One Day Teach For America Alumni Magazine

Perspectives

What I Learned By Losing

By losing his first political campaign, Mark D. Levine (N.Y.C. ’91) learned everything he needed in order to win.

What I Learned By Losing

After his failed run for New York City Council, Mark Levine realized he’d gained everything he needed to win

By Mark D. Levine (N.Y.C. ’91)

When I ran for New York City Council in 2001, there were no fewer than 10 candidates on the ballot in my race, making for an intense and at times chaotic campaign. But there was one item in my biography that helped me stand out from the pack. Time and time again, I heard voters say, “You used to be a teacher, right? You’ve got my vote!”

In fact, it was my experience as a teacher that sparked my interest in many of the issues that would animate my campaign. I had always been concerned with questions of social justice, but thanks to the years I shared with my students, these issues took on new urgency. My connections to other corps members and their schools formed a vital network of support in the campaign. And my background as a corps member gave me more authority to speak out on education policy than any amount of time spent reading briefing books ever would have. My experience in the classroom gave me a unique perspective on a whole range of issues, from class size to testing to school budgets.

For 15 months, my life was consumed by speaking at town hall meetings, knocking on doors, calling voters, courting local leaders, fund-raising, managing volunteers, and more. I thrived on the experience of connecting with thousands of my neighbors, hearing their concerns, and sharing with them my vision for the future of our community and our city.

The northern Manhattan district in which I ran in 2001, encompassing parts of the Washington Heights, Inwood, Hamilton Heights, and West Harlem neighborhoods, is home to 165,000 ethnically diverse residents. While campaigning, it was not uncommon for me to meet with a Baptist preacher, an Irish union leader, a Latino community organizer, and an orthodox rabbi—all in a single day.

Prior to running for city council, I had spent six years building a local base through my work founding and running a community development credit union that provided loans, savings accounts, and financial literacy courses to thousands of low-income families. As a fluent Spanish speaker, I had particularly strong ties to the district’s large immigrant community from the Dominican Republic.

When the morning of the election finally came, we had more than 100 volunteers in the street working the district from top to bottom.

And then two planes slammed into the World Trade Center.

Elections were rescheduled for two weeks later. The process of rebuilding my operation in the wake of the attacks was, unquestionably, the toughest part of the whole campaign experience.

The rescheduled election went off smoothly on September 25. When the final vote was tallied, I came in a close second out of the 10-person field. While it was an agonizing result, something very strange happened the following morning: Congratulatory calls came in from elected officials, local leaders, and ordinary residents. It turns out many folks felt that my campaign, though not victorious, would nonetheless be a great launching pad for my career in New York City politics.

Only time will tell how accurate those predictions turn out to be. But I’ve remained extremely active in local politics in the years since, and in 2007, I ran to become my neighborhood’s Democratic district leader, a party position with powers that include hiring more than 100 election employees and selecting judicial nominees. And this time, I’m happy to say, I won.

With several local legislative offices including the city council seat likely to open in the near future in northern Manhattan, another major campaign is undoubtedly just around the corner for me. And I’m thrilled that more and more of my colleagues among the ranks of Teach For America alumni are also jumping into the arena of elective politics. One day, together, we may be able to celebrate an entering congressional class in which teachers outnumber lawyers.