Mel

Mel (born July 13th, 1980) is a Dogger politician serving as a Labor Worker's Party MP since January 29th, 2021, and as both Deputy Leader and Whip of the Labor Worker's Party after being appointed by Robert La Follette on January 26th, 2021. Before their election to the National Assembly, Mel served as a member of the Hoovsted City Council from 2008 to 2014, and two terms as mayor of Hoovsted, from 2014 to 2021, at which point they resigned to join the National Assembly.

Early Career
Mel was born in Hoovsted on July 13th, 1980, born to an English working-class family, and attended the University of Steibo. While in University, they became very involved with activism for the Worker's Party, becoming elected president of the Students for Social Democracy organization, its Youth Wing, and then graduating in 2002. After graduating, Mel began to become increasingly involved with local politics and was hired to work as a secretary for the mayor of Hoovsted, Henry Davies. Mel continued to work at this position until 2006 when Davies lost the election to Edward Walker, the Liberal Party candidate. After Davies's loss in the 2006 election, Mel was hired to work at the United Dockworker's Union, working to negotiate political cooperation with local Worker's Party officials.

City Council (2008-2014)
Mel continued this work until 2008, at which point they resigned to mount a campaign for a city council seat representing the neighborhood they had grown up in, a Worker's Party stronghold, which they won in a landslide. They were well known as the city council member most openly tied to various local unions and as the Worker's Party member most willing to work with whoever was in power to get their bills passed. In 2010, the Hoovsted mayoralty was up for election again and it was a fiercely fought election. Mel decided to mount a primary campaign for the candidacy, running on the moderate wing of the party, but narrowly lost to Elizabeth Brown, a non-profit CEO who ran as the more left-wing candidate. Brown would go on to lose the election for mayor against incumbent Mayor Edward Walker, who secured a second term, meanwhile, Mel secured their second term on the city council. Mel was again elected for city council in 2012 and became elected Majority Leader of the City Council during this term. It was also during this term that the merger between the moderate social-democratic Labor Party and unionist social-democratic Worker's Party merged into the Labor Worker's Party, its current form. This caused a surge in support for the new Labor Worker's Party as their bases became consolidated, with some polls indicating at one point a possible 37% of the vote being for the LWP in the 2014 elections, although the final number was much lower than this.

First Term as Mayor (2014-2018)
It was during this wave of support that Mel announced their intention to run another primary campaign for Mayor of Hoovsted to succeed Ed Walker, who was term-limited. In the Labor Worker's primary, Mel's main opposition was Lukas Roemer, a former Labor Party member, and civil rights attorney. Mel ended up winning the primary campaign with a decent majority and in the general election faced off against David Whitford, the Liberal Party candidate and Police Chief under Ed Walker. Mel would end up winning, later mainly attributed to increased left-wing turnout after the formation of the new party. Their administration was mostly characterized by a fusing of the heavily union based politics of the former Worker's Party with the more moderate social-democratic economic policies and rhetoric of the former Labor Party, soon making Mel a national figure as one of a number of Labor Worker's Party members elected to powerful positions in national and local governments. A notable decision made under Mel's administration was the massive investment into public transportation, paid for by the introduction of a wealth tax, the addition of a proposal similar to this to the LWP manifesto has been attributed to the successful implementation of this policy within Hoovsted. As well, they were the first nonbinary mayor in Doggerland's history.

Second Term as Mayor (2018-2021)
Mel was widely expected to win reelection according to polls, due to the "Hoovsted Transportation For All Act" being followed by broad popular approval of the mayor and city government. There was token opposition in the LWP primary, and Mel ended up facing off a ULPP candidate in the runoff election, Dianne Hayes, a socialist city council member who had been adamant in the Worker's Rights Act not going far enough. Mel won in a landslide victory, with most centrist voters voting for Mel in the runoff. Mel's second term was mostly focused on Housing reform at first, however in 2020 focus shifted to the handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

National Assembly
During the January 2021 election cycle, after Robert La Follette was elected as Labor Worker's Leader, Mel was appointed as both the Deputy Leader and Whip, being second on the party list. They resigned from the position of Mayor of Hoovsted while Deputy Leader of the national Labor Worker's Party, and called for an election to replace themself on January 29th, the same day as the national parliamentary election. They were also vocal about the prospect of forming a left-wing coalition with the United Left People's Party, a goal which ended up being achieved. They have served as a Labor Worker's Party MP since January 29th and are rumored to be in the talks for a cabinet position within the Forward! Alliance for Progressive Action.

Political Positions
Self-identifying as a democratic socialist on the left of the LWP, they believe strongly that strengthening unions and fighting climate change should be the first priority of the government. As well, they are strongly pro EU membership for Doggerland.