By Natalie Glezen, 2025 CLA Intern
How many interns does it take to write the opening joke for a two-minute mock campaign speech? More than you might think!
Over seven weeks, I was the Policy Director for my CLA mock campaign team, Imani Lee for California Assembly District 49. Although I was the designated policy person, everyone else and I contributed to each step of the campaign. Our project was to create a campaign that developed a policy platform, a pathway to victory, an endorsement panel questionnaire, and a candidate speech for the CAUSE Summer Soiree. My specific role was to research, write, and outreach for a policy platform. In reality, my teammates and I worked on every stage of the campaign together. Starting the policy research felt like looking at an overwhelming blank canvas–where do I look to find credible opinions on district issues? Furthermore, how do I recommend policy for issues the district has been grappling with for decades?
I took the process one step at a time–leaning into our campaign’s core missions: showing up for our communities and moving forward together. This guided my research, as I focused on policies that 1) encouraged and incentivized residents to get involved in their neighborhood, 2) considered AD 49’s multigenerational homes, and 3) adapted to the state’s significant budget cuts. One of the most research-critical skills I exercised early on was discernment while researching. Among the dozens of policy assessments, community surveys, and think tank essays, I learned to pick and choose what I believe applied best to AD 49. I soon found myself in a wormhole of literature–and yet, my curiosity kept me digging deeper. Combining my research, our team’s field outreach, and anecdotes from our communities and networks within AD 49, we developed a policy platform with three focuses: affordable housing, infrastructure, and language access.
The endorsement panel was of my campaign highlights. Not only was Imani beyond impressive with her memorization of all our campaign content, but our entire team also contributed their expertise during the interview. For me, it was a genuine example of what working as a team looks like. Earning the mock endorsements of panelists Meghan Choi from Groundgame and Michael Colorge from Stonewall Democrats affirmed for me that our policies represented the needs of AD 49 and reflected the attention and care my team put into policy.
The day of CAUSE’s Summer Soiree felt unexpectedly calm. Yes, talking to hundreds of civic advocates within three hours was an intimidating feat–but I had immense confidence in my team. I knew that we had produced a campaign that showed we cared deeply about serving AD 49, regardless of the election’s outcome. Energized by my team, it was fun chatting up the attendees–not only did I campaign for Imani, but canvassing new people helped me expand my professional network. By the night’s end, seeing how our team canvassed to so many attendees while also checking in on each other was the best end to our weeks-long campaign that I could have asked for.