Jack Trammell looking to beat David Brat
was a crazy night, said Jack Trammel. think people all over Virginia, and all over America stunned, amazed, surprised, and in some cases very excited about that news for us. news came just after 8:00 PM on June 10th when the Associated Press reported David Brat defeated 1 House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary for the 7th District.
Trammell2 was campaigning at an event in Louisa County when the AP called the race. life changed that night, he said. had 644 emails on my iPhone within the first hour. I had 29 voicemails within the first 30patagonia adze jacket review minutes. So this thing, he said, while holding up his phone of melted that night. days prior, the 7th District Democratic Committee had nominated Trammell to run against the Republican nominee, who most thought would be Cantor. Now the Randolph Macon College associate professor will face Brat, a fellow Randolph Macon professor, this November in what will likely be a nationally scrutinized race. And he just might make it into Congress.
became indignant for them of it stems from my basic instinctpatagonia better sweater vest zappos to be angry about social injustice, said Trammell one late afternoon inside his Shockoe Bottom campaign headquarters. It hard to imagine Trammell trembling with anger. Just five minutes with him and you recognize his calm, thoughtful demeanor. But what piqued Trammell anger decades ago was the state of special education in public schools.
Trammell graduated from VCU with a master degree in social studies in 1992, which he earned so he could teach history in public schools. first year of teaching, I made a deal with Lunenburg County [in Victoria, Virginia], he explained. said you teach special education this first year, we [talk about you teaching history] the following year. he soon saw distressed him.
education wasn special for many of those students, he said. felt isolatedpatagonia everlong review virgin1, they felt neglected, they felt angry, and their parents mirrored these feelings. And as a 27 year old rookie in the public schools for the first time full time, it opened my eyes. And I became indignant for them. Not because the schools were doing anything wrong, but because I could see something systemically wrong. It was wrong everywhere. Not just in one place. the years what he found wrong is an education system built around the idea of one size fits all, a catch all term for standardized patagonia everlong review virgin0models of learning. one size fits all model doesn work for gifted education. It doesn work for special education. And it [doesn work for all the other kids either. first year in special education was meant to be a bridge to an eventual career as a history teacher. never went back to being a full time history educator again, he said. became a full time special educator in the public schools for nine years. And then when I moved into higher ed working with students with disabilities, I took up the same work at the university and college level. it would be his relationship with a longstanding member of the General Assembly that would begin his slow drum beat into politics
Service learning, at the Congressional level
V. Earl Dickinson represented localities within the Fredericksburg area in the General Assembly for 30 years. Earl wapatagonia fiona parka reviewss very respected in the community, said Trammell, who once rented a Mineral, Virginia farm Dickinson owned. when he retired from the General Assembly [in 2002], I actually thought for the first time, seriously, about getting into politics. encouraged him, believing Trammell amicability and education would serve him well. my children were very small at the time, knee high at best, and it just didn seem like I could devote the time to that that I needed to, he said.
on, when Eric Cantor was the representative for the 7th District, people approached me in Louisa, and [also] some Democrats, and asked me about running because, as a consensus person, and as a person who was likely to reach across the aisle and connect to a lot of different people and different constituencies, I was approached, he said. again I just felt that I still had kids at home. It wasn quite the right time. I wasn ready to commit myself to that. six of his family seven childrnew $90 patagonia mens nine trail vesten3 will be in college this year. Now Trammell family life is open to a political run. Yet as someone with an extensive education, one broadened by his teaching experience and the books he written, it clear Trammell a smart guy.
come from a family of educators, and there is a notion in my family and through a lot of circles in education, that the more education you receive, the more obligation you have to make your work meaningful to other people, Trammelpatagonia sale closeoutl said. felt that each step I took [in education] obligated me more to usepatagonia better sweater jacket stonewash my expertise and my knopatagonia better sweater spanish mosswledge and my education to help others. commitment to service learning also motivates him. learning is the notion that an academic curriculum doesn exist in a vacuum by itself. It not just theory. It also practice, he said. One practiced by helping your community. for Congress is a chance for me to model all that as service learning. said his history in special education makes him comfortable with the political gamut. doesn not respect party lines. Disability does not obey any sort of specific demographic. Every family in America, practically, has a disability story that impacted their family, he said.
Government inaction is also something that motivates him to run. He and Audrie experienced that first hand after the 5.8 earthquake that originated in their home county of Louisa in 2011.
house was damaged and our representative came and suggested to us that the politics of the budget in Washington were more important than us getting aid through FEMA, or suggested that maybe it was our fault that we didn have earthquake insurance, he said. Government inaction also affected local children, and some of Trammell kids. High schoolers graduated a trailer park instead of a high school because their high school was totaled. month, a political earthquake shook the 7th District. With luck, Trammell will create another one in November.
everyone else, I was quite surprised and shocked by Brat beating Cantor, Trammell said. I also was encouraged though the district has been designed to be a Republican districtpatagonia everlong review virgin for a while, and people have considered it to be Eric Cantor districtpatagonia everlong review virgin2, the results of the primary showed that the people are not monolithic. They will vote based on ideas. They will vote on change. And I think that holds promise for the election thipatagonia everlong review virgin3s fall. for grabs
Not only are Brat anpatagonia everlong review 8 channeld Trammell relative political unknowns, and not only do they work at the same college, but Trammell says the two have a friendly past.
is a really nice guy. He a family guy. He a very smart man. And I have a lot of respect for Dave the person, Trammell said. The two were once teammates on the same basketball team.
it comes to the world of ideas, Dave and I have had debates before in the lunch room about various things, he said. Dave the opponent is someone who I be putting my ideas up to the public to compare against his in the next few months. And there will be qualitative and quantitative differences in those views. thing Trammell wants is education reform. In particular, he like greater public access to education, student loan reform, fairer K 12 accountability, and more support for special education.
He also wants to push for clean energy initiatives and carbon footprint reduction, but also push for high speed rail and enhanced transportation networks.
Unemployment and under employmenpatagonia guide pants kneet are other issues he wants to help change. employment rate is not a true indicator, Trammell said about the 7th District. know many college students working two, three part time jobs. I know many people my age who reached a glass ceiling: they can be promoted. They don feel like they can move on to another high paying job without leaving the district. Trammell hopes to keep them there.
But before he can help people in the 7th District, people in the 7th District will have to help him. Two months ago it seemed impossible for a Democratic to win the 7th District. But then it also seemed impossible that Eric Cantor could lose the nomination. That unpredictability just might bode well for Trammell.
