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Essay on Special Election of Texas House District

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With Mark Strama stepping down from his seat in Texas’ House District 50, it called for a special election this past November. With a seat now open in the House and a Democratic incumbent, three different Democrats and a Republican campaigned long and hard for the seat. Almost a century later, we can still assess Max Weber’s Politics as a Vocation and find connections in his analysis to contemporary politics. Working as a campaign intern during the three months before the election for Jade Chang Sheppard, a successful businesswoman and mother of two, the connections to leadership, an appeal to followers, and challenging power instincts still remain prevalent characteristics of a modern-day politician. Looking to Jade’s own successful and …show more content…

This was one of Jade’s major downfalls because her staff was maybe overall more members, but because Jade herself lacked the leadership and credentials, her staff was not working at full capacity compared to Celia’s. Jade spoke to us as though we were citizens or members of the community she was asking support from, not employees that worked for her. It was because she did not fully believe in herself; her campaign staff did not consider her a leader, which Weber indicates as an integral characteristic to politics as a vocation. Next, Weber indicates that a passionate and likable politician is integral to using politics as a vocation and it still can be traced to modern day politics. Rico Reyes, another Democrat in the race ended up placing last in voter percentage and a lot it had to do with him being an unlikable candidate. Weber cites that, “passion as devotion to a ‘cause’ also makes responsibility to this cause the guiding star of action” (21 of 27). Jade is a charismatic likable candidate because she has a clean blank state to work from. Now, although Rico has credentials and leadership characteristics, his platform does not connect with community members. Up against two women who openly have worked with Planned Parenthood and show dedication to pro-choice work, Rico doesn’t appeal to a lot of the women voters. He attempts to play this off by using his wife’s fight with breast cancer as a gateway into the women’s health care issue,

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