The landscape is changing in Tarrant County and there are four women who want to be a part of that change. Lesa Pamplin, Ebony Turner, MarQuetta (MarQ) Clayton and Crystal Gayden have joined forces in one of the most unique ways; they are all campaigning for judges in the Tarrant County judicial system and they are doing it together. Under the moniker 4Tarrant, these four women are ready to be the change Tarrant County needs. The overriding desire of these women is for litigants to be heard and understood and the community to be served. They all believe now is the time for the Tarrant County judicial system to have more judges that are representative of the population.
Campaigning together might seem unusual, but they were inspired by a coordinated effort done by eight candidates in the previous election cycle. While none of them have ever campaigned for any office before, they initially came together to be a sounding board for one another and felt they could accomplish more together. Through organic conversations, they joined forces to campaign together and hopefully have a bigger impact on the voters in Tarrant County. Each brings a different attribute to the team and those combined attributes work well together. Running a coordinated campaign has allowed them to reach more potential voters than if they were campaigning alone. Pooling their financial resources and sharing costs on marketing materials has been a plus and the 4Tarrant moniker also has allowed them to reach more voters among the more than two million residents of Tarrant County. One of the most important aspects of campaigning together is having someone who understands exactly what you’re going through becomes a built-in support system.
Campaigning for any office is rigorous and time consuming. These women will attest to that but, they also find it rewarding. With Tarrant County being so massive, it is difficult to be everywhere and coordinating schedules among four practicing attorneys only adds to the challenge. The women of 4Tarrant have found that scheduling appearances together means they can be publicly visible to voters and using social media platforms to announce future appearances means voters can plan to see them at various locations throughout the county.
Though campaigning together, they still work to establish their own identity, and each has their own individual goals once elected. They have all seen the disparities in the way cases for people of color and those without financial backing are handled versus their counterparts and are guided by their desire to make a difference.
Click on the cover of the February 2022 issue to read the full story
