional races?

I’m not just a progressive Republican, I’m also a progressive evangelical pastor. 13 years ago, my wife and I moved to Arkansas to start a new kind of church. After growing up in fundamentalist Christianity, I had undergone a major shift in how I understand and express my faith. We now lead a wonderfully messy congregation called Vintage Fellowship, full of people who have been on a similar faith journey-- leaving behind the shackles of old religion and trying to actually follow the surprisingly radical example of Jesus.

In Jesus, we see someone who sided with the marginalized and the oppressed. We see someone who spoke truth to people with religious and political power. We see someone who welcomed refugees and immigrants as neighbors. We see someone who offered people the healthcare they needed without blaming them for being poor. We see someone who was really quite progressive.

What if we could help others see this same Jesus we do? What if we could convince them to vote, not just the way they always have or for their own self-interests, but for the common good of all people?

Once again, I drank the kool-aid. Once again, a journey began that I never would have imagined.

I joined the Vote Common Good team as political director, the liaison between between the Vote Common Good tour and the campaigns whose districts we’ll visit. Now, instead of campaigning for myself, I’m spending my time supporting other campaigns all across the country, helping them reach faith-based voters in hopes of changing our country for the better.

I joke now that I’m a Republican who campaigns for Democrats. But, for me, political parties and their establishments are not the most important thing. For me, electing leaders who will put the needs of people first and support the common good is most important.

A friend of mine has dubbed me the “patron saint of lost causes.” Maybe so. But I’ve got to do something. It might as well be something big, daring, and a little bit crazy.



=======

To learn more about what we’re up to, visit votecommongood.com. Find us on Facebook. Show up at one of our events and tell your friends. Help us make a positive difference in America as we support the common good.

If you’d like to reach me, you can email me at robb@votecommongood.com.