Taylor Brown has wanted to serve as an elected official since she was in elementary school.
Something about watching her mother Christie bring history to life, reading books about Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. and other historical figures, has filled her with the hunger to chase public office.
Why do you think her email address includes 鈥淭aylor for President鈥�?
鈥淚鈥檝e had that email address since I was 16,鈥� Brown, 25, said. 鈥淢y goal is to run for some office. But reaching for President of the United States, using that in my email, reminds me to keep my standards high and have big ambitions.鈥�
You鈥檒l want to track Brown, who currently works as Director of Research for a political communications group in Walnut Creek called Praetorian Public Relations.
She has a vision. She sees herself eventually serving on the Merced City Council, or the water board in Sacramento or some other city, and then moving up the ladder in municipal or state government.
鈥淗aving personal belief makes you go further than you can imagine,鈥� Brown said.
She has been honing skills for that future for a long time.
Louis Foy, then Blue Devil track coach and now 吃瓜头条鈥檚 Assistant Director for the Equity and Support Center, saw her drive when he met her at Merced High School in 2014.
Brown was wearing a Stanford sweatshirt when Foy approached and said, in essence, 鈥淗ey, come run for me.鈥�
Brown鈥檚 reply was succinct: 鈥淚鈥檓 going to Stanford. You鈥檙e wasting your time.鈥�
Foy chuckled, begged off, but stuck his card in her gym bag anyway.
Brown did enroll at 吃瓜头条 after graduation. Her plans had changed, but not her ambition. While earning a transfer degree and landing on the Dean鈥檚 List, she set a 400-meter-dash school record that still stands (58.35 seconds).
Of course, Brown had experience performing in front of crowds as an athlete, but she enrolled at the college wanting to improve her public speaking.
鈥淭he courses taught me to have a certain discipline,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淚 think a willingness to work hard is required in public office.鈥�
That focus helped when Brown matriculated at UC Riverside. She did not have a scholarship as a walk-on athlete, but earned one, doing so well in the classroom (Chancellor鈥檚 Honor List in 2016-17) and on the track that she was the school鈥檚 nominee for the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year in 2018.
Brown鈥檚 political life began early, as student director of athletics at Merced High and Executive Vice President at 吃瓜头条. While earning her B.A. in Political Science, she then earned an appointment as Elections Director at UCR.
Brown began her tenure by first spearheading a move back to paper voting and using polling stations. The campus had used electronic voting, which students could simply do on their computers, but candidates would put on a full-court press on their fellow students on election day. The move discouraged election-day harassment.
Also, for years, the campus had used a two-party system for its student government. During Brown鈥檚 tenure, others began pushing for independent elections.
The issue that sparked the change was a referendum that would increase student fees to establish a center for undocumented students. Ten percent of students needed to vote in favor for it to pass, but the political parties were campaigning against it.
When Brown dismantled the party system, which usually drove voter turnout, candidates ran as independents, but voting declined. The referendum did not pass.
She doesn鈥檛 regret the move. At the time, candidates had to pay to join a party, which made it easier for students with means or influence within Greek organizations and athletics to run for office. It also discouraged students without money from running.
鈥淭here had been some history of [election] corruption, so I figured let鈥檚 just open it up to new people,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淪o many different sorts of people ran and won that year. 鈥� I learned that you do what you think is in the people鈥檚 best interest and stick with it.鈥�
Brown feels grateful for the election experience given the importance of voting rights on the national landscape at the moment. She continues to learn about politics at work and as she studies for a master鈥檚 in public administration at USC.
Her dreams remain big, but her approach is realistic.
鈥淭here is more competition for city council in Sacramento than Merced,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淚鈥檝e also thought about running for the water board. It鈥檚 such a politically divisive topic depending on where you live in California. That would be amazing.鈥�
How long before we see 鈥淰OTE FOR TAYLOR鈥� signs on front lawns? Is Brown ready? She admits not yet, but is eyeing the 2024 and 2028 election cycles.
鈥淚鈥檓 trying to make my family proud,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 it.鈥