The Democrats are coming! The Democrats are coming!
As many of you may have inferred (mostly from me stating it outright), I come from a liberal family of longtime Democrats. So I’m excited to have my party come to Philadelphia to celebrate the last eight years and plan for the next eight.
Someone sharing my excitement is Liberty City Democratic Club Co-Chair Anne Wakabayashi. Recognized by “Who’s Next” as one of 17 young people shaping the political scene in Philadelphia, Wakabayashi currently serves as the executive director of Emerge Pennsylvania, a statewide organization that recruits and trains women to run for office.
In an era where a majority of U.S. citizens barely bother to vote, the 26-year-old political dynamo has already made a difference in the political landscape, working for a number of organizations, including the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, where she spent two election cycles as the political and communications director, respectively. In 2013, Wakabayashi led the fundraising efforts for Equality Pennsylvania, a statewide LGBT-advocacy group, and last year she ran Anne Lazarus’ campaign for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as well as Allan Domb’s race for Philadelphia City Council.
PGN: Birthplace?
AW: San Diego, Calif. I came to Pennsylvania to go to Juniata College in Central Pennsylvania and have been slowly moving east since then.
PGN: From San Diego to Central Pennsylvania, what was your first winter like here?
AW: [Laughs] You know it was pretty rough, I’m not going to lie. Juniata is basically in the mountains and I was a cross-country runner. In the fall I’d been running every day and then late October the first snowstorm hit. I’d put on what I thought was a winter coat — I’d never run in anything other than shorts and a T-shirt — and found quickly that my idea of what was winter gear was not quite realistic. I turned to my teammates and said, “I think you guys need to take me shopping.”
PGN: Were you active in sports all through high school?
AW: Yeah, but just track and cross-country. I don’t have enough real coordination to try any other sports.
PGN: So I’m guessing you didn’t do hurdles.
AW: No, but funny enough I was a steeple chaser. I don’t know why the coach thought that was a good idea. But I did survive. I guess because they’re basically hurdles that don’t move.
PGN: What were some of your other extracurricular activities?
AW: I was a little nerdy in high school; I was involved with a lot of social-justice stuff and oddly I also spent a lot of time at museums. Balboa Park in San Diego is surrounded by a bunch of museums and we used to go down there and hang out, especially on Tuesdays when all the museums were free for San Diego natives.
PGN: As a self-described nerd, are you part of the Pokémon Go fervor?
AW: No! I’m actually really confused by it! How about you?
PGN: I’m still trying to figure out the difference between my photo stream and the camera roll on my iPhone! But I just read about someone making a character named Loveislove and putting it at the site of the Westboro Baptist Church or something like that to rile them up.
AW: Ha! I love it any time people troll that group!
PGN: Tell me a little about the family.
AW: My mom was a Catholic-school teacher and my dad was a software engineer; he retired a couple of years ago but he worked for the Navy, or maybe a subcontractor for the Navy. And I have a little sister who’s 23 now.
PGN: You have a baby sister who’s 23? You look like you’re underage. I definitely would card you at my bar!
AW: Yeah, I know! I don’t mind being carded so much but I’ve had people try to take my ID away thinking it was fake. And I’m like, “Look, I don’t really have to go into your establishment, just please don’t make me have to do all the paperwork to replace my ID.”
PGN: One of the cast members of “Glee” once came to my bar and I carded her. She got a little huffy that I asked for ID. Of course it wasn’t until after the fact that I realized I should have clapped back, “You play a teenager on TV, why are you surprised that you look underage?”
AW: Fair point.
PGN: Speaking of fair, were you always very civic-minded?
AW: Yes, my whole family is pretty civic-minded. We always talked about politics at the dinner table and every time there was an election we voted. The school that my mom taught at was the school that we went to: a very small Catholic school, 30 kids in the class through eighth grade, 200 kids total in the school so it was a really tight-knit community that I grew up in.
PGN: More conservatively or liberally bent?
AW: Pretty liberally bent; I like to say Pope Francis Catholics, from before Pope Francis was pope. It’s nice that he’s around now, it helps me to describe my kind of Catholics. Very open-minded and social-justice-oriented.
PGN: What was the first thing that you were politically involved with?
AW: I was always interested in politics — I was the only girl in my class with a John Kerry sticker on my backpack — but I didn’t really get involved until I studied politics in college. I had a professor who told me I’d be a good fit for this work, I don’t know why, and that’s how I got started. I guess I should call and thank him!
PGN: Or we should! You’re currently the co-chair of Liberty City, the LGBT Democratic club. Why is it important for the LGBT community to have its own advocacy group?
AW: It’s imperative. We have statewide candidates coming through asking for our endorsements, and once they’re elected they are always sure to take our phone calls so it’s exciting to be part of the statewide conversation. We are the organization they turn to when they want to know which issues affect us. Having that voice is incredibly important because there are so many issues being considered in Harrisburg and Washington that have an impact on LGBT citizens and often the impact isn’t obvious; a certain bill might have unintended consequences that the candidate doesn’t realize until they’ve spoken to us. And of course there’s the obvious as well: hate-crime bills, nondiscrimination bills, etc., that have a direct effect.
PGN: It’s good to know that the work that Liberty City does doesn’t end with the election. So we have a crazy election coming up. Are you as flabbergasted as I am that the polls are so close in the presidential race?
AW: It’s unsettling, but I think we’re so far out that there’s time for …
PGN: People to regain their sanity?
