I am pretty set on running for a House of Representatives position in the state of Alabama. I am a democrat, and my district was formerly democrat until our representative left the position. The current republican in office has not had a challenger, so I am not sure if my district is still majority democrat or not. My district is gerrymandered to include half of a larger college campus as well a few some inner city neighborhoods.
I have already began working on campaign topics, as well as signing up for political training with activist groups. I have a degree in political science, but actual campaigns will of course require a lot more than that. I'm willing to dedicate everything I can to making this work though.
My concerns as a trans woman are of course plentiful. My main concern is the media attention. If I recall correctly there has only been two openly transgender legislators in The U.S. and that was in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Being in the Deep South, I feel like I am going to be in the spot light more than the issues I'm campaigning on. That worries me because while I can hold my democratic base, I'm going to need my message on issues to get out to garner more votes.
My second concern is hate. Slurs and such don't phase me, but the threat of physical violence does. There is an active klan chapter in my district, and they still carry out hate crimes. The most recent being in May of this year. I refuse to allow them to stop me, but I am worried that they will cause me to have to dedicate more resources to security rather than to my campaign.
What do you guys think?