Loads of money. Scathing, half-true political advertisements. Experience as a state senator.
These are the things Judithanne McLauchlan, USF St. Petersburg political science professor, was up against in her run for the Florida District 22 senate seat. She took the challenge and ran against Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes, who ran unopposed during the last election in 2012.
But on Tuesday’s election night, her efforts fell short.
The final vote in last week’s election resulted in a loss for McLauchlan, who received a total of 74,662 votes (42.31 percent). Although she lost the election, McLauchlan said she will continue her involvement in politics.
Brandes, who raised millions of dollars during his campaign, spent $600,000 on a TV commercial slandering McLauchlan by saying she supported state income tax, according to McLauchlan.
Although this commercial continued to air throughout the campaign, Brandes’ claim was quickly shot down by Politifact, a political fact checking website.
“He spent so much money to lie about me,” McLauchlan said in an interview with The Crow’s Nest.
McLauchlan, a Fulbright Scholar, was encouraged to run last fall. She was well aware of the challenges of running in a midterm election, where the voting turnout rate is usually low. But this did not stop her.
McLauchlan’s strong desire to help families in Tampa Bay make ends meet fueled her during the campaign trail. She spent the whole year campaigning, going door to door and calling voters expressing her desire to make the middle class heard in Tallahassee, and to encourage people to go out and vote.
McLauchlan still hopes to see changes made in the state of Florida and here in Tampa Bay. She wants to see an end put to the “pay to play culture.”
Instead of allowing politicians in Tallahassee to get kickbacks from taxpayers dollars, and giving money to big corporations, McLauchlan planned to work towards having money set aside for education and to help make college more affordable.
“If we don’t try, nothing will ever change,” McLauchlan said.
She doesn’t consider herself a politician, she says she is a teacher and is happy to be doing what she loves. Had she have been elected, McLauchlan would have worked as both a teacher and a senator.
“As a professor, I would have looked at things in a thoughtful way. I would have done my research and examined information,” said McLauchlan.
