For much of the past year, the story of U.S. foreign aid has been one of retreat. Programs shuttered, offices hollowed out, careers upended.
The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the broader decimation of the global development sector under the Trump administration has been lamented as a historic brain drain — with LinkedIn posts testifying to a bleak job market for those suddenly, shockingly #opentowork.
But for a small and growing group of former development practitioners, the collapse of the system they once worked inside has marked the beginning of a different story — not of resignation, but resolve. In the last year, a noticeable number of people who built careers inside USAID’s orbit have decided to do something different: run for political office.