Matt Meyer did what isn’t done in incumbent-friendly Delaware – he beat a three-term incumbent to become County Executive of New Castle County. Hear about the headwinds his campaign faced: from fundraising difficulties to reticent support from political insiders, and how he overcame them.
3:20 – What kind of resistance did you get from the Party, or from people who told you [not to run]?
4:50 – “[A friend] said he could almost guarantee me that almost nobody would support me and that I shouldn’t ask permission to run.”
5:15 – “I couldn’t get really any of the inside politicos to support me.”
5:35 – How do we fix people being afraid to support people going against incumbents?
7:30 – How did being in Iraq as a diplomat influence you?
12:40- Take me to the darkest time of your campaign, when you thought you couldn’t win.
14:10 – “In local politics, it’s less about policy than it is about relationships.”
15:50 – “We hit a point several months into the campaign where my fundraising numbers were nowhere near what they needed to be when you’re running against an incumbent.”
17:58 – “When the polls closed…I was sad, I really felt like I had lost.”
20:15 – How did you handle the negativity of your race?
23:55 – What would you say to a young person thinking about going into politics?
26:10 – What do you think we can do to come together?
29:20 – What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned since you’ve been in office?
31:10 – What’s a personal habit of yours that’s contributed to your success?
33:10 – What keeps you up at night?
34:10 – What would you be doing if you lost?
35:40 – What’s on your bucketlist?
36:40 – What’s next for you?
37:40 – If there’s one message you could push out to everybody, what would it be?
