Thomas Higdon was a lifelong political fanatic: he stayed abreast of the news cycle, went door to door to find candidates, and volunteered for a number of campaigns .
He had long dreamed of working in government, but he and everyone around him thought it wouldn’t be possible due to his substance use. His use of alcohol and other drugs began to cause him problems while he was a law student in the mid-1990s, and by 2014 the consequences of his substance use left him living under a viaduct. He now abstained from drugs, but even years later he felt he had ruined his chances of running for office.
“I let this internalized stigma, for decades, blind me to what I could actually do,” Higdon, now 52, told CBS News.
This thought stayed with him for years. He joined grassroots organizing and advocacy spaces, but in 2023, he heard about the Recovery Advocacy Project’s upcoming “Run for Recovery” program – and realized that working in public office was perhaps still be possible.
Building a political boot camp for people in recovery
Courtney Gary-Allen, who began using drugs at a young age and overdosed several times before getting sober in 2015, successfully ran for office twice. In 2020, she was elected to serve as city councilor at large in Augusta, Maine. She was re-elected to the same position in 2023. Both times she won in a landslide, but the experience made her realize the need for a campaign camp focused on people in recovery. Similar bootcamps are hosted by the major political parties, but she wanted to create a bipartisan space tailored to the specific experiences and needs of the recovery community.
“Over the past decade, the recovery movement in America has focused on telling our stories and advocating and pushing for better policy around substance use disorders and recovery efforts, and I think this is a new chapter in the history of the recovery advocacy movement,” said Gary-Allen, who is also the organizing director of the Maine Advocacy Recovery Project. we are more content to plead with political decision-makers. We run for office to become the policymakers who make decisions on these and other issues.”
From this idea was born Run for Recovery. The program graduated its first class, made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents, in August 2024. The 15 participants were selected from across the country. Once a month for a year, they met online to discuss the ins and outs of putting together a campaign. Lessons ranged from learning financial laws to writing position statements to preparing to speak openly about their drug addiction.
Higdon was one of the selected participants. Although he had “been involved in campaigns his whole life,” he said the Run for Recovery course made him aware of the technical aspects of running for office. But it wasn’t just classroom learning that inspired him. When he started the class, “there was always this kind of nagging voice in the back of your head of ‘You can’t run,'” Higdon said. The time spent with his classmates helped him change his perspective.
“I just can’t express how nice it was to be surrounded by people who also wanted to do this thing,” Higdon said. “There are a number of reasons why I might not run, but fear of what people will say and the stigma won’t be one of them.”
Founder of Mobilize Recovery Ryan Hamptonwho completed the Run for Recovery program and campaigned for a seat in the Nevada state assembly, said the stigma affected his campaign. He said his campaign was the subject of attack ads highlighting his history of substance use and calling his policy positions a “dangerous drug agenda.”
Ryan Hampton
It’s a stressful time, Hampton said, but the lessons he’s learned throughout his recovery journey and the Run for Recovery program have helped him continue his campaign.
“I’m definitely the underdog in this race, but I’m used to it,” Hampton said. “Am I afraid of losing an election? No, I’ve lost more in my life than an election. I’m not afraid of losing. I’m running to win, but I’m also running because I believe that our community is striving for something different.”
Growing a movement
There is no compiled list of every recovering person running for office. Gary-Allen said she knows several people in recovery are running for office in Maine. Higdon plans to run for a seat in the Maryland State Legislature. Racquel Garcia, a Run for Recovery graduate who holds an appointed position in Colorado, plans to campaign for state office in 2026.
Courtney Gary Allen
Gary-Allen said she hopes to see more graduates of the Run for Recovery program start their own campaigns — and see other people in recovery, even people who didn’t go through the program, make the jump into politics.
“I think we’re on the cusp of an epiphany. Not only are people in recovery voting and showing up and advocating, but we’re running for office and we’re going to fill these seats,” Gary said. Allen. “We’re going to help create solutions to substance use across the country. I’m excited about the next two election seasons.”
