Abby McHenry
Julia Simpson is a junior studying political science, and this semester she is interning as a political fundraiser in Washington D.C.
Simpson interns at Angerholzer Broz Consulting Firm and assists with mainly political action committee (PAC) fundraising and some individual fundraisers. She helps plan and raise money for events for democratic representatives as well.
Simpson’s internship can change from day-to-day depending on whether or not congress is in session and if it’s the end of the quarter for campaign finances. This past week, congress was out of session, so Simpson made event invitations for the rest of the month and calling restaurants to make reservations.
When congress is in session, Simpson said she makes a lot of runs to capitol hill and delivers paperwork and things needed for events to members’ offices. She helps set up events and get items from Whole Foods for pastries for events held at the office.
Simpson had previously done work with College Democrats at Florida Southern on local campaigns with Polk County Democrats.
“I’ve always loved knowing that the work I’m doing is helping get Democrats elected,” Simpson said. “With my internship, I can see how the work I do benefits the representatives’ campaigns and helps them get re-elected.”
For Simpson, the most challenging part of her internship is that she is the only intern at her office most days. The office has six associates that consult for 23 representatives which she said keeps her very busy all the time.
Simpson said that this internship has helped her gain more knowledge about a sector of politics she previously did not know about, become more professional in the way she presented herself, and made her more of a “morning person.” Three of the associates in her office once interned at the firm, so her goal is to work there after graduating from FSC.
Simpson said she feels like the political science department helped her prepare for her internship, especially her campaigns and elections class. She spent most of that course going through campaigning finances on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) website, so she was already familiar with some of the resources her firm uses. She also found her legislative processes course helpful because she had a project in which she went through bills backed by representatives, and it helped her remember names and faces.
“I look forward to gaining all of this experience and gaining connections with people in D.C.,” Simpson said.
