We all deserve more.

My mom asked me Saturday after I returned from a campaign rally in Stateline, Mississippi, if our opponent works as hard as our campaign does and if he is out on the road talking to as many people as we are.

I told her no. I explained that her incumbent does not have to campaign (even though he still happily accepts campaign money from corporate donors.)

My mom is a Republican, and she usually votes Republican, like most of my family. I have not asked personally, but I am sure she has probably voted for our opponent, the incumbent, in his past elections. Up until I started working on the Jeramey Anderson for Congress campaign, it had never occurred to her that the representative she votes for assumes his votes every year without question. She is not the only person like this. She is not a single constituent that is forgotten or un-assumed by her representative. It is very common and is not by accident.

Like our incumbent, most do not campaign their district for re-election. However, by not doing so they are implying the seat they hold in Washington belongs to them personally and not to the people. They are essentially taking the process of being held accountable to the people in their district by not actively participating in the campaign process. (Which makes me wonder what our incumbent is doing with over $500,000 in campaign donations he has received for this election?)

Nonetheless, this is the system we are in. My mom, who would generally vote for our incumbent every year, cannot tell you any plans the incumbent has in store for her and the rest of South Mississippi's future other than the partisan policies the Republican party has latched their agenda to. That is all he offers her and the district. More importantly, he does not ask her what she wants or expects from her elected official to do for her and her congressional district in Washington. Representatives, like our incumbent, are sowing partisan rhetoric and policy only to maintain their seats.

But I have to ask, when has any party had all the right answers?

When in the history of representation has someone, committed only to all of their rubber-stamped party policy guidelines, provided all the right answers for South Mississippi? Our district had been represented by Democrats for years before our incumbent took over during times most would say our coastal economy was booming. However, that was a time in our country when Representatives at large were indeed representatives of the people and listened and worked with them. Likewise, that was a time when people actually voted based on issues that honestly had an impact on their communities, rather than on concerns that the parties have established to divide. That is why I am lucky to work for Representative Jeramey Anderson. I see in him that determination to return to the way we are supposed to be represented. His plan for new, better representation could not have been more apparent than during a meeting we had recently on our time spent on The People's Tour.

We are missing that kind of representation these days. We have been for years.

We sat down at the table with a Republican constituent who owns and operates a rural county hospital in Richton, Mississippi. We were also joined by his nursing director, who also pulls double duty as the town's mayor and is also a Republican voter. Each of us at that table probably has very different partisan views regarding all the major hot-button issues, yet none of those were brought up in that meeting. Why not? Because Roe V. Wade or a border wall is not relevant to a rural hospital owner's struggle to keep his hospital's doors open. That struggle is also more relevant to the people living in that county than the hot-button partisan issues as well because that hospital is life or death to someone in that community should they stop breathing. These are things though that elected officials only know about if they take the time to talk with their constituents, regardless who they are classified as a voter. The tax cuts our incumbent has been hailing as the most important contribution he has voted for are not going to help keep that hospital open. It is a far more complex issue that will take a continued effort of non-partisan work. That effort, more importantly, can only be carried forth by returning to constituent-involved representation where solutions for policy starts at the table in a Representative's district and not the drawing board of a party's national committee. Representatives should work side by side with those in their community for solutions. They should give agency to you and your neighbor, not corporate CEOs who only want to maximize their personal profit margin.

I am blessed to work for Jeramey Anderson for Congress. My mom is now happy to learn that her voice actually matters to someone. My parents are in the early stages of retirement. Their party, along with our incumbent, are in lockstep to drastically steal funds from Medicare and Social Security - retirement benefits my parents worked hard to accrue. My father finally retired this year after 50 (yes 50!!) years at our local shipyard, Huntington Ingalls. My parents have a choice now to elect someone who will not only fight for their retirement but will ask them and their peers what their future looks like for their family and their family’s future. Not just my parents though, all of South Mississippi has that choice now with Representative Anderson's campaign.

My parents are worth campaigning for and worth the hard work from an elected official or candidate-elect. They haven't seen this in a long time. That rural hospital owner has a voice in policy now, instead of being continuously overlooked by his own party. We all need to demand more of our elected officials, and as a member of a campaign team, I can tell you more can be given to demands. We are out here doing that every day.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.