Jackie Weatherspoon Runs for Re-Election

Public Services Assistant and Democratic Club advisor Jackie Weatherspoon is running for a third term on the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s (NHDP) Rules Committee. The 274-member election caucus will decide the results of the election, which will take place in mid-March.

The Exeter Democratic Club co-heads currently manage Weatherspoon’s online re-election campaign, which centers around her expertise in political advocacy. In the past weeks, seniors Maggie Wainwright, Anne Brandes, Nahla Owens and Dillon Mims, in addition to upper Grace Valashinas, designed promotional paperless pamphlets, organized interviews, sent emails to NHDP voting members and posted updates on the campaign Facebook and Instagram pages. 

“I think it’s important to give a student who wants to take on a task like this the opportunity,” Weatherspoon said. “I give them the support and the direction.”

“I want to thank these students,” Weatherspoon continued. “They’re very savvy themselves; they know how to appeal to representatives of all age groups, understand how to give a pitch, and they know that sometimes someone will hang up on you or ask you strange questions.”

“And it’s absolutely fun watching students build a campaign themselves,” she added. “It’ll go on their record, so if they ever wanted to run themselves or organize a campaign at any level in the future, no one can ever take this experience away from them.”

Manager of Customer Support Services and fellow Democratic Club advisor Donna Archambault agreed, sharing that the NHDP had noted Weatherspoon’s experience with student engagement. “National campaigns reach out to her to get our students involved in events,” Archambault said. “It’s a great way for the students to get experience and prepare for future opportunities.”

Weatherspoon’s political involvement goes beyond youth political participation. A centerpiece to Weatherspoon’s experience has been her work in the aftermath of the Bosnian War in 1995. She worked for the U.S. State Department, where she implemented the last phases of the Dayton Agreement, the peace agreement which ended the war. 

“As an American, I understood the power of registering the vote,” Weatherspoon said. “In some countries they didn’t allow women to vote; we would inform them of one person one vote, regardless of one’s sex or orientation. I was so privileged and honored to share the American sense of democracy and our constitution.”

As a member of the Harvard Law School Mediation Program, Weatherspoon has “been in the courts, listening to people, fighting for their rights whether it’s landlord-tenant or for a disability.” 

“I understand the rights of people and rights start with your voice being heard. Your vote is your voice,” she said.

Weatherspoon also served as the New Hampshire State House Minority Whip and participated in the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire. In addition, she is involved with the project Women's Leadership for Peace and Security in the Horn of Africa. “I’m passionate about what it means to vote and to help not only my community, not only my surrounding state, but women and children abroad, not only in Europe, but of the continent of Africa,” Weatherspoon added.

If elected, Weatherspoon hopes to continue work with prison reform and voting transparency. “If people cannot trust those who make the rules, who can they trust? I will continue to grow trust and knowledge,” she said.

New Hampshire State Representative Alexis Simpson shared her trust in Weatherspoon as a candidate. “The first call I made when I decided to run for office in 2014 was to Mrs. Weatherspoon. She taught me how to run a professional, ethical and responsible campaign,” Simpson said. “She is able to assess situations clearly and quickly and make accurate decisions in the midst of the high-intensity atmosphere of political campaigns. She is also fair and thoughtful as she works to elect Democrats up and down the ticket.”

Many staff and students have likewise shared positive thoughts on Weatherspoon’s campaign. 

  “Hers is a campaign that builds bridges between people, a progressive campaign that's not afraid to go out of a comfort zone to propose something that she believes is right and not just right for a small group of people, but, for the entire population of New Hampshire... she's really become a leader here,” Spanish Instructor Mark Trafton said.

Mims also expressed how much Weatherspoon has done for students. “Her contacts, connections, and abiding value of young peoples’ voices has benefited so many of us who are politically active by connecting us with candidates, organizations, and campaigns,” he said. 

“If Mrs. Weatherspoon brings even a fraction of what she brings to the Dem Club to the NHDP Rules Committee, she’ll do great!” Valashinas said. “She’s a great faculty advisor to Dem Club, and she has too many skills that would be helpful to the NHDP to list.”

Trafton believed that Weatherspoon’s kind presence on campus will translate to effective and warm leadership in the Committee. “I love this term in Spanish: solidaridad. It means political solidarity but also support,” he said. “Mrs. Weatherspoon always has time to discuss things and encourages people to get involved with the community. ”

Trafton is excited to see Weatherspoon in office again. “You don’t look at Mrs. Weatherspoon and think, ‘Oh what a phony, she’s just in a powerful position but doesn’t walk the walk,’” he said. “No, she does what she says. She does. She practices what she preaches. I think her coming here is one of the best things that could happen for young women of color at the Academy, at Exeter.”