Today was the first official day of candidate qualifying for the Bartow City Commission. That means all the paperwork that is required to run for a seat on the commission is due this week. Around noon today, I dropped everything off with the City Clerk. Things just got real.

It has been a busy couple of months. I announced I was planning to run for the Commission at the end of November. I wrote a little bit about what led up to my decision here. Since that time, my conviction has only grown.

In order to accomplish something like winning an election, you can’t go it alone. I knew that Jennifer would be on-board, but I have been so encouraged by all the people who have come alongside to support us. We formed an unofficial campaign team – really a group of supportive friends, about half of whom have served on campaigns in the past. We created an action plan and got to work.

I have spent the last couple of months meeting with people – long time residents, business people, community leaders – to get their opinion of where the city is and where it is going. I have learned so much from those meetings. I think Bartow is in a unique position to grow. I want to be a part of that.

So, the next few weeks are going to be super busy. We are jumping into this whole campaigning thing with both feet. My family has been very generous allowing me to make the most of the weeks leading up to the election. Now that we have completed the qualifying process we can begin to raise money and kick our promotions into full swing.

Putting myself out there like this is the scariest part. It really isn’t losing the election that would bother me. If I gave it my best effort and came up short, I would be disappointed but I would shake it off. The only inexcusable thing for me would be to not give it my all.

So, here we go….