The System Itself Is the Problem
A DSA Member Takes Her Fight to the Capitol
Fourteen years ago, I chose Savannah to be my home.
Since that day, I haven’t just lived here, I’ve poured my heart into this place. Into our neighborhoods. Into our people. I believe with my whole heart that if we take care of one another, this city can be one of the best places in America to live.
But like many of you, I’ve also watched something happen over the years. I’ve watched families work harder and harder but never get ahead. I’ve watched neighbors priced out of the communities they helped build. And I’ve watched leaders in Atlanta act like those struggles are someone else’s problem.
Today, I’m here to say something simple: We deserve better.
A Life Built on Service
I’ve spent my life trying to be someone who listens. In the third grade, I wrote my first letter to an elected official trying to save our P.E. program. Whether it was through Girl Scouts or volunteering at the library, my childhood taught me that service to your community isn’t just a choice. It’s a responsibility. If something in your community isn’t right, you speak up.
That sense of duty led me to become a social worker. I wanted to help, one person at a time. I had the privilege to work with foster kids, with survivors of sexual assault, and with people coming home after incarceration who were trying to rebuild their lives.
But my time working within those systems opened my eyes to a harder truth: they are often designed to punish people for being poor, sick, or down on their luck.
I’ll never forget one young woman who came into my office. She was crying. She told me she knew she was going to die if she didn’t stop using heroin. So I started calling every treatment center within two hours. Everyone. And the answer was the same: no beds, or thousands of dollars she didn’t have.
That was the moment I realized something. Helping one person at a time matters. But if the system itself is broken, you can only do so much from inside it.
The system itself is the problem.
Building Community Power
Since then, my work has been about building community power. As former co-chair and member of Savannah DSA, we have supported our local unions, helped protect our local migrant communities from ICE, and stood up for our unhoused neighbors when their very existence was being criminalized. I founded SheNetworks to empower and connect women in our community. I have consistently taken to the streets to stand for my values: marching for Black lives, for the closure of the Irwin Detention Center, for reproductive justice after Dobbs, and for the rights of our LGBTQ+ and trans neighbors.
After Hurricane Helene, I helped organize Hostess City Mutual Aid so neighbors could help neighbors when systems failed. Because that’s what Savannah does. We take care of each other.
But we shouldn’t have to do it alone. The government should be on our side. Right now, too often, it isn’t.
Instead, we see politicians who take money from developers who pave over our green spaces while neighborhoods flood. Politicians who ignore pollution in low-income communities. Politicians who look the other way while corporations exploit workers with poverty wages and unsafe conditions. Politicians who block paid sick leave and family leave while workers struggle. Politicians who talk about education while teachers are buying classroom supplies out of their own pockets.
That’s not leadership. That’s neglect.
My Vision for the Georgia House
When I’m elected to the Georgia House, I will fight for:
Landlord/tenant policies that protect renters and families rather than corporations and landlords.
Universal Healthcare
Raising the minimum wage and ending right-to-work laws
Fully funded public schools where teachers are paid fairly and classrooms aren’t overcrowded.
Environmental protections that defend our tree canopy, our marshlands, and our neighborhoods.
Protecting Savannah’s future means protecting the people who live here today.
This campaign isn’t about abstract policy. It’s about people. It’s about the single parent deciding between groceries and rent. It’s about the teacher spending their own paycheck on classroom supplies. It’s about the grandmother who cuts her medication in half so it lasts longer.
Those aren’t statistics. Those are our neighbors.
A Promise to Show Up
I know what it’s like to sit across from someone who feels like the system has forgotten them. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it through the people I’ve worked with. And I refuse to accept that this is the best we can do.
Savannah deserves leaders who fight for the people who live here. Leaders who remember that the government exists to serve the public. Leaders who never forget who they work for.
That’s the kind of representative I promise to be. Not someone who disappears into the Capitol. But someone who shows up. Someone who listens. Someone who fights.
This campaign is not about me. It’s about every person in this district who believes we deserve better. It’s about the girl who wrote that letter in third grade. It’s about the social worker who refused to stay silent. And it’s about every neighbor who has ever stepped up to help someone else in this community.
Join Me
If you believe Savannah deserves leadership that stands up for working people...
If you believe our communities deserve to be heard...
If you believe that together we can build something better...
Then join me. Walk with me. Fight with me.
We have 9 weeks between now and election day, May 19th, and I need your support. You all voted to endorse me because you believed we could win, but I cannot do it alone.
Ways you can help and support:
Spread the word! Share our social media posts (@votekendraclark). Tell your friends and neighbors to vote for Kendra Clark if they live in District 165. If they don’t know their district, help them figure out their district.
We need volunteers, particularly for canvassing and phone banking, but there are lots of opportunities and our volunteer coordinator Rachael will get you plugged in. Sign up to volunteer here: https://forms.gle/ADsGRsQfjm9Xy9jP6
Donate. Campaigns require money. Donations keep the website running, pay for flyers/rack cards to provide to voters when canvassing, yard signs, hosting events and ads. There are so many cool things we can do if we have the funds. You can donate at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/votekendraclark.
