At a family gathering over the weekend, several people asked me the same question: “Are you working on any interesting stories lately?”
My answer was the same three words each time: “Election, election, election.”
There are five seasons for journalists: winter, spring, summer, fall and election. For many of us, election season starts in early September — sometimes even in late August — with candidate profiles and voter guides. The coverage continues after Election Day with follow-up reporting and deep dives on results. Eating pizza on election night is as much of a quintessential tradition for us as is a pumpkin patch or a hayride in the fall. Political advertisements are like classic Christmas movies.
OK, maybe that last part was an exaggeration, but you get my point.
I’ve been covering elections for almost 10 years now – five years as a reporter at Ideastream Public Media, and four years as a student journalist at Kent State University.
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on those early years covering elections as a fledgling collegiate reporter.
Kent State’s student television station, TV2, produced a two-hour show on election night. We primarily covered local and statewide races. In 2016, though, we sent reporters on election night to New York City, where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had their watch parties. I was a sophomore, so I didn’t get to go to New York, but I was still pretty excited to travel to Columbus to cover the Rob Portman-Ted Strickland U.S. Senate race.
Election coverage for my 20-year-old self was nothing short of exhilarating. I got to drive to Columbus with my student media friends. I got to interview campaign managers and party chairpersons, just like the seasoned professional journalists there. I got to put on pounds of makeup, dress to the nines and perform live TV hits for my station.
As you’ll notice in the picture, these were the days when I didn’t yet know how to fill in my eyebrows, and I went a little too heavy on the eyeliner. I’m happy to say that, in addition to my reporting chops, my makeup skills have also improved over the past decade.
All jokes aside, covering statewide races as a student allowed me to learn about how elections work and the biggest issues at stake. It helped educate me about Ohio politics in general, and some of the key politicians and players to watch. It gave me background knowledge about candidates who would later become prominent figures in Ohio politics. People like Frank LaRose, who won the Secretary of State race when I covered it in 2018.
I also covered a hyperlocal election as a student that helped shape my career and solidify my decision to work in local news.
In 2017, residents of Brady Lake, a small, historic community near Kent, voted to dissolve their small village and be absorbed into the nearby township. The village was plagued by mismanaged funds and enormous potholes that elected officials didn’t have enough money to repair.
I attended village hall meetings and interviewed frustrated residents. When the township started paving the roads, I did a follow-up story and got to ride on a steamroller as it filled the potholes.
Residents told me how much they loved their community and wanted the best for it, even if that meant merging into a different township. Folks were eager to share their stories with me because the issue hadn't been covered extensively. They wanted their voices to be heard. This story showed me how much local news really matters, and how important it is to talk with the people at the center of the story.
Reminiscing on these early years as a student journalist makes me chuckle (and cringe), but those experiences really did help me become much more informed and prepared for my professional political coverage. My experiences covering elections as a college student reinforced to me the importance of local elections and informing citizens about the issues.
I’m passionate about local news. I also love covering local elections, still. It’s why I’ve been at Ideastream Public Media for five years, as of this coming Monday. I feel blessed to work at an organization that is focusing less on the horserace and much more on the issues that voters care most about.
When you read or listen to my election coverage, I hope you can picture that enthusiastic, bright-eyed young college reporter, invigorated by the bright lights of a TV live shot and village hall meetings.
As I contribute to Ideastream’s informative and trustworthy coverage this election season, I’ll certainly be channeling her.
Just with much less eyeliner.
"The Cut" is featured in Ideastream Public Media's weekly newsletter, The Frequency Week in Review. To get The Frequency Week in Review, The Daily Frequency or any of our newsletters, sign up on Ideastream's newsletter subscription page.
