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From Classroom to Campaign Trail: Erika Askland for State Senate
12 Plays5 months ago
Meet Erica Askeland: The Advocate Arkansas Needs | Stand Up Arkansas Election 2024
Join Steve and Kelly as they introduce Erica Askeland, a dedicated teacher and Senate candidate for District 20 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Discover Erica's inspiring journey, her commitment to public education, and her tireless work for community rights. Learn why Erica is a strong candidate against her opponent, Dan Sullivan, and how you can support her campaign. Tune in for key insights and a passionate endorsement in this special voter ballot election 2024 episode.
00:00 Introduction to Stand Up Arkansas
00:21 Spotlight on Erica Askeland
00:38 Erica's Background and Advocacy
02:24 Campaign Efforts and Community Involvement
05:53 Challenges and Opposition
09:36 Call to Action: Support Erica Askeland
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Transcript
Introduction and Voter Guide
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey, I'm Steve and I'm Kelly and this is stand up Arkansas and this is the voter ballot election 2024 endorsement recommendation guide. Yeah, this is what it's really education. That's what we're trying to do is share little nuggets of people that we know.
Introducing Senate Candidate Erica Aschlin
00:00:21
Speaker
And so today right now we are going to talk about Erica Aschlin, who is running for Senate up in the Jonesboro area. Yes. Kelly, we've known Erica for how long? A while. And I got to tell you, she is one of my favorite people. Erica is a teacher and she is still teaching full time. She has just got a great story to tell. She is real people just like us. She didn't have a silver spoon in her mouth. She grew up public educated and has been fighting for public education her whole adult life and so we got to know her through the petition process as we started with CAPES and then again this past year with For Our Kids and she and her husband are just incredible humans and I got to tell you I'm so proud of the race that they have run up there that Jonesboro team, Craighead County, they've just done a phenomenal job.
00:01:14
Speaker
So
Erica's Commitment to Education and Community
00:01:15
Speaker
it's District 20, Senate District 20. You're right, Nixon, Jonesboro. And here's something, Kelly, I don't know if you even realize. Eric and I go back even further than you know. Should I be worried about this? No.
00:01:34
Speaker
she literally was on the first panel of the rural caucus oh i remember i do remember now yes yes she's been doing this a good long time and she's been in the classroom almost 20 years but that is the night i met erica and i was like Wow. I remember you coming home and talking about her. That's the night that Alison Sweatman was on that panel. Like it was a good Jenny Petty. No, that was the second one. That was the one we did in Jonesboro and not the one ended in Farmington. So it was the second one, but still that was a great panel and I loved having everybody up on stage. But Erica, I knew when I walked out of that room that she was a leader in Jonesboro.
00:02:19
Speaker
people. Which is really one of the things that has impressed me the most about Erika. She has been beating the streets for months and months now. That team in Craighead County has been canvassing since they were canvassing before canvassing was cool. Now
CAPES and Advocacy Against the Lawrence Act
00:02:35
Speaker
that i'm I've been sitting here thinking back on that was a Wednesday night that we held that panel educating people in Jonesboro about the learns act that was in it was being debated on the floor.
00:02:46
Speaker
And the next day it was passed. It was, I was literally in Jonesboro the night before they passed the Lawrence Act, if I'm remembering that correctly. And when we were driving home from Jonesboro, that's when we started, we were talking about the referendum process and what we would do to stop this and get it on the ballot. And Capes was born that Sunday night.
00:03:08
Speaker
and Erica is part of the original cast of characters on that and she has been there every step of the way with us fighting against what's happening in the Lawrence Act and she knows better than anybody because she's been in the classroom for 20 years.
Community Dedication of Erica and Chris
00:03:23
Speaker
Yep and that is why she decided to step up and run for office is because of the kids that she teaches every day.
00:03:28
Speaker
Oh, yeah, she and her husband, Chris, great guy. Y'all, this is a two for one special. I yeah promise you. Incredible couple out there in the community. Chris could be a state senator himself. I mean, he's fired up and fiery and will fight for people. yeah But those two were one of the first organizers getting people together. They worked their tails off. I remember Erica. God, there's so many stories she would set up in her driveway.
00:03:57
Speaker
and put it on social media, just drive by and come out and sign, getting people to sign that referendum petition. And then Chris was one of our literal, like he was either a county or a cluster leader for our kids. And then they got super involved in the reproductive rights campaign and all the different campaigns that were going on up there. And it didn't take too many people asking Erica and we were one of them. And I'm proud to say that we recruited her. She is a good candidate. No, she's a great candidate. Yep, and I'm honored to call her my friend.
