If you turn on your television these days, you'll hear that these are dark times for our democracy.

That we're hopelessly divided, neighbor against neighbor.

That the ties that bind us are frayed beyond repair.

And no doubt those frustrations are real.

But if history teaches us one thing, especially in northern Minnesota, it's that we've walked through dark seasons before.

And we didn't get there by retreating into cynicism.

We got there because ordinary people decided to pull together.

I'm not a professional politician.

In fact, a few nights a week, you'll find me waiting tables at a popular Hibbing restaurant.

The rest of the time, I work as a crisis call specialist at the 988 suicide and crisis helpline.

Both those jobs prepared me well for public service.

When you wait tables, you learn to work hard and you learn to serve the needs of others with humility and respect.

When you answer crisis calls, you learn to listen deeply, patiently, and without passing judgment.

Those listening skills were helpful for me this summer as I knocked on doors across the Northland.

I don't use any partisan voter software that tell me which doors are important.

I just go from door to door to door.

And so I talk to Democrats.

I talk to Republicans, independents, and people who hadn't cast a ballot in 20 years because they thought that they'd been forgotten.

And you'd be surprised at how much people have in common.

Ordinary folks aren't asking for the world.

They just want good paying jobs that don't disappear overnight.

They want health care that doesn't break the bank.

They want quality public education so their kids have a shot in life.

And they want a government that prioritizes the needs of the people over the demands of the corporations.

Politics is not a democracy is not a spectator sport.

We need to reject the politics, easy politics of division and grievance.

We need to remember that we rise or fall as one community.

I'm not a professional politician.

In fact, I'm not taking any corporate cash or lobbyist donations because I want my time, my energy, and my vote to belong exclusively to the people of Northern Minnesota.

I'm Aaron McCabe Ningan, and I'm asking for your vote for state representative because I still believe that when the people, ordinary people, pull together, we can do extraordinary things.

Thank you.

The League of Women Voters of Duth is a proud underwriter of PBS North.