Will Reese (right) campaigns for Hillary Clinton

Name: Will Reese
Age: 23
Based: New York City
Party: Democrat
Candidate: Hillary Clinton
Job: Field Organizer

How did you get involved with Hillary Clinton’s campaign?

I became involved in the campaign after a very long process. I had an interest in getting involved with her campaign for quite some time. I went down to Washington D.C. and interviewed with her senate office and then her campaign a couple of days alter. After that, I interviewed with a couple of her early primary state offices.

Why did you decide you wanted to work for Senator Clinton?

I had followed her career for a long time and I admired her for a long time. Becoming a political science major, learning about the political world and getting involved with the political world at Durham College, I’ve always looked to certain politicians that I wanted to work for. I’ve been really picky about who I’ve worked for and who I wanted to work for and I had a long standing desire to work for her.

Have you worked for any other politicians in the past?

I started working for Congressman Charles B. Rangel, and then went to work for John Kerry and then back to Rangel.

Hillary Clinton poses for a photo

I was a field organizer. Field organizers usually travel from state to state. Field organizers are pretty much those who run the ground operation in various campaign offices throughout the state. You are basically responsible for recruiting volunteers, training volunteers and managing them. And you help out with what goes on in the campaign office.

I helped out with the canvassing program. Canvassing itself is going door-to-door on behalf of the candidates. What I would do is what you call cutting turf, which means you target certain voters within your voter database and you cut the turf for your canvassers. This includes walking and to knocking on doors, printing maps, etc. Another big part of being a field organizer is phone banking. You are recruiting volunteers not just for candidates, but to participate in your phone banking programs.

What was it about Clinton that made you choose to support her over the other candidates?

When it came down to it there were about eight candidates running most of the time. And I had plenty of time to make a decision. I had been waiting for Senator Clinton to throw her hat in the ring for a while. At the same time I watched senator Obama’s speech in 2004 at the convention and I also had a chance to read his first book, “Dreams from My Father,” which I really enjoyed.

When it came down to it, I was able to make a decision. I chose Senator Clinton because I appreciated her record and I admired her perseverance politically. And I thought as a national figure and as a international figure she should represent the democratic party. I was definitely impressed with her grasp of the issues. I thought that she was well above the rest of the candidates on many different policy issues. I really enjoyed watching someone that seemed really interested in the policy details themselves, which was really important to me at the time. I wanted someone to represent the party who could go toe-to-toe with who was going to be on the other side, when it came down to policy issues.

According to a CNN exit poll, almost 90 percent of Black people voted for Obama. What kind of reaction did you get from Black folks when they found out you supported Hillary?

It varied. It varied at different points in the campaign as well. In South Carolina, where I started out going door-to-door for a couple of months, I got a lot of positive feedback. And I did a lot of Black voter outreach in South Carolina and people were very impressed by Senator Clinton and had an overall great admiration for her and respect for her. And that continued through most of my time in South Carolina.

There was a turning point in the race itself when Senator Obama won Iowa. I know that that moment changed a lot in the race, especially in South Carolina. At that point Black voter opinion, in terms of their preference, shifted. After South Carolina, [once we were] heading for Virginia, I definitely felt a lot of the anger that people had and a lot of the passion that they had in terms of the race.

Will Reese poses with Living Single actress Erika Alexander

There were certainly people that were upset, people that didn’t even know me were very upset with who I chose to work for and who I was working for at the time. I remember doing some outreach in Virginia and in the D.C. area around the February 12th primaries, and people were visibly angry. That was a fascinating experience to go through, just to see that physical anger and hear people yell out taunts or yell “traitor” or physically push you. At the time, I worked for two other Black field organizers and we were surprised at how passionate some [Obama’s] supporters became, and it was only February.

Was there any point that you wanted to give up?

There were certainly different moments as a campaigner in general. It’s not the easiest job in terms of time commitment and sacrifice. But I wouldn’t say that I wanted to quit because of any of the experiences I had with people that didn’t support my candidate. I think I was pretty committed throughout the process.

Most people have not worked on a political campaign before. Can you tell us what it was like? What kinds of hours were you working?

We were working seven days a week. We were working 15-hour days on average. It was my life for seven months, [and] for the people that were working with me and working for the campaign. That was what our life looked like for seven months. You fall into a routine. You do realize going through it how difficult it can be. You feel it physically, you feel it mentally. I think after each states’ results, whatever state you are in you think about it a little differently because you say to yourself you’ve accomplished something after each primary.

What was the atmosphere like on Tuesday, June 3, when Obama gained enough delegates to win the democratic nomination?

I wasn’t technically on staff on June 3, so I couldn’t tell you that. I did attend [Clinton’s] speech that she gave on June 3rd in New York after winning the South Dakota primary. The atmosphere in the room that evening was one of suspense and excitement. People were eager to see her and even more eager to hear what she had to say.

What do you see in the future for Hillary? Would an Obama-Hillary be ideal?

I think that such a ticket would be good for the party. At the same time, I think that senator Clinton has a lot of choices and a lot of options that are open to her and will become open to her. Regardless of what happens, I think that she has continued to put her mark down and represent herself as a senator and as a public servant. I think that the future is bright and also unclear.

What is your next move now that her campaign is over?

My next move is to get some much-deserved rest and to take my decision on where I go next very seriously. And do something that is going to be fulfilling to me as a young person.

Do you want to run for office?

I have no desire to be president. Throughout this process, I changed a lot of my opinions and there are certain things that I’ve believed before or thought that have been altered as I’ve seen this process go by. I think it’s such an important office and I think a lot of people don’t consider the difficulty of the job as much as it is a reality.

Will Reese poses with other Clinton campaigners

It was a very historical democratic primary. The candidate I worked for was running a historical race and senator Obama was running a historical race as well. My primary choice was formed looking past the historical nature of it all. At the same time I am very proud and honored to have been a part of such a historical race and I only hope that the party does well in November. I hope that those that didn’t support senator Clinton really, at the end of the day, respect the job that she has done in the past 15/16 months of the campaign as well as the past 35/40 years of her career.