Were there any comments by the panelists that struck you as especially true, upsetting, inspiring, and/or thought provoking? What were the stories that stood out to you?

One of the democratic panelists spoke about how her struggle in the Missouri house isn’t getting bills passed, but “making the evil that’s being churned out less bad.” With such a distorted ratio of Republicans to Democrats in the house, the minority has very few chances to contribute at all. It leaves a very un-optimistic take on the future of Missouri politics.

Did the panelists’ experiences as Democrats, Republicans, and/or independents change the way you thought about party politics, and if so, how? What about the role of political parties—what did you learn about bipartisanship, and our political power structures

All the panelists had different experiences with partisanship depending on their position in the state. County Executive Dooley, for example, said that political divisions didn’t stop over 70% of his political funds coming from Republicans with a keen interest in their areas. It taught me that smart investors don’t stop at party lines but invest in whatever falls into being in their best interest.

What did you learn about political strategy (door knocking, base building, etc.), and how those strategies can change over of the course of a campaign?

Many of the panelists began their campaigns as relative unknowns and began their campaigns by focusing on a single issue. They said that the main way to gather votes in their campaigns was to go door to door and talk to voters. Apparently their biggest struggle wasn’t getting people to vote for them specifically, but more so just getting people to come out to vote at all.

Many of you struck up conversations with our guests after the formal panel. What did you talk about? Did you pick up their cards? How might you continue the conversation, with these panelists or others?

After the panel discussion, the panelists were more willing to speak to us about their personal fights in their respective areas of the government regarding the issues that they care about right now. Also, while I didn’t pick up any cards, both Rep. Newman and Rep. McCreery followed me back on Twitter! Hopefully this networking experience will come to fruition sometime in the future.

Our panelists talked a lot of ways to be involved with campaigns and elections—not just as a candidate, but also as a volunteer or staffer. Could you see yourself as a politician, in a support role? Compared to our panelists, how do you think you would approach your campaign?

Campaigning is a big undertaking and usually requires a lot of money. However, if I were to help a campaign as a volunteer, I’d think that I would be best able to help through getting voters informed over the phone or by going door to door, as many of the panelists said were essential to winning a campaign.

Besides the above questions, my biggest takeaway from the event was how many times each panelist had lost an election and how differently they all responded to failure. However, their presence as members of the Missouri legislature showed me that successful failures are key to future success; truly, we should never give up if we are passionate about something.