Tag: resist

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Hunter Mill Democrats Volunteer Appreciation Party Saturday!

Well, we did it. We worked together and we built a Blue Wave last week. Democrats had a great night across the country, and the first signs of a good night came right here in Northern Virginia. Jennifer Wexton comfortably defeated Barbara Comstock in one of the first big flips of the night. We also propelled Tim Kaine and Gerry Connolly to decisive statement victories in their races. And none of it would have happened without our incredible volunteers. It’s time to raise a glass to you, and take an evening to revel in victory!

The annual Hunter Mill Democrats Volunteer Appreciation Party will take place this Saturday, from 5pm-7pm at Reston Community Center Lake Anne, located 1609-A Washington Plaza N., Reston, 20190.

Join fellow volunteers and elected officials, including Janet Howell, Chap Petersen, Mark Keam, Ken Plum, and and more to celebrate everyone’s hard work and our electoral success this year! Please click here to RSVP.

Light food and beverages will be provided, though if you would like to contribute a side dish, it would be welcome. Please note this in your RSVP.

There is no cost to attend, but an RSVP is appreciated so we can make sure we have enough food. Please click here to RSVP.

Questions? Email huntermilldems@gmail.com

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Hunter Mill Volunteers Needed for Wexton in VA-10

One of our best opportunities to take back Congress is in Virginia’s 10th District where we are working to elect Jennifer Wexton as our next U.S. Representative and to defeat the Republican incumbent. With less than 2 weeks to go, you can sign up today to help take back the 10th District. There’s so much excitement around this campaign that many of our volunteer shifts are full in the eastern parts of the district. However, if you are able to go west, there are five locations that still need volunteers for both this weekend and in the final days before Election Day. These are important areas of the district that may hold the key to victory!

What: Volunteer for Jennifer Wexton for Congress

When: Weekend of October 28-29 and November 3 thru 6

Where: Choose a location below:

The campaign has asked Hunter Mill volunteers to assist at the Ashburn location, first on the list below. Help is welcome anywhere, but please make your best effort to help in Ashburn if you can.

Ashburn
(Hunter Mill Volunteers are asked to assist here, if possible)
20937 Ashburn Road, Ashburn, VA 20147 (map)
Click here to sign up

Aldie/South Riding
25700 Success Drive, Aldie, VA 20105 (map)
Click here to sign up

Manassas Park
170 Market Street, Unit 124, Manassas Park City, VA 20111 (map)
Click here to sign up

Leesburg
315 Ayrlee Avenue NW, Leesburg, VA 20176 (map)
Click here to sign up

Springfield
6442 Lake Meadow Drive, Burke, VA 22015 (map)
Click here to sign up

You can view a custom google map that plots each of these locations, here.

If you’re looking for other ways to help, here are a few resources:

Thanks and feel free to contact Fairfax Democrats (703-573-6811) if you are looking for any other information or resources.

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Fairfax Dems Mount Massive Latino Outreach

By Todd Thurwachter:

Ahead of the Nov. 6 election, Democrats have made a sustained effort to register and educate Latino voters in Fairfax County – who now constitute 16% of the population, and are heading higher.

The campaign has contacted tens of thousands in Fairfax and neighboring counties, led by the Voter Registration & Education Committee of Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC).

The project began last May with printing and distributing 5,000 voter information cards in Spanish, “Todo Sobre el Voto” (click here to view).

The cards, and other information in Spanish on voting, were also posted on the FCDC website. Also available in Spanish, for the first time, is the free Election Alerts service, which sends emails to subscribers before every election with key information including a sample ballot.

Committee Chair