AN independent candidate standing in the General Election for Witham’s seat has spoken about the support her community has given her and how she’s feeling about count.
Chelsey Jay, of Witham, is an independent candidate standing in the General Election.
She spoke to the Braintree & Witham Times whilst the counts are taking place at Tabor Academy in Witham.
Chelsey said: “It was always going to be a journey for an independent, someone doing it completely on their own.
“I am literally the everyman, I’ve been doing every single job, my own communications, everything, so it was always going to be hard.
Candidate - Chelsey Jay (Image: Newsquest)
“I’m coming to the end of my maternity leave, and you can’t put a pause on anything, so it has been hard.
“But the response I’ve got from people has literally made me carry on, it has been hard physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, but they, my community, have been a powerhouse behind me.
“There has been no negativity, it has just been positive, everyone has felt really excited to be honest, thinking ‘yeah, she’s going for it’.
“They have kept me going, 100 per cent.”
Chelsey is not sure how it will turn out tonight but it’s been an incredible experience.
She said: “It feels very surreal because for me, getting into politics was an accident, it almost feels like I’m watching my story play out as this was the goal.
“It has been ten years of stumbling into this and all of a sudden I’m here, all of the work, from my roots as a disability activist and then running in the local election, I’ve been a complete underdog.
“Now I’m here, the General Election, it is a really strange and surreal feeling that by the end of tonight I will know if it has all paid off and my dreams will come true that I get to do what I set out to do.
“Or it goes the other way, obviously being an independent it is so likely it is not going to work out, but it is a strange feeling, knowing you’ve put so much.”
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