Allison Madrigal

Not a politician. A problem solver. Unaffiliated candidate for Colorado House District 38. Eleven years running a national anti-trafficking hotline. Littleton

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

I would rather lose a vote than tell you I can fix something I cannot. It is the single most common thing anyone brings me. A state representative does not repave anything. Your street belongs to your city or your county.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

27,818 people in this district looked at the two options and picked neither. It is 46.8% of everybody registered to vote, and it is the largest single group in this race by a wide margin. What it means is that the biggest group in this district is the one nobody is talking to.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

I've seen close family members spend enormous money on In Vitro Fertilization with no guarantee. In 2012 I left a corporate job and spent two and a half years living off my retirement savings to build an insurance policy for it. What's something around here that no one is fixing?

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

I spent about a year trying to figure out where to put money before I understood what was actually broken. I thought the hard part was the getting out. Eleven years of that taught me something I use in every problem I look at now. The obvious fix might be aimed at the wrong thing

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

I tried to make a simple list of who to call when something breaks, and I could not do it. The four boxes we all carry around are city, county, state and school board. I have a friend that built a tool. Check out https://t.co/bXcsP4HZz0. He is running for Arapahoe County Assessor

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

The hardest question I get is the simple one. What do you do? For fourteen years the honest answer has been that I build things that didn't exist yet. That's what I'd bring to the state house for District 38. A habit of finding what's actually broken.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

Nobody tells you what to do with an empty season. My whole calendar cleared at once. The six months I thought were wasted turned out to be the only reason I could say yes to any of this. If you are in an empty season right now, what are you waiting on?

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

A year ago, I couldn't have given you a clean answer on what a state representative actually does all day. I'm telling you that on purpose. I think that gap is where politics lost most of us. I'll keep doing translations as I learn, in words we'd actually use at a kitchen table.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

The first question at every door: "Okay, but which party are you really?" Neither. It's the biggest group in District 38. At 46.8% today, that's nearly half the state Something is moving here, and I don't think it's apathy. It looks more like hope, waiting for a place to land.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

The question I got asked over and over again: "How did nobody see it?" Somebody almost always did. A parent who spots a pattern beats every system I've ever worked with. You need the willingness to have an awkward conversation a week too early instead of a year too late.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

When you've listended to over 5,000 stories of the exploited being in a stuck place, you can't stay silent. So here's my rule, and it doesn't change by topic. I'll tell you where I stand, and I'll say it with enough love that the people who disagree can still sit at my table.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

Five letters, and none of them are complicated. Kids should be safe. You should see where your money goes. A family working full time should be able to afford this state. Corner shops should get to survive. And the people nobody's looking for should have someone looking for them.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

Two million Coloradans get told constantly that they don't count until they pick a jersey. Nobody's been willing to run toward them, instead they run past them. I will tell you the truth, whether or not it's convenient. https://t.co/h3d96ezHR8

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

I met Patty at Western Welcome Week and asked what she and her volunteers have been working on all year. They gathered enough signatures to put three measures on the November ballot. I'm voting yes on all three. I want kids to grow up whole, and parents to be there while they do.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

What can a state rep actually do for you?

Vote on state law. Help decide the budget. Hold agencies accountable. Be available to hear you.

I didn't fully understand this job until I started running for it. I'd rather tell you the truth and learn it out loud.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

I spent about a year trying to figure out where to put money before I understood what was actually broken.

It became very clear there was a major gap between the street and safehomes.

So I built a national hotline, and lead the organization for eleven years.

#SurvivorSupport

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

I want to be honest about something, because it doesn't make a great campaign line.
Two days before the deadline I told God that if nobody would stand up, I would.
Nobody did.
I'm not here because I chased it. I'm here because the room was empty and I'd already given my word.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

Nobody's career looks like a straight line. Mine looks less like one than most.
Appliances. Insurance. An IVF product. A trafficking hotline I ran for eleven years.
I thought the insurance decade was the throwaway part. Turns out it was the training.

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

The prayer was eleven words and I'm almost embarrassed to write it down. "Lord, if this is you, you're going to have to show me."
I think God moves your wanting before He moves your circumstances.
Has that ever happened to you?

#District38 #HD38 #FaithAndPolitics #Colorado

[Allison Madrigal @StandForAllison]

People assume you run for office because you've been building toward it for years. A friend called and asked me to pray about a seat I'd never thought about. I didn't say yes, I said I'd pray. There's a difference, and I think that difference matters. #District38 #HD38 #Colorado