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The #WalkAway Campaign is a grassroots movement of former Democrats who have left the Democrat Party and joined the GOP. The Iowa Standard will highlight some of the stories told by those who joined the #WalkAway Campaign.

“I’ve never seen the importance of politics in my life until now…I was raised with no political adherence, my dad always exercises his right to vote in America, my mom is Mexican and she exercises her right to vote in Mexico too, but they never told me about what I had to do or what place should I take in the political spectrum. I was raised in a border town in Mexico where I have seen and heard a lot of people saying ‘I don’t care about politics, it doesn’t affect my life or why do I need to vote? They’ll do what they want anyway.’ And at some point of my life, I adopted that kind of thinking. An anti-government thinking even before understanding how all of it works, how the world works. I graduated from high school in Mexico…When I ended high school, all of my classmates were putting their books in their trash can, but I didn’t.

“I remember a teacher who was always telling anti-American speeches in the classroom. A little bit after I ended high school, I left my home to live alone. I will always remember my father saying, ‘I think you can do it by yourself. I don’t want you to leave, but I think you can do it, you just need a lot of self-discipline.’ I understood that, but I took it with a little irritation…He gave me just one thing that I never forget, a book, “The 5,000 Year Leap.” An analysis of the Constitution and Founding Fathers’ ideas.

“At that moment I could barely read English, but I really like to read. So, I did my best because it was the first book my dad gave me and he said it will help me a lot when I encountered myself alone in the USA. Almost four years have passed and this will be my first vote. I’m really impressed for all that has happened since I left home, especially this current year. I’ve never been a patriot for any flag as I feel today. In 2016, I never informed myself, I was just listening to the voices and mainly media in Mexico. I felt angry about nothing for Trump running for President, but my perspective has changed about him and about all. I’ve not considered myself immersed completely in the “right-wing.” I think I’m situated in the middle. But Trump has been doing a lot of great things for the USA and even for Mexico, more than Obama ever did. And he needs to win again.”

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