Volunteer Spotlight: Mark Stover

Kate and Mark Stover

1. How long have you been volunteering with CoCoDems?
   Since February, 2025 after the election of Trump 2.0

2. What inspired you to start volunteering with us?
   I wanted to have a good answer when my grandkids ask in the future, what did you do to fight to protect democracy, Gramps?

3. What is your role with CoCoDems?
   I'm the second vice chair (the "spare" in the old joke about succession to the British throne - there is an heir and a spare). I'm also a member of the Communications Committee and work to keep up our Instagram and Bluesky social media presence. I am an office greeter on Thursday afternoons. I'm part of the Neighborhood Action Team in Columbus. I've worked on a couple of podcasts.

4. Why would you suggest other people considering volunteering with CoCoDems?
   If we are going to be successful pushing back on the authoritarian moment, we are going to need to rebuild our local communities where there is more in common than there is dividing us. We need to be a neighbor and a contributor to community events and to community decisions. We need to set that example for our kids and their kids in order to rebuild the network of small 'd' democrats who want to see a robust commonwealth. And in even more direct terms, it's fun to hang out with smart people who share your world view on most things!

5. What is your connection to Columbia County?
   We've lived in Columbus since 1999. My wife, Kate, grew up on a farm just south of the Columbia County line in Dane County, but her address and her school were all in Columbus. Her family has been on that farmland since Benjamin Harrison was President. Columbus is a great place to raise kids (excellent schools), play (two golf courses, bikeable roads, and the mighty Crawfish River), and people interested in continuing to invest in their community.\

6. What is a fun fact about you that most people don’t know?
   At age 11, my Pinewood Derby race car won the best looking award in the local Cub Scout troop to which I belonged. It was better looking than it was fast, proving that, once in a while, good looks can be more satisfying than performance!

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