I had the pleasure of meeting Amber Medina on Martin Luther King Day at Washington Park earlier this month. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do much more than introduce myself before returning to taking photos of the other attendees. However, I was able to attend her Campaign Kickoff, hosted by the Half Moon Saloon in downtown Brownsville, on Thursday, January 28, 2016.
Right after my evening class at UTRGV, I made my way to the bar and, upon arrival, found myself surrounded by attorneys, city officials, and hopeful candidates. Some of them were probably all three. For a guy whose idea of a good time is hiding away in his room to have a Netflix marathon or listen to music, spending a couple of hours among strangers with prestige and a sense of purpose was very disorienting yet exhilarating.
Not even a minute after I arrived, Medina noticed my father and I checking the place out and walked over to greet us. We quickly caught up, asking how each other has been since the MLK event, and she informed us that there was free food and drinks. I'm not much for alcohol, but I did enjoy a few chicken salad croissants and powdery cookies while I was there.
After eating, I was able to ask Medina a few questions about her time as the Cameron County Democratic Chairwoman. I'm grateful to report that she never resorted to what I call "politician fluff" as she answered my questions. For every mention of the abstract idea of positivity, she quickly followed up with a concrete action that would work toward the education and involvement of the community.
In the time that you've been in office, what would you say have been some of your accomplishments? What are you proud of?
Some of the things we've done have been to just bring openness and transparency to the office. What we did for the first time, in 2014, was have forums for the public, and for every office that was contested in the primary, we'd hold a forum with every single candidate, one in Brownsville and one in Harlingen, so that we could have the public attend and be informed on who they could vote for and which Democrat they felt was the best qualified.
In addition to that, we've really tried to bring positivity and raise awareness on the elected officials and the good things that they're doing.
Right now, messaging is very important. Everyone operates on sound bites, blogs, online news, everything like that.
We started a media committee. From that, we've started a new magazine, "RGV Voter's Voice", and we've put out our first issue last December.
She had me hooked at the words "openness and transparency," and everything she said after that only reinforced my view that this was a woman who was passionate about making progress.
So, you're really working to make all this information about voting and about the candidates accessible to the public. Now, what are some of the plans you'd want to act on if you keep the Chair?
What we hope to do is engage the community and let them know what their elected officials are actually doing for them, and that not everything is negative.
We want to continue working with the high schools in registering voters. We've had some success in some of the school districts, but we need to work on others. We've already started to open communications with our elections administrator to see if he could help us with that. We obviously want to reach all of our high school students and get them registered to vote as election code requires.
And as always, always, we want to get people out to vote. Right now, it's not just a county problem. It's not just a state problem. It's a national problem, and we're looking into what we can try to do about that.
Back in 2013, when she was elected into her current position, Medina said that "two of her top priorities will be to address the county’s notoriously low voter turnout and create a more energized, organized and effective party." It's safe to say that she's kept herself occupied in addressing these issues, and she's done so effectively.
If re-elected, Amber Medina's energy will continue to power the Democratic Party in a way no other candidate vying for her position can. She has the experience necessary to lead Cameron County to greatness, and her current projects lend credibility to the plans she has for the future. Her campaign revolves around the idea of being an open book. Now that you've read my review, I suggest you check her out for yourself.
This is my endorsement. I will vote Amber Medina for Cameron County Democratic Party Chair.
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