00:04:28
Speaker
wow Yeah, absolutely. She's going to do great things for Arkansas. ah She's going to be around for a long time. Y'all get used to it. and And I just can't wait to see what happens in Craighead County. We've got so many great candidates up there and with Erica at the tip of the spear in that area. And so right
Personal Story and Campaign Tactics
00:04:44
Speaker
now the name of the game is getting more people out to vote. So we need to spread the word about Erica Asclund. She was a teen mom, right? ah They've got a blended family. Yes. yeah Like it's real life. Like she's just she is a regular.
00:04:59
Speaker
real life Arkansan just like we are. If this describes you, you and your wife getting together to do the bills, kind of ringing your ears a little bit going, go where are we going to spend our money this month? But getting through, yeah you still got enough. You got to get, you got three or four kids in school.
00:05:22
Speaker
you very active life, but what's going on in your community is important to you. You want your roads fixed. You see them taking the money out of the public library, taking away our reproductive rights. So if this sounds like you,
00:05:40
Speaker
Erica, that's, I just described, I literally was describing Erica and that is that person that says, I'm tired of it. I'm going to do something about it. And she is ready to lead. She is qualified to lead. She's smart. She's savvy and she is fearless. And I'm going to say this and she is running against one of the most awful humans on earth. This is the editorial part of this. No, I guess this is no editorial because Dan Sullivan, if you're listening to this, you know who Dan Sullivan is and you hate him. The Republicans don't even like him. I've talked to multiple Republicans that are like, I wish you all would get somebody that could beat him. It's where much of the ugliness is. Oh, he is the center of ugliness. And if you can think of any type of
00:06:30
Speaker
attacking a minority or marginalized group bill that you've heard about in the last two or three sessions, whether it's going against gay rights, going against transgender bathrooms, going against transgender, anything that's fear and ugliness and going against hate stuff. The oh, the doing away with ah affirmative action.
00:06:52
Speaker
Dan Sullivan, if you remember the senator that was attacking affirmative action. I remember the details, and but it was bad. It was ugly. That's Dan Sullivan. He's constantly putting out like hate language, ugliness and attacking people.
00:07:08
Speaker
And he's attacked Erica hard, and it's really regrettable the way that some of the Republicans have handled this election, because the divisiveness and just sheer lying about—we know these people personally. And so saying things that are just flat untruths the people of Arkansas need to know this. And specifically in this race, if you're listening to me in Jonesboro, this is what it looked like from the outside. I've asked my friends up there, and I've asked people that are on both sides of the aisle up there, and I hear, ooh, she's too liberal for Jonesboro.
00:07:51
Speaker
she's too far to the left. It's okay to be to the left, but she's too far to the left. Y'all, I'm here to tell you, the reason it
Campaign Integrity and Opposition
00:07:59
Speaker
appears that way is because that is what Dan Sullivan does. He paints the picture to people that his opponent is yeah like a scary radical left.
00:08:12
Speaker
And that is not Erica Aslund. Now, Erica Aslund does believe that women should have autonomy on their bodies. She does believe in a strong public education system. She does believe that people should have access to quality services and care.
00:08:28
Speaker
and If that makes her a radical liberal, then they'll be it. But that is not true. Anybody that's ever run against Dan Sullivan, he he plays the same playbook. He like literally baits you and he like tries to get you into a fight and record you and put you out and make you look like you're something you're not. They take he takes things out of context. He twists it and y'all people won't run against them because they're not going to subject themselves to that.
00:08:59
Speaker
So applaud Erica for staying in this race. He is ugly. He is mean. He has come after her and he has come after my friend. And that's why I'm very adamant to say exactly who he is on this podcast. And I hope it people are listening to it because she deserves better than that. She just wanted to run a clean race.
00:09:21
Speaker
And she debated like they had a five debates and I watched them and it was ugly and it was twisting and whatever, but she held her. Read about her policy, go to her website, read about her policies. She is common sense. She supports working class Arkansans and she is going to represent Arkansas well.
Engagement and Call to Action
00:09:46
Speaker
Yes, and she's a teacher and it is E R I K a.
00:09:51
Speaker
F O R Arkansas dot com. That's where you need to go find your information. That's where you can go read her story. You can see who she is. She's got a 27 year old daughter. She's raised kids. I think within her immediate family there's 10 of them or something.
00:10:07
Speaker
And she can manage that household. She can manage these classrooms. you entrust We've entrusted her for 20 years to raise our kids. It's time to put her in the general assembly as a senator of Arkansas. Let's do this, Erica. So for, what did I tell you? It was Senate District 20 in Jonesboro, firmly, squarely, without a doubt, go get your momma, daddy, everybody you know in town.
00:10:32
Speaker
Hey, NAACP and Lyft have teamed up. There's a code. If you need a ride to the poll, they'll get you to the poll. Don't let that be a reason. Go to our stand up page for the code on Facebook if you are looking for that. Y'all get out and vote. Let's make this happen. Record numbers. Let's keep it up.