This is Cara Nicole Trujillo. For the past few years, she’s been active on the Arizona cosplay scene. Now, she’s also active on the political one.
Phoenix New Times report that Trujillo is officially running for the Arizona Legislature as a Green Party candidate, appearing on this November’s ballot. On her official site, Trujillo mentions that she personally collected all the necessary signatures to get her name in the upcoming election cycle.
“I am serious about this,” Trujillo told the New Times. “I felt it was a good time to run. I’m glad people are deciding they want to get more involved, and I want to give people the opportunity to choose something more outside the red-and-blue party system.”
Her day job is running an indie comic-book publishing house with her husband, but she says she’s been increasingly active in local politics. Trujillo, who was previously married, told the New Times how she’s been lobbying to change laws so that divorced parents can get equal time with their children. She describes herself as willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats and “very pro-limited government.”
She’s already campaigned at the Phoenix Comicon, but is aware that her opponents might try to turn cosplay into a political attack. “This is my job,” she says. “People will try to use it against me. If I dress up in a suit, people would say I’m a fraud.”
Continuing, she told the New Times that if she won, she’d wear appropriate clothing while legislating in the Capitol.
On her official Facebook page, she writes, “I will be on the same ballot as the next president of the United States. That isn’t a lot of time and if I am going to show everyone that I am a serious candidate I will need as much support as I can get.”