Blazing campaign trails
After winning a local government seat in November, Addison Moore ’27 has been dedicating efforts to civic duties.
Moore says that being a student at Lafayette was a tremendous asset during his campaign in Connecticut.
Photography Courtesy Of Addison Moore
Admittedly, Addison Moore ’27 has a good deal on his plate. While pursuing a dual major in government and law plus anthropology and sociology, he’s also simultaneously running a nonprofit called Up Next Teens. And, in November, the 20-year-old spent a few months campaigning for a seat in his local government—and won.
Now serving the town through the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), Moore is part of a legislative body in Westport, Conn., that appropriates funds, manages budgets, and creates local laws. The RTM is divided into nine districts, each with four representatives; to earn this spot, Moore had to be one of the top four vote-getters among six candidates and unseat an incumbent. Election Day, he recalls, was the most exciting and stressful day of his life—he didn’t believe the results at first. “I just feel very deeply honored that the town entrusted me with this opportunity.”
Moore says he often hears people say they have an issue they want solved but have absolutely no idea how to go about it, or whom to talk to regarding the confusing government structure. In 2024, prior to his RTM role he served as a commissioner on Westport’s Department of Human Services Commission, which was the first time he got to see fully behind the scenes. “That’s when I decided I love this,” he says, realizing he wanted to run for office and there was a real space for him in town.
With this new role, he’ll need to split time between campus and Connecticut, but this is something he’s already worked into his routine: Since his first year at Lafayette, he’s been traveling home one to two times each week for work with his nonprofit, Up Next Teens, which he founded as a high school student in 2021. The organization hosts fundraisers to relieve food insecurity in Connecticut. To date, Up Next Teens has grown to multiple chapters and includes 300 teen volunteers.
Young Energy
Fifteen of his 18 campaign volunteers were under age 22
Personal Touch
Moore wrote 1,500 handwritten thank-you cards to constituents.
Budget Friendly
His team raised over $5,000 for his campaign.
What’s more, these roles in Easton and Connecticut work in tandem for Moore to achieve his academic and civic goals. “So much of what I’m doing at Lafayette and what I’m doing in Westport are not mutually exclusive,” he says. His nonprofit experience, for example, was recently applied at Lafayette, when he repurposed unused dining dollars for those in need in Easton. Last year, this “Swipe it Forward” campaign raised enough money to distribute 150 prepared meals for nonprofit ProJeCt of Easton.
Moore adds that being a student at Lafayette was a tremendous asset during his campaign. Through his studies, he analyzed the effectiveness of different campaign tactics, leading his team to focus on talking to people, knocking on doors, and making personal connections with constituents. Every time he knocked on a door, he followed up by sending a handwritten note.
In the final weeks of his campaign, Moore even pulled all-nighters with his team to finish the stack of letters. That move proved pivotal, with voters thanking him for these notes on Election Day.
Textbooks from Govt 215: Campaigns and Elections and coursework from independent studies with Andrew Clarke, associate professor of government and law, inspired and shaped his campaign strategy. “The Campaign Manager was like my Bible,” he says. “There are literally pages that are falling out of it with how much I read it and went back to it.”
He also credits the support from family, his girlfriend Analise Draghi ’25, and student volunteers from Up Next Teens who brought energy and excitement to the campaign, distributed yard signs, and planned fundraisers.
For now, on Tuesdays, Moore will attend class in Easton, drive home, and apply lessons learned that evening in an RTM meeting. “I really want to make sure I am able to do the best job I can—both as a student at Lafayette and also as a representative for the people of this town and of my community, which I really deeply love.”
No matter the place on the political spectrum, notes Moore, there is no question that right now is a pivotal time in American history: “This moment—right now—really matters. Even if it’s on a super local level, I think it is important to try and make sure people feel they are really, really involved inside of our local government.”
