“If you want to make a difference, you have to give it a shot,” Judithanne McLauchlan told a group of USFSP students at the Womens’ Empowerment Club Guest Speaker event on Monday afternoon.
McLauchlan, a USF St. Peterburg Associate Professor of Political Science and Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, is running for Florida State Senate in District 22 this year, and her name will be on the polls this November. McLauchlan plans to further investment into district schools and help middle class families to avoid financial struggles while having every opportunity available to them.
“I have to try,” she said, “because I feel that our problems are so great, that I feel like I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
Judithanne’s path has not been easy. Judithanne is a working mother, and constantly has to bounce from teaching at work, to working on the campaign, to making time for her family.
“The first question I get is, ‘How can you run? Aren’t you a mom? Don’t you have to be home?’ and I want to be a good mom, but this is about our futures and it is good for her…when I asked my daughter Peggy what she wanted to be when she grows up before the campaign, she wanted to be a princess. But now, she says she just wants to help people.”
However, Judithanne’s packed schedule has not been her only road block: Jeff Brandes, Judithanne’s opponent for Senator of District 22, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars publishing negative ads of Judithanne: “They’re just lying,” Judithanne explained Monday, “They say I support an income tax. I don’t. Nobody likes being attacked.”
One advertisement depicts Judithanne in a lab coat and gloves, claiming she supports ObamaCare expansion, and another ad on television claims she supports the income tax and filed for bankruptcy.
She further explains on her website: “I’m disappointed he would stoop to unsubstantiated falsehoods, but it is no surprise that he wants to distract from his record of supporting Duke Energy’s utility tax while taking thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from them. I know the voters will see this for what it is – a desperate politician who can’t run on his record lying to keep his job.”
Judithanne however, holds her head high. “Win or lose this campaign, I feel that I’ve still set an example. If you want to make a difference, you have to try. I may not get the seat, but I have to try,” she says. Judithanne also encourages every student to register to vote before October 6th, because you too can make a difference: “Your futures are at stake, USF’s future is at stake, and Florida’s future is at stake,” McLauchlan explained.
