A Word From Our Young Democrats

We are fortunate to have active young Democrats who are helping reach out to the youth in the community of Legislative District 20. One of our dedicated young people was quite fortunate in receiving the opportunity to intern at the offices of Congressman Harry Mitchell in Washington, DC!

Erica Pederson is active on Arizona State University's campus as a Young Democrat, and helped stage the protest against the education budget cuts at the State Capitol earlier this year. She has maintained correspondence with LD20 and has given us her blessing in sharing some of her experiences. In her own words, Erica describes her time in DC:

I've been in DC for 7 weeks, and working in Congressman Mitchell's office for 6 weeks now, and I've loved every minute. DC is truly an amazing city, and it has so much culture, something that Phoenix seriously lacks. I'll be sad to leave in two weeks, but at the same time I am eager to return to familiar things, my friends, and my family. And LD 20!

Some of the highlights of my trip have been the holidays. Back in May on Memorial Day, I got to see President Obama speak at Arlington Cemetery, which was an incredible experience. My roommate and I arrived about 3 hours early in order to get good seats in the amphitheater, and we were probably about 150 feet away from the main stage.

I also got to celebrate the Fourth of July in the nation's capital. Some of my friends came in to town to visit me, and I showed them around all the monuments. We ended up at the FDR memorial to watch the fireworks show across the Tidal Basin just south of the mall, and it was hands down the best fireworks show I've seen ever. I kept thinking the finale was happening every 5 minutes, but the show lasted for 20 minutes, and when the finale finally did happen, there were so many fireworks that the smoke from them was clouding out some of the other fireworks. It was awesome.

Working in Harry's office has been amazing; it's been probably one of my favorite things about being here! Everyone in the office has been super nice, and they have been eager to help me when I need it. I've been doing lots of "interny" things, like sorting mail, answering phones, and data entry. But I've also been able to help some of the legislative staff with research, and I've done a lot with constituent correspondence. It's interesting to see the other side of politics, rather than just the campaign side.

I miss everyone in LD 20, please say hi for me!

Be back soon,
Erica

We are always happy to see our local stars shine brightly on a national stage!