It all started in 2007 as Barack Obama started his journey to run for president. Liddell-Westefeld, a senior in college and former City High student, joined the Obama for America Campaign. He was initially attracted by the way that Obama viewed politics as an extension of community activism and from the work he had done in the South Side of Chicago. He also was attracted to the fact that Obama was against the Iraq war, which lined up with his own beliefs. Liddell-Westefeld began reading more about politics and started to become more involved. While at first Obama was considered a highly unlikely candidate to win, Liddell-Westefeld stuck by him. 

“His campaign became this vehicle for something to be different, whatever that was for different people. So everyone had their own reason for being there but the campaign became less about him and more about doing something that would lead to something different than the circumstances we found ourselves in,” said Liddell-Westefeld. 

His work consisted of going around his assigned area in Iowa and knocking on doors to gain support for Obama. From interviewing multiple Obama supporters, Liddell-Westefeld found that Obama’s unifying language, as well as his ability to make people feel like their voices matter, brought people together. 

After volunteering for the Obama campaign, Liddell-Westefeld expected Obama to lose the caucus and planned to work on another campaign until Obama ran again. To the surprise of many, Obama won the Iowa Democratic Caucus, leading Liddell-Westefeld to travel to Alabama to continue to spread Obama’s campaign. 

Through all the hard moments of uncertainty, Liddell-Westefeld worked hard, and it paid off. In 2008, Obama won the general election and became the 44th President of the United States.
After the election, Liddell-Westefeld moved to Washington D.C. and spent five years on the Obama White House staff. Liddell-Westefeld continues to live in Washington DC working as an oral historian.

“[Obama]’s success, I think, changed people’s perception of what was possible,” said Liddell-Westefeld. 

On January 7th of this year, Liddell-Westefeld published his first book, They Said This Day Would Never Come. The book is a compilation of interviews from campaign field organizers and volunteers, giving an inside look of what it’s like working for a political campaign.

Liddell-Westefeld believes that young people can have a big impact in the caucuses and that change will happen if the right people are elected. 

Discover more about his book and the author here:

They Said This Day Would Never Come