AW: Ha. You said that. I wish I could say I was more surprised by it, but we spend a lot of time in other parts of Pennsylvania in areas where there’s been a lot of job loss and I can understand their frustration, even if I don’t agree with the answer. One of the things we recognize is that we need to do more work in some of the areas outside of the city. Philadelphia is pretty solidly blue but if we want to change Harrisburg, we need to get out to surrounding counties. We’re proud of the fact that we just elected Daniel Clifford, the first openly gay judge in Montgomery County.
PGN: Other than the endorsement for Hillary Clinton, what are some of the other important races?
AW: We’re excited that most of the candidates we endorsed in the primaries won, people like Katie McGinty who’s running for Senate. She’s a fantastic advocate for LGBT issues. We send out questionnaires to all the candidates and she returned the most detailed responses I’ve ever seen. You should take a look at it, they’re all on our website. She really understands the issues for the community, and Pennsylvania has never elected a Democratic woman to the U.S. Senate, so it’s about time. There’s also Mary Ellen Balchunis and Dwight Evans running for Congress and Chris Rabb, who we were excited to see running up in the Northwest. There’s a really great slate this year. People can go to the website to check them all out.
PGN: Is LCDC involved in policy issues like the bathroom bills or religious-freedom bills popping up around the country?
AW: We have a policy platform which people can read, but we’re mostly focused on making sure that we elect people who will support us. Fortunately here in Philadelphia, we’ve elected people who have made this one of the best cities in the country, from a legal and equality standpoint. Equality PA has been more instrumental in trying to change things on a statewide level.
PGN: You’ve worked for so many political entities including Equality PA. What was a favorite?
AW: Working to get Anne Lazarus elected to the Supreme Court was pretty special. She was probably my favorite candidate. Don’t tell the others …
PGN: Tattoos?
AW: Yes, I have five. I have the Czech word for “freedom,” a running figure — everyone on my team had it done — a fishing pole, my last name in Japanese Kanji characters and the San Diego skyline. I haven’t figured out what my Philly tattoo is going to be.
PGN: Are you Czechoslovakian?
AW: No, my mom’s Irish and my dad’s Japanese. But I studied abroad in the Czech Republic for six months.
PGN: Was there much connection to a Japanese community in San Diego?
AW: Well, my great-grandparents emigrated from Japan and they were interred during World War II so I think, like a lot of families, they tried to assimilate and didn’t pass down a lot of tradition. My grandfather lived with us and spoke fluent Japanese, but he never taught my father or us. So I identify with it, but I don’t have strong connections to the community.
PGN: Best celebrity encounter?
AW: I got to introduce Hillary Clinton when she was in Philadelphia for the primaries. Meeting her and hugging her on stage was the best.
PGN: I really hope everyone gets on board in November. I was excited that the Democrats had two viable candidates and am happy to support the nominee. I don’t understand the Bernie boys and others who object to Hillary, especially considering what’s on the other side of the aisle. And that was before his anti-woman, antigay VP pick.
AW: I think any woman running for office brings such a different leadership style. It’s going to take some adjustment. But I think people will start to recognize what a great president she will make.
PGN: For sure. Speaking of women running for office, you’re the executive director of Emerge PA. Tell me a little about it.
AW: It’s a great organization whose mission is to empower and train Democratic women to run for office. We’re in 16 states and the track record is pretty impressive. Fifty-two percent of Emerge alumnae have run for office or been appointed to local boards or commissions and, of those who ran, 70 percent have won.
PGN: Nice! Why is it important for women to be elected?
AW: Women have a different understanding on needs in policy areas such as health care, transportation, education and jobs. We bring new perspectives to issues and that increases the likelihood of conceiving and implementing effective and just solutions to social, economic and environmental problems.
PGN: I just saw the film “Political Animals” at qFLIX about the first openly gay legislators (all women) and it was interesting how recently it was that the first one was elected.
AW: The U.S. is really behind when it comes to women in political power; only six states currently have female governors, only nine states currently have female lieutenant governors and women make up just 17 percent of the U.S. Congress. Globally, the U.S. ranks 90th in the world for women in elected office, behind Mexico, China and Pakistan!
PGN: How do people of any gender start if they want to get involved in politics?
AW: Get involved in your neighborhood. Philly is great for that; there are community-development organizations, there are committee spots in local government or organizations like Liberty City that you can join. The more you’re involved, the clearer the opportunities become.
PGN: And what if people just want to volunteer for the election or the convention?
AW: People can go to www.phldnc.com/volunteer-signup to volunteer for the convention, they are using thousands of volunteers and still need people to sign up. We are always happy to welcome people to get involved with Liberty City as well. As we get closer to the elections, you can do phone banks or canvas door to door, or if that’s not your thing, you can help with data entry, or running for coffee. We’ll find a place for you.
PGN: And where can they find you?
AW: We’d love for people to come to the DNC Welcome Happy Hour at Woody’s on July 24, 3-6 p.m. Liberty PA, Equality PA, Liberty City and the office of Rep. Brian Sims have teamed up to welcome LGBT delegates from around the nation and it’s going to be a great time. It’s free and open to the public with drink specials and food trucks set up on 13th Street outside of the bar, including Tot Cart, Pbons Fresh Food Philly and Waffles Wedges. On July 26, there will be a Post-Gavel Karaoke Party at Tavern on Camac from 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Just look us up on our website or Facebook page: http://ow.ly/BW0k302oyWD.
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