Dogan Officially Files for State Representative

I'm an official candidate!
On Tuesday, I got up at an excruciatingly early hour and drove to Jefferson City, arriving at the Capitol just after 7:00 a.m. to meet up with other Republican State Representative candidates. When the Secretary of State's office began taking candidate filings at 8:00 we walked over to begin the exciting process of....standing in line!

I brought my camera but didn't think it would be worthwhile to take tons of pictures of people standing in line. This was the only one I took the whole time, and it shows one of the staffers at the Secretary of State's office using a cool little pressing thing to impress an official seal onto the documents that certified my candidacy.


As of now, I'm running against two other people for the Republican nomination for State Representative in the 88th District. Here's the list. (There aren't any Democrats running yet and I doubt one will be offered as a sacrificial lamb.)

Keep up to date with my campaign by visiting my website at electdogan.com. We're going to be adding some new features there soon, so be sure to keep your eyes open. And clicking on the "Donate" button above and to the right would be nice! It'll only take a few seconds and you'll be glad you did.

Dogan Named "Man of the Year" by St. Louis Young Republicans

I'm dead tired right now but wanted to report that I received the St. Louis Young Republicans "Man of the Year" award at the YR annual picnic.

I'm happy and humbled to be honored by my peers in the YRs.

Time to sleep now. Only 36 hours to go in the 3rd Quarter!

johncombestblog.com: Shamed Dogan, Tracey Gunn Receive STL YR Honors

Here's Senate President Pro Tem Mike Gibbons presenting me the award:

Great Weekend

I'm late in posting this, but last weekend went really well for me. I was one of only a handful of non-incumbent candidates invited to attend the Missouri House Republican Caucus summer retreat in St. Charles. It was an honor and a privilege to speak with Governor Matt Blunt and many elected officials from around the state. I learned a lot from the State Representatives about what it’s like to serve in office, and many of them told me they’d read about my campaign on johncombest.com or pubdef.net. Here's a pic of me and the Governor:

Twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom

I would estimate that I've quoted this clip about once a week since it aired 11 years ago. I may actually see the Simpsons movie in a theater, if only for nostalgia's sake.

Back to Blogging

After a five-year hiatus, I'm rejoining the blogosphere. How times have changed! Between 2002 and now, I:

• Got married
• Worked in the U.S. Senate for Jim Talent
• Moved from D.C. back to St. Louis to work for Sen. Talent's campaign
  
• Got my first non-political job
• Appeared on the front page of the St. Louis American, which I've enjoyed reading since I was a child
• Was named one of the St. Louis Business Journal's 30 Under 30

AND I just kicked off my campaign for State Representative in Missouri's 88th District, with Sen. Talent there to say some really nice things about me. WHEW!!

Unlike five years ago, I don't have to write about the kickoff, I can just show you the video from PubDef, which includes cameos from two of St. Louis' other prominent political bloggers, John Combest and Dave Drebes.