In the past two classes, we’ve been lucky enough to get a real, behind-the-scenes look into life in politics. On Thursday, 9/12, we heard from Ariel Edwards-Levy, a polling expert at CNN, and on Tuesday, 9/17, from Senator Charlane Oliver, who represents Tennessee’s 19th District. Their political journeys are very different, yet one thing stood out from both conversations: they didn’t choose their careers, their careers chose them.
Edwards-Levy, a University of Southern California grad, landed in polling somewhat by chance—after working at the Huffington Post, she ended up in that niche because it was the job available at the time. Fast forward, and now she’s making sense of political trends for one of the biggest news networks in the world.
Oliver, a proud Vanderbilt alumna, now holds the State Senate seat for Tennessee District 19. After working as an organizer, she was thrust into her campaign with less than one week to decide if she would run. Not only did she run, but she won, too. As she put it, becoming a politician was something that “chose [her].”
Both sessions were revealing—about the unpredictable ways both careers and elections can unfold.
Edwards-Levy entered the world of polling in 2012, a time when polls were facing significant criticism for their inability to predict voter turnout accurately. One thing she really drove home was that polls aren’t precision tools—they're not crystal balls. But despite their limitations, she stressed that polling is still valuable because it gives us a snapshot of the present, however blurry that picture might be.
She walked us through how polling has evolved, with most of it now happening online. One of her more recent projects was polling viewers immediately after the presidential debate, aiming to capture raw, unfiltered reactions. Her findings were interesting but unsurprising: 90% of Harris supporters thought she won, while 67% of Trump supporters felt he came out on top. The key takeaway from this? Many swing voters didn’t even watch the debate and would instead be influenced by what came next—media coverage, headlines, and the polling numbers that followed. This quick, real-time feedback was crucial in understanding how public perception could shift.
Oliver opened up about the significant challenges she’s faced throughout her career. She outlined the five “strikes” against her as both a candidate and a lawmaker: being Black, a woman, young, a Democrat, and a freshman legislator. In a five-person race where she was the only woman, she knew she had an uphill battle. But she ran to represent what she called the new American majority—young Americans, single mothers, Black voters, and more. Without the advantage of name recognition or a big fundraising machine, Oliver relied on her strongest asset: networking. Her approach to relationship-building proved to be the key to winning her State Senate seat, and it’s something she still emphasizes today. As Professor Geer pointed out, it’s a “testament to the success of HOD,” Vanderbilt’s Human and Organizational Development program and most popular major! Oliver even advised the auditorium of Vanderbilt students that “Relationships are the most expensive and valuable currency you can have.”
While much of the discussion was spent recounting her experiences campaigning for and working as a State Senator, she also provided her insights on the election as a progressive legislator. She spoke on the state of political violence, her experiences with racism in government, and the potential pathway to victory for Democrats in Tennessee. While some of her insights were polarizing, they are shaped by her experience as a Democratic officeholder in Tennessee, which is, as Professor Meacham says, a “very rare thing.”
Hearing from both Ariel Edwards-Levy and Senator Charlane Oliver offered us a rare glimpse into two very different, yet equally compelling, political careers. From Edwards-Levy’s behind-the-scenes look at polling to Oliver’s firsthand experience navigating the challenges of being a progressive in Tennessee politics, each of these women brought invaluable perspectives to the table. Their stories reminded us that political careers aren’t always planned—they’re often shaped by circumstance, persistence, and the power of relationships.
Written by Lily York, Learning Assistant for PSCI 1150 Elections, third-year undergraduate studying Environmental Sociology, Political Science, and Human and Organizational Development
תגובות