WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Druid Christy Coleman didn’t win a seat on school board, but she says she’s learned valuable lessons that she’ll use in for the next election. Coleman ran for the District 3 seat in Williamson county, TN. The District 3 race featured candidates; Christy Coleman, Kimberly Little, and Eliot Mitchell. Mitchell was elected to the seat with 477 votes, Little received 332, and Coleman came in with 236 votes.
![[Courtesy Photo]](https://wildhunt.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Coleman-500x370.png)
[Courtesy Photo]
“There is such a thing as a good ole boy politicians club,” Colemand explained. “And it accommodates the luxury of not having to work as hard or being able to have people do your work for you. By hard work I mean personally knocking on 4000 doors like I did. Working 40-60 hours a week on your campaign on top of your day job.
“I was averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night and I think my child forgot what my face looked like. And I guess one of my opponents, who also lost the election, probably knocked on as many doors because I would see her everywhere. I’m not judging the club. I hope one day to be in it. And most who are already club members got there by busting their tails at some point in the past. But running against someone in that club is a very big undertaking.”
In a blog post titled “My reflections on running for office,” Coleman wrote candidly about the challenges she faced as a Pagan running for office.
She said that running a campaign is more difficult than she thought. “Everyone said that running for office would be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. They were right about the physical exhaustion. I wasn’t sure I would make it to the election in August at times.”
Coleman also noted how expensive it is to run for office. She said that you should plan on spending five to seven thousand out of your own pocket for a local, non-partisan election.
“It did open my eyes as to why a lot of politicians gladly accept PAC money,” said Coleman.
In addition to dealing with the expected hate mail and political tricks faced by almost every candidate running for political office, Pagans and Heathen candidates also have the added challenge of how to disclose information about their religion. How much should they say? When should they say it? And, what to do once your opponent tries to use it against you?
“I was accused of not being transparent about that during the campaign but the fact is, if people asked if I was a Christian I said no, ” said Colemen. “It was even briefly mentioned in my bio on my website and Facebook page. I say briefly because my religion has zero to do with public education and the decisions I would make.”
Coleman added that she didn’t want her campaign to focus on religion, unlike Ms. Little, whom reportedly made bringing God back into school a cornerstone of her campaign. Instead, Coleman focused on upcoming budget shortfalls, standardized testing, and rezoning.
Yet religion played a role in her campaign in positive ways. Coleman believes in divine intervention, and said that it assisted her many times during the election.
“From the kindness I meet in the unlikeliest person my first day canvassing after receiving the most aggressive physical threat by man supporting another candidate. There are good people out there and they may be your opposite. I’m not saying he’s good for voting for me, I’m saying he’s good for showing kindness to someone he shouldn’t, by all things on the surface, get along with.
“To the random synchronicity throughout the campaign putting me in the right spot at the right time in front of the right people. These meetings may not have panned out for me in the short term, but it helped me build a solid reputation for the next time.”
Coleman said that there will be a next time, “Whatever you do, make up your mind if you will run again before Election Day. You are either all in or you are all out. I will see you in 2020.”
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Unless Christy grew up in Williamson County, another reason she would’ve lost is because she’s “not from around here.” I hope that’s not the case, but it certainly is true, and I live in Washington County, TN, which is a little more liberal but that crap goes on here as well.
Hi Tauri, even with my lack of accent (years of speech therapy as a child), I’m from around these parts. Born and raised in various parts of Davidson and Williamson county.
And you are very right about the “not from around here mentality.” What is funny about that is most liberal people I know around here, are actually from here. And some of the extreme conservative are not.
Well my experience has been the opposite. I was declined for a number of jobs because I wasn’t from around here, but just one of those Damned Yankees. They never said that, but the questions they asked… led me to believe that. Luckily I did find a job with people who also weren’t from “around here” and now I’m retired!
I wish you well on your next go round. I think you’ve got a lot of guts trying for a public section job. Not easy by any means.
Good for her for running!
“In an interview, Coleman told The Wild Hunt that, although her religion was brought up during the race, she doesn’t attribute her loss to religious bigotry. She said that Eliot Mitchell had the advantage of established political ties, and this advantage was one she wasn’t able to overcome.” That is actually great news.
Was it voters asking her if she was Christian?