Canvass Leadership Staff

Amanda Van Kessel
Regional Director for Minneapolis, Boston and NYC 
New York, NY

    Amanda thought she did her part in 2004. She voted. And we lost. The country re-elected the worst president in our nation's history, because all she did, and all MOST people did, was vote - which just wasn't enough.

    After graduating from UW-Madison in 2007, Amanda swore she would find a way to get involved and influence the next presidential election. Either way, she would have no regrets - Amanda was going to make sure that everybody either voted with their time or voted with their dollars, and then they voted in the voting booth, because that is what it takes to win and we could not afford to lose.

    That is why Amanda started working for Grassroots Campaigns in December '07. Since then she has worked to turn a swing state blue in Albuquerque, NM, spread awareness on Prop 8 with the ACLU in Seattle and eventually worked her way east, running offices in Denver, Boston, DC, and New York City, before stepping up to oversee East Caost offices as a Regional Director.
   
    She did her part in 2008. She's still doing it two years later, because the progressive movement has only just begun - we are now left with a not just a mission, but a responsibility.