Senior Rukmini Banerjee speaks to families living in Sunnyvale while canvassing for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.
PHOTO | JAI UPARKAR
THE BLUE WAVE
Local community members discuss their involvement in the political process BY JAI UPARKAR AND EMILY XIA
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lipping pins to his suit as he eyed the side door of the debate, senior Tedman Chai tried to look as official as possible. He wasn’t allowed to watch the debate, but he was too curious. He confidently strode past the two security guards and walked into the room, with no one ever suspecting him. Chai was in San Francisco at the time, attending the 2018 California Democratic Party State Convention as an intern. His passion for politics expanded after his successful entrance into the room of speaker events and panels. “It was just the fervor of the room and the intensity of the things that they’re saying,” Chai said. “There’s speaker events or panels that just seem to go nonstop, only punctuated by the conversations in
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EL ESTOQUE | MARCH 2020
the room. I think that was when I got an overwhelming sense of passion, and to borrow Hamilton lyrics, ‘That’s the room where it happens,’ right? And I really wanted to be in that room.” In addition to serving as the chair of the California Youth Policy Alliance for more than a year, Chai spent two months interning for the Santa Clara Democratic Party, where he had the opportunity to organize events, fundraisers and community engagement. After working at the state level, Chai enjoyed the change of pace through interacting with local representatives who determined policies that directly affected the community. Similarly, Tracy Edwards, who serves as the a co-president of the League of Women Voters’ (LWV) chapter in Cupertino, has
been involved in local civic engagement for almost 30 years. LWV is a nonpartisan political organization that aims to educate people in their community about ballot measures and other policies by holding forums and voter registration drives. Last year, she visited MVHS history classes to pre-register 16 year olds to vote. “Your generation and my generation [Baby Boomers], are the two big lumps of populations that are swirling through our society, and you’re a really important demographic,” Edwards said. “We really care that you get engaged and we try to make that point. So we hope we leave you feeling that you’re important, you’re going to be listened to and you have a very valuable asset called your vote that you need to exercise.”
