Why a Pokemon Voice Actor Is Running for PG County's Board of Ed

Jamie McGonnigal, a Hyattsville elementary school PTA president and prominent voiceover artist, is known to students and parents through his work in the Pokémon TV series. He plans to run for the Prince George’s County Board of Education seat for District 3 in the nonpartisan November election against Brentwood council member Juan Arango-Millan. McGonnigal moved to Hyattsville about 12 years ago, previously working as an actor and later producing benefit shows and theater events. He has voiced characters for more than 25 years, including roles in One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Winx Club. He also teaches communication through storytelling and has built community networks through PTA leadership, including support for walking kids home during immigration-enforcement activity.

"Students and parents at one Hyattsville elementary school are unusually familiar with the voice of their PTA president-not because he talks a lot at the school but because he's a prominent voiceover artist who acted in the Pokémon TV series. Now Jamie McGonnigal wants to take on a new role: school-board member. He's hoping to fill the Prince George's County Board of Education seat for District 3, running in the nonpartisan November election against Brentwood council member Juan Arango-Millan."

"The Pokémon series in particular makes McGonnigal popular at school career days, where he'll often autograph Pokémon cards. Sometimes, he shows videos from cartoons he's done, "and that's when the kids start piecing it together," he says. "Then I'll do the voice live that they just heard. And they're like, 'Wait, what?'" One kid "refers to me as my character name from Pokémon. He doesn't know my real name, I don't think.""

"In between voice-acting gigs, McGonnigal has built a career teaching people how to communicate via storytelling. A knack for bringing people together led him to his son's PTA. "I like leading things, I like building teams," he says. "That's been a through line to a lot of the work I've done. Producing Broadway concerts and events was always about, like, how many people can we pull together to make a thing happen? Community has always been super vital and important to me, both as a queer person and a parent.""

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