USD student acts as campaign manager for statehouse candidate

For one USD student, this year’s election was more than voicing her support for a particular candidate. Chelsea Gilbertson, a senior criminal justice and political science major, worked long hours to try to propel local statehouse candidate Mark Winegar into office.

Gilbertson started at USD as an accounting major, but then noticed that she would never be fulfilled in her life if she was just behind a desk. Gilbertson realized her love for politics.

“I kind of came to terms with the fact that there’s a very big picture and learning like, holy crap there are so many things that affect people (with politics),” Gilbertson said. “I am living my life for other people, so maybe one day I will run for office. Politics, working on bills and drafting legislation are how things change in the bigger picture. It’s very small, very tedious and at times frustrating. But that is how you get to your end goal.”

Gilbertson is the president of College Democrats and also served as the impromptu campaign manager for District 17 Democratic Candidate Mark Winegar. Gilbertson met Winegar at a College Democrats meeting.

“Little old me walked into the (College Democrats) meeting and there are two dudes sitting in the back. I was like, ‘I recognize Ray Ring, but who is this other dude?’ I was like, ‘alright, whatever,’” Gilbertson said. “Mark couldn’t help it, introduced himself, did his whole spiel, said his piece, and I was like, ‘I’m with it.’ Then Mark reached out and here we are today.”

Winegar said he appreciates Gilbertson’s attitude.

“I was there when they elected her (as College Democrat President) and I was so happy (because) she is such a bundle of joy and is so happy,” Winegar said. “She was the one I was hoping would win.”

After Gilbertson paired up with Winegar and became his campaign manager, they got to work readying Winegar for a run at the statehouse. Winegar announced his campaign in September 2015. Gilbertson also said that Winegar did 98 percent of the work for his campaign, knocked on a total of 4,000 doors and was even a substitute teacher.

Winegar said Gilbertson was important to his campaign, and said she helped him to better understand his voters. As a pro-choice politician in a deeply pro-life state, Winegar said he had long been afraid to speak openly on the issue of abortion.

“Chelsea has been more instrumental more than she will ever know. When you think about running for office, there are things that you believe in but you tend to think about political calculus,” Winegar said. “(Chelsea) asked me if I would go up to Pierre and stand for a woman’s right to choose. There is no way I will ever move from that position, but political calculus hit. I may lose this election because of that decision alone.”

Winegar said he thinks the majority of people in Clay County are pro-choice.

“When I got back, women started to come out of the woodwork telling me I was going to win this election,” Winegar said. “If I do win this election, I owe it to Chelsea.”

While Gilbertson said she could have worked with other candidates if she had wanted to, there are certain points that she and Winegar aligned quite closely on, and in general she found him to be a likable politician.

“Mark made it really easy for me to be a part of his campaign by just being a nice person,” Gilbertson said. “His accessibility alone I think will influence people like us, (who are) young individuals who are (asking questions about) why aren’t these candidates so terrible? It’s because they won’t pick up the phone when we have something to say. Mark will.”

According to Winegar, he’ll speak to the people of District 17 and for the people of South Dakota and he’ll make the best decisions that he can. However, one thought that the Winegar campaign has thought of was what if the campaign does not go their way?

“The campaign begins Nov. 9, regardless” Winegar said. “I am registering winwithwinegar.org and we will start publishing regardless what I think about the issues of the state, and that will be a piece of the campaign or it will be my way of keeping touch with my constituencies.”

According to Gilbertson, Winegar and she will be in Pierre for lobby days no matter what the outcome of the election will be.

Besides from the common interests that Gilbertson and Winegar share, another part of Mark’s campaign that they did a lot of was tabling in the MUC to get Winegar associated with USD students and to register voters for the general election.

“In December, (College Democrats) helped register 200 voters,” Winegar said. “On a college campus, in December with finals, you guy are only here for half the month, (it’s) unbelievable.”

Despite all of the lobbying, campaigning and tabling that Gilbertson does for the campaign, the Winegar campaign does not pay Gilbertson to be their campaign manager. They tried to do so — Gilbertson refused.

“(The Democratic Party) wants $35,000 for (Winegar) to run in South Dakota. That is an average salary for quite a few professions and yet they are trying to pay me $3,000 for three or four months of committed work,” Gilbertson said. “I have a job; I work at a library. What is the point of a rewards system if it’s not going to motivate you for the future? Would you do it next time if you were not getting paid?”

The dedication that Gilbertson has for Winegar’s campaign prompted some last-minute campaigning to court USD students that they hope pays off in the long run.

“I hand (students a policy card) with the 10 ballot initiatives, study it, (show them) how Mark the candidate voted on them and then I say in complete disclosure that I voted the exact same way,” Gilbertson said. “That should be all you need to know about what his priorities and what his values are.”

Those values and dedication Gilbertson has towards Winegar’s campaign shows what Gilbertson thinks of Winegar.

“I think that honesty is the best policy,” Gilberston said. “If you’re going to run for office and not be clear on why you’re running and why you’re doing it, let your voters know what you’re getting. (Mark) is packed up in a nice little box, he knows everything (and) he makes it very easy to figure out.”

Winegar said he apprecaites Gilbertson’s dedication towards his campaign.

“What I learned from (Gilbertson) is don’t ever compromise what you believe,” Winegar said. “Go out on that limb, and you will win.”