Kristy Adams is the Conservative candidate for Mid Sussex and a was formally a councillor on Mid Sussex District Council.
For most candidates, the dream is to stand in our home seat, and for me that opportunity came in September 2023, when boundary changes split Mid Sussex split in two. With the incumbent MP moving to the newly formed seat, I was able to pick up the blue baton in the constituency where I had grown up and still live.
However, the seat I have inherited looks electorally very different from the one Sir Nicholas Soames represented for more than 20 years. The wards most loyal to the Conservatives were split off, leaving a three-way marginal, so my first task as the candidate was to change the culture of the local association from caretakers of a safe seat to a lean, mean election-winning machine. Thankfully the new association is made up of loyal people who have worked these wards expertly for many years. Very many years in some cases, and from the outset I was keen to get people from all ages involved in making sure Mid Sussex stays Tory. That’s why I launched the campaign with a Young Conservatives night. It was refreshing to hear their ideas about how to win over their community — pragmatic, sensible solutions, and not a woke cliché in sight. It has been fantastic to see strong leaders emerging from this group, canvassing, delivering and pitching in with any task.
With 22 villages and two towns to leaflet and canvas, the campaign costs have been eye-watering. We had no war chest, so the first order of business was to plan events and apply for funds. There were lots of rejections and the stress of not knowing how we could pay for the next leaflet, but we persevered and our simple local messaging, drawing on national achievements where relevant, started to cut through.
As a local business person I differentiate myself from the opposition by my track record in getting stuff done, so I planned campaigns where I could meet ministers and get their support for my area. Andrea Leadsom (Family Hubs) and Julia Lopez (Mobile & Broadband connectivity) both got behind my campaigns to improve service for Mid Sussex. I held 19 ‘Meet Kristy’ events in homes and pubs to hear about local concerns. The Lib Dem agent and association chairman came along to one of these meetings, hiding their roles – but the truth came out and local people thought it was poor sportsmanship.
By this stage, I had drafted in a volunteer campaign manager, Stephen, who gamely took on the role despite having no prior experience. I shudder at the lack of training for these critical positions. If I could change one thing to change about the way the party supports candidates, it would be for every constituency to have a trained agent and a trained campaign manager. Thankfully Stephen didn’t let his lack of grounding hold him back and came up with the idea to buy billboard space by one of our main train stations. We had endless discussions over the image, in the end I decided on a photo which was ‘full David Cameron’ — a light blue shirt and smart trousers, worn with a navy jacket which is immediately taken off when you arrive, sleeves rolled up ready for work! We also ordered huge posters — 8ft x 4ft and smaller ones — and sited them across the constituency. Many were ripped down but we had ordered reserves and we just put them up again. They ripped them down again, we put them up. Suddenly on the doorstep and in shops, people would stop me and say my name.
The website and social media also played its part. Lana Hempsall, a candidate from Norfolk suggested I complete an A-Z of Mid Sussex, so every day I posted a new video celebrating something in Mid Sussex. The videos took hours to plan, and yet more hours to film, edit and subtitle. A friend taught me how to do this, and it’s like learning a new language, a visual language which means I can connect with people beyond the doorstep.
And I have certainly connected with a lot of people on the doorstep. Through more than 50 canvass sessions I’ve had many different conversations. Probably the hottest topic has been potholes and the cost of the damage to people’s cars, but there have been a myriad of other concerns voiced. Even on the doorsteps of Labour and Lib Dem voters, they comment on our bravery to keep coming out and engaging.
It hasn’t been easy, and this election is not for the faint-hearted, but I keep going because I believe that people deserve the opportunity to cast their vote for Conservative principles. As Theodore Roosevelt said ‘It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat…who spends himself on a worthy cause.’ However tough the battle, I am convinced that our cause is worthy.