Meet Washington County Clerk Elect Ashley Reichert

We’re very lucky at American Majority to meet fantastic people from all over the country as we travel to their area to train them.  While not all of the candidates we train win their races, a great many of them put the tools we provide them to use and go on to be elected.  After the election is over and things have cooled down, we visit with some of these folks and have them share their experience with us so we can hone our craft as we train the next crop of candidates.  

Today we reconnect with Ashley Reichert who just won her election to become the County Clerk for Washington County Wisconsin.  Ashley attended our candidate training in the early spring of 2016 in Mequon, Wisconsin.  She is outside the norm for elected officials in Wisconsin as this was her first time running, and she is only 27 years old.  She describes herself as “extremely excited” to take on her new role.  

Ashley was a stay at home mom up until late 2012 when she started working for Washington County in Planning and Parks where she enjoyed improving efficiency and updating processes to make government run more smoothly.  “Updating that was very exciting for me!” says Ashley.  She transitioned from that position to the Sheriff’s Department where she served as the administrative assistant for the Sheriff.  

Ashley said that her time working for the Sheriff further sparked her interest in campaigns and local politics, but it was her former supervisor in Planning and Parks that let her know the County Clerk position would be open.  After she weighed the pros and cons of running, she said that a discussion with the County Administrator helped solidify her interest in filing papers to run.  

Ashley credits American Majority’s Campaign training with helping her to focus her efforts on reaching the voters.  “A lot of it was going door-to-door, that was the biggest thing.  Knocking on doors and talking to people was huge for me!”  She also noted the impact of social media on reaching the voters. “Social media was a huge, huge help to my campaign.”  

American Majority’s of the effectiveness of each type of campaign effort shown during our Campaign Training helped Ashley decide how to best focus her efforts. She made a pledge to herself to stay below the $2,000 campaign threshold that would require her to file a campaign finance report for the office.  “It was nice to see a statistical breakdown of each individual item of your campaign and what worked, and what didn’t.  I chose not to do anything with mailings or those sort of things…I was trying to think of what can I do that is effective, and efficient, and doesn’t cost a lot.”  

When asked what she found the most difficult Reichert said the “long, long Saturdays and Sundays” were the biggest challenge.  “Especially with my primary being in August, it was all summer long.  I loved getting out to talk to all of those people, but you have to give up those weekends to put in the hours to do it.”

Ashley had some great experiences out knocking on doors, when asked to share one of her favorite examples she said, “When I was knocking doors and introducing myself to a new person at her door she asked me how old my opponents were.  I was waiting for her to tell me that I was too young and the others would have more experience.  And she said the exact opposite, ‘we need fresh eyes on things, and we need new individuals to get involved in politics, and to help run our government.’  It was really good to hear that.”  That’s something we’ve heard across the country this election cycle.  People were ready for something different, and less of business as usual.  

The best advice that Ashley could offer folks considering a run for local office was “Definitely don’t be intimidated by it to start out, anything is possible through hard work, and you can achieve success.  It was definitely worth it in the end!”  

We’re proud of the great work Ashley and so many others have done, but we’re just getting started. It’s already time to start preparing for conservatives across the country to win their local elections and be more effective in the community, and we’ve built you the tools to accomplish just that.

You can receive the same quality training Ashley and thousands of others have by signing up for our online courses. They cover everything from Facebook to door walking and everything in between.

Get started today.