Leadership Quote by Jim Hodges

In politics, “average” is a power move disguised as humility. Jim Hodges’s “I’m an average person” isn’t offered as autobiography so much as a strategic credential: the claim that he belongs to you, not to “them.” It’s a small sentence built for big suspicion. When voters are primed to see government as a club with velvet ropes, the safest way to introduce yourself is to insist you don’t need an introduction.

The line works because it flattens hierarchy without denying authority. Hodges still wants to govern, but he frames that power as temporary and borrowed, the kind of stewardship an ordinary neighbor might take on. “Average” performs a double task: it signals moral normalcy (no weird appetites, no elite corruption) and cultural fluency (I speak your life, your prices, your routines). It also quietly preemptively answers the attack ad: if you’re average, you can’t be out of touch by definition.

The subtext is more revealing than the surface. “Average” is not statistical; it’s tribal. It invites listeners to project their own idea of “regular” onto him, which is useful in a diverse electorate where specifics can alienate. At the same time, it sidesteps the uncomfortable reality that successful politicians are rarely average in money, networks, or ambition. That tension is the whole point: the job requires exceptional access, but the performance demands relatable ordinariness.

Contextually, this kind of line lands hardest in eras of populist backlash, when authenticity is treated like policy. “Average” becomes a proxy for trust.