If Not Now, When?

Why I said yes...

It’s Rachel Vindman. This week my husband, LTC (Retired) Alexander Vindman, launched his campaign for U.S. Senate.

When he first talked to me about running, I said no. Actually, I said a lot of words I will not repeat here and then a loud and emphatic no. I said no for many months.

I said no because I knew what it would mean for our family, for our daughter, and for the life we have built brick by brick since Alex testified in 2019 and was fired from the White House the day after Trump’s first impeachment trial ended.

I know this will put us back on Trump’s radar, and I am all too familiar with how that works. I know what’s coming: the attacks, the lies, the death threats, the flood of comments about my appearance and weight. Super fun stuff. I know it will be exhausting and overwhelming. I know they will come after us personally. I know it will be awful, and I also know it will somehow still be worse than I am imagining.

But, knowing all of this, let me tell you why I said yes… And why I am asking for you to donate to Alex’s Senate campaign today.

Alex running for office was never part of our plan. But neither was living in a country where an immoral president openly puts himself, his family, and his wealthy friends ahead of everyone else. Neither was watching an appointed senator rubber-stamp policies that hurt the very community we love, without pushing back, without standing up, without asking hard questions.

Yet ***looks around in disbelief*** here we are.

During the impeachment, when everything felt heavy and uncertain, our rabbi reminded us of the words of Rabbi Hillel: “If not me, then who? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

Those words have stayed with me. Especially the uncomfortable question that asks: If you have the ability to act, but you choose not to, what does that say about you?

Florida is our home. It is the only place in our entire marriage where we consciously chose to live, and we did that with intention. We came here to build a life, and it has been wonderful! Our daughter is thriving! We have strengthened old friendships, built new ones, and become part of a culturally rich and diverse community. I have truly never been happier, and I did not want to lose that. But loving a place also means being willing to fight for it when it is not being served well.

For Alex and me, this is not about ambition or power. This is about not wanting to look back and think we could have done more when it mattered. It is about choosing to stand up for what is right, right now.

I did not say yes because I suddenly felt brave or because my fears disappeared. I said yes because this moment demands more from all of us.

And somewhere along the way, I realized I had been asking myself the wrong question.

Instead of “Do I want my husband to run for Senate?” I finally asked myself something harder and more honest: If now is not the time to step up, when would be?

In life there will never be a perfect moment. There will always be a reason to wait. There will always be a reason to tell yourself that someone else will do it, or that the timing is not right. And if we keep waiting for a moment that feels safe or convenient, we will be waiting forever…and eventually it will be too late.

So I said yes, not because it was easy and not because I wanted this life, but because I could not look at the moment we are in and pretend it was not asking something of us.

And I hope more people start asking themselves the same question. Running for office isn’t something everyone needs to do, but we all need to show up in whatever way we can. Speak up. Get involved. Refuse to sit out this moment.

That’s why I said yes and I hope you will also.

That can look like a lot of things. It can mean donating what you are able. Signing up to volunteer. Making sure everyone you love is registered to vote and signed up to vote by mail. It can mean having the uncomfortable conversation, canvassing, driving someone to the polls, or simply refusing to be quiet when something is not right.

ARE YOU READY? LET’S DO THIS!