11/02/2025
We’ve nearly made it to the end of the campaign, and as I was warned, I wish I’d had more time and energy to do so many things. Perhaps most of all, I wish I’d written more about my own reflections.
Campaigning and putting yourself out there in an intensely polarized world is a strange thing to do. But for all its challenges, it has been a genuinely enriching experience. The conversations on doorsteps never cease to surprise me. People often say an election is about a single issue, but that’s never true. It’s obvious, but still worth saying: people’s concerns and interests are deep, complex, diverse, and impossible to pin down. What I am certain of is that I learned far more from every person who took the time to talk with me than I was ever able to offer them—and for that, I am very grateful.
In recent years, I’ve found myself uncertain about my political identity, straining for clarity in a world that seems to be tumbling toward the edges.
While I will always be firmly committed to progressive politics—believing that if we put people and the environment first, ensure that those who are struggling most get the help they need, and aim to plant trees whose shade we will never sit under, we will make good decisions—I’ve also come to recognize that we are at our weakest when we lecture, and at our best when we sit down together to find specific actions.
Compromise and admitting when you don’t have all the answers can be hard, but finding common ground doesn’t need to be. If we strive to make the world safe for diversity and focus on our shared interests, we can find ways to move forward together.
I recognize that it may sound naively trite, at this point in time, to defend centrist progressive politics—to believe in the value of listening over lecturing, and to seek compromise while holding firm to one’s values—but I’m not ready to give up all of my idealism just yet.
I say all of this to highlight what has been most crystallized for me over the past month: that progressive politics are not all the same.
I’m genuinely proud to have been part of a team and a campaign that embrace and showcase the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives that Yukoners hold. A campaign that, despite having a big hill to climb, has stayed positive and hopeful. One that has respected the value of diversity and the importance of ensuring voters have a real choice. One that has not called other candidates asking them to step down to “consolidate the progressive vote,” nor leaned on fear to drive support. One that has resisted the urge to lecture—holding strong to its values, being proud of its accomplishments, acknowledging its failings, and staying open to compromise.
It’s been fun, and I truly wish everyone the best with the election tomorrow!
Oh—and vote YES for voting reform, if nothing else.
