Alison Lundergan Grimes – Potential Senator

Alison Lundergan Grimes, former student of Mr. David Jarczewski, has spent much of her time in the past year campaigning for the 2014 midterm elections. Currently positioned as Kentucky’s Secretary of State, Grimes hopes to take the Senate seat from incumbent Mitch McConnell.

Grimes, a Maysville, Kentucky native, attended Lexington Catholic High School before earning her undergraduate and law degree from Rhodes College and American University, respectively.

Grimes became interested in politics “from a very young age.” Her family, having a strong political background, allowed her to recognize “the importance of public service.” Grimes remembers spending “countless hours encouraging Kentuckians to participate in elections and doing philanthropic work with [her] family.” From these experiences, Grimes was taught “the importance of being an active, politically involved citizen.”

Before Grimes considered involvement in Kentucky politics, she was an attorney in Lexington. She vividly remembers an account which heavily influenced her decision to get involved in public policy. She said, “As a lawyer, I realized I needed to do more for Kentuckians when I was personally thanked for my work by a young woman I was representing in a domestic violence proceeding.” After this, she became adamant on becoming a leader who would “stand up for those whose voices are not often heard.”

Another reason Grimes decided to run for Secretary of State was her passion to support and empower women through the government. She said, “When I looked around state government and saw that women were underrepresented, I knew the Secretary of State’s office was the perfect fit for me.” Grimes also said, “Women have the passion, understanding, and vision necessary to help move our country forward to its best and brightest future. Women empower women and also their families. The more women serving in government, the more we all succeed.”

Grimes campaign for Senator is centered around her urge to put the people of Kentucky first. She hopes to be a Senator who generates “commonsense solutions [and] who instead of just talking about the problems actually goes out to fix them.”

Some of the policies Grimes’ works for and hopes to enforce as Senator include raising the minimum wage, creating more jobs for Kentuckians, and ensuring equal pay for equal work.

Grimes also gave advice to anyone who may be interested in public policy in their future. She said, “Being an elected official takes a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication.” Despite the busy lifestyle and hard work of an elected official, Grimes believes her job “allows [her] to fulfill her passion for working every day on behalf of all Kentuckians.”

One of the most important aspects of the job, she states, is “to not be so focused on your goals and political ambitions that you neglect the people and relationships that made you interested in public service in the first place.”

The current polls regarding the Senate race reveal that Grimes and McConnell are closely tied for the Senate seat. Primary Election Day is set to be on May 20, 2014 and the General Election will be on November 4, 2014.