Below are two letters of support from young DFLers I've worked with. Hannah helped with the campaign I managed in 2010; Krista was Co-Chair of the College Democrats when I was at St. Olaf.
My name is Hannah Borowsky, and I am a senior at Hopkins High School. Over the last few years, my friends and I have created a Young Liberals Club at our school. Our group is devoted to progressive thinking, helping others, and exchange of ideas. This fall, we wanted to get involved in politics and experience what it's like to work on a campaign. Lucky for us, we were led to the right person... Vanessa! She was working as Steve Simon's campaign manager, and she eagerly jumped at the chance to get a group of high schoolers involved. I'll always remember the first meeting we had with her because I've never felt so empowered before. We sat down to talk about how the Young Liberals Club could get involved in Representative Simon's campaign. We thought we were just going to be told what to do, but Vanessa immediately exclaimed, "What do you guys want to do? We'll do it!" We talked about the importance of getting young people to understand what the candidates actually stand for, and how we could make that happen. Vanessa had a bottomless list of ways in which we could get involved in her campaign and a contagious energy that made us want to help. The kind of person who can make a bunch of 17-year olds excited about schlepping all over the city hammering ginormous lawn signs into the ground, is the kind of leader we want on our side!
~Hannah Borowsky
My name is Krista Siems and I am a 2007 graduate of Saint Olaf College. The beginning of my sophomore marked the Kerry-Bush presidential election. I had the role of Campus Coordinator for the DFL Party; it was at this time that I first met Vanessa Blomgren. Vanessa was vital to the success of St. Olaf's Get Out the Vote campaign -- even though she was in her junior year of college, Vanessa always took time out of her busy homework and theater schedule to door knock around campus every night in the two weeks leading up to Election Day. In addition to that, the weekend before the election, Vanessa worked with the DFL Party chairs in the cities of Northfield and Lakeville to coordinate their Get Out the Vote campaign. I remember being thoroughly impressed with Vanessa's ability to reach out and get the attention of those Northfield and Lakeville residents that live in the far outskirts of the city or in farm areas. Though I do not know the exact figures, I know that during the 2004 election cycle, the residents of Lakeville, Northfield, and St. Olaf had extraordinarily high voter turn-out rates. Most significant to me was Vanessa's ability to keep me calm during the turbulent times leading up to and on the day of the election. I got super stressed out during the time leading up to the election and Vanessa was the rock that I needed to keep me calm. I know that my success as a Campus Coordinator can be largely attributed to the meticulousness and support of Vanessa Blomgren.
You may think that it is easy to show dedication to a political party during an election cycle. But Vanessa remained dedicated to the College Dems during the non-election year that followed. As secretary of the College Dems, she would steadfastly take notes, set agendas, work on fundraising, and most importantly, she kept our meetings on task. Vanessa's biggest accomplishment as Secretary of the St. Olaf College Dems was the creation and organization of "Blue Week." Much to my chagrin (as I was co-chair of the Dems at that time), participation had gotten a bit lackluster during this non-election year. Vanessa worked with me to create a week devoted to proudly announcing one's allegiance to the Democratic Party. Together, we organized daily events that made one proud to be a Democrat. Our biggest week event was the beginning of Thursday night viewings of the Daily Show (a tradition that the College Dems have maintained to this day). Having worked with Vanessa when she was Secretary of the College Dems I have full confidence in her ability to be Secretary of the DFL Party. She is a great asset to any organization that she is a part of and the DFL Party will be strengthened with the addition of her as secretary.
~Krista Siems
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