In 2020 people with a variety of professional and educational backgrounds are running for office, many for the first time, and adding their expertise to the political conversation. With all of the sacrifice involved in campaigning, learning what made a person decide to put their name on a ballot is an indicator of what policies they will focus on if elected. Shawna Vercher, Executive Producer at Blue Reine, interviewed Liam O’Mara, a California candidate for Congress (District 42), about what made him decide to run for office and the issues that he is passionate about.

O’Mara, a history professor, says that anger was the driving force that let him to seek Congressional Office. “I’m angry about forty years of declining wages in this country…I’ve seen what works and we are not doing it.”

With no one in his family having a college degree, O’Mara worked at a number of jobs before finally starting his pursuit of higher education at age thirty. He eventually earned three degrees, including a Ph.D. in History.

Watch as Shawna and Liam discuss what history lessons he is leveraging during his campaign, and what parts of our history he hopes voters keep in mind as they cast their ballots this November.