Fielding Your Questions

Oct 02, 2025

After last week’s post, the questions I got fell into three buckets. The first type came mainly from people I know in real life and sounded something like this:

Are you happy with your decision not to run for office? Back when we talked about it, you seemed pretty pumped to enter the arena.

I’m content with my decision, but it has felt complicated—so thank you for asking!

As you know, one thing I loved about business was the scoreboard—and electoral politics, with its clear winners and losers, seemed to offer something bracingly similar. In relatively short order, you don’t have to wonder how you’re doing. It’s writ plain—by votes, by polls, by your legislative record.

Working behind the scenes is considerably different. First, you have to figure out where to plug in, and how. Then you have to assess—every damn day and largely by your lonesome—whether anything you’re doing is the least bit effective.

For this reason (and others), my transition from the private sector to the public sector has been bumpy. This text message, from me to my family, will give you a sense of where I’ve been, mentally:

Joking aside, wanting to run is not the same thing as being a strong candidate. And in the end, I concluded I didn’t have enough to add: I live on a blue island in a blue district in a blue state. Unlike my friend Katie Nappi who’s running for local office in Cincinnati, I’m largely aligned with the incumbents I’d be challenging. In many ways, the change I most want to see is the involvement of more young people in politics—and at age 56 ::deep sigh:: that’s not me.

So, yes, I’m genuinely good with devoting myself to behind-the-scenes coalition building. Moreover, now that I’ve found a new professional home at my county’s Dispute Resolution Center, I feel like I’ve solved at least part of the question of where to plug in. Next up: I’ll be looking for specific campaigns and organizing efforts* where a mediation skillset might be welcomed and put to good use.

Will you keep writing now that you’ve made your decision?

Yes, and I hope you’ll keep reading. This has never been a marketing exercise. It’s a sincere inquiry into how best to “citizen” in this day and age. Trump’s second term coincided in my case with the need for a career pivot—so there’s perhaps been more for me to figure out than for those whose day jobs are firmly locked in. But the broader questions—e.g. are we storming the barricades or focusing on self care?—feel downright universal. I’m keen to keep exploring them with you.

The third type of question that came in I got A LOT. It basically went like this: Speaking of bridge building, when can we discuss Ezra Klein and Ta-nehisi Coates???

And the answer is: soon! Our next Zoom is scheduled for 5:30pm PT/8:30pm ET this coming Monday, October 6th. Here’s the link. Instead of the usual round robin, this time we’re going to do something a little different: via email over the last week or so, Amy Gutman, Sarah Buttenweiser, and I have been prodding at the Klein-Coates divide. When we gather on Monday, the three of us are going to take the first 30-40 minutes of the Zoom to distill what we hear Klein and Coates arguing about—and where we personally come out. After that, we’ll throw it open to the broader group.

I’ve heard from some of you that you love being in community with other readers—but that you’re not always ready to share your own thoughts. So in addition to giving me, Amy, and Sarah the chance to have the conversation we’ve been antsy to have, this format experiment may also serve some of you in a new way. Let’s see?

Thanks for reading, and thanks for engaging. As we all work to find our way forward, it makes such a difference to feel connected.

Kate

*This part of my search will take me to D.C. in early November and I have one day (11/6) that’s still wide open. Please email me if you’re there and you’d like to meet up—or if there’s someone you think I should speak with? Thank you!