Ayanna Pressley was supposed to speak to reporters Wednesday afternoon, but she cancelled due to exhaustion and dehydration. Thursday, she seemed to be feeling much better and looking ahead to her next challenges.
After a whirlwind of round-the-clock campaigning under a national spotlight, culminating in her historic election upset over incumbent Rep. Michael Capuano, Pressley is back to her day job as a Boston city councilor, taking part in the traditional "Countdown to Kindergarten" event.
The campaign may be over, but Pressley knows the work has just begun, and she admits she feels the weight of the expectations ahead.
"Truthfully, I'm still disconnected from the reality of all of this," she said. "I'm not even sitting in the victory of the electoral win because I'm just sitting in the responsibility."
Asked about her priorities, Pressley said she already has a blueprint — she calls it her "equity agenda" and she says she will make it happen through coalition and movement building, as she did with her campaign.
"The issues remain the same, and that is health care access, reproductive justice and freedom," Pressley said. "So number one, doing everything possible to stop Kavanaugh. Secondly, criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention and, certainly, immigration reform."
Pressley has said this primary was about much more than fighting the Trump administration. But clearly, that is also a part of her agenda.
U.S. & World
"This president is completely unfit to be in the White House, and I look forward to partnering with many others to do whatever we can to get him impeached," she said.
Pressley said she has been getting requests from Democratic candidates around the country to campaign with them as they attempt to pull off the same kind of stunning upset she did. She intends to do some of that in the coming months, as well.
