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(#22) Wayne Messam
Athletics took up a great deal of Wayne Messam's youth, to the extent that he played four years for the Florida State Seminoles during the Bobby Bowden dynasty, and was part of their 1993 National Championship squad. After his career as a wide receiver ended, but before he entered Florida politics, Messam started his own company the construction industry as a General Contractor.
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(#2) Bernie Sanders
- US Congressperson
Long before he became the galvanizing voice of a self-described political revolution, Bernie Sanders tried his hands in a number of different vocations, struggling to find a permanent foothold before finally finding his calling in Vermont politics. Among his many early career choices - which also included freelance writing, pre-school teaching, and working as an aide at a psychiatric hospital - was carpentry. He tried his hand in that field for some time but, according to those who knew him, it was never the right fit. “His carpentry,” his friend Denny Morrisseau said, “was not going to support him, and didn’t.”
Another acquaintance, John Block, was more unequivocal: “He was a shitty carpenter.”
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(#4) Joe Biden
- US Vice President
More than perhaps any other Democratic candidate in the 2020 race, Joe Biden's career has been well-documented, thanks to his military service, his decades in the Senate, and his eight years as Vice President. His first foray into the workforce, however, is less known - except perhaps for his classmates during his teenage years. Biden attended Archmere Academy, a Catholic prep school that he acknowledges "[his] mom and dad couldn't afford." As a result, he got a job as a gardener at that very school.
"My working there, it paid part of my tuition," Biden asid. "That was the first job I had."
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(#18) Bill de Blasio
- Politician
One of the last entrants into the 2020 race for the Democratic Presidential nomination, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has been a known commodity in New York politics for the entirety of the 21st century, but his work goes back to 1984, when he was first hired by the Urban Fellows Program for the NY City Department of Juvenile Justice.
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(#11) Julian Castro
- Politician
Julian Castro and his twin brother have been a dual force in the Texas political scene for far longer than one might assume given their relatively young age. Among other political accomplishments, Julian has served on the San Antonio City Council and, under President Barack Obama, served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. But his proximity to mainstream politics dates all the way back to the mid-1990s, when he served as a White House intern during the Clinton administration.
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(#15) Tulsi Gabbard
- US Congressperson
Hawai'i congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is well known for her military background, but she's been helping her community since even before she could officially serve the country. As just a teenager, she, along with her father, co-founded People for Environmental and Community Health (PEACH), which specializes in educating children about land protection and natural resources. The organization has since be re-named the Healthy Hawai'i Coalition.
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About This Tool
The first job that the 2020 Democratic candidates in the United States did in the early years is what most people did not expect. Some people work in restaurants, some work as gardeners, and some collect empty bottles, which are completely different from their current image on the political stage. Some candidates mentioned their work experiences in interviews and said that they benefited from their first job.
The random tool lists 25 Democratic candidates' first jobs, such as Elizabeth Warren, who started working as a waiter in a Mexican restaurant in Oklahoma City at the age of 13, while Joe Biden worked part-time as a gardener at the school where he was attending to earn tuition.
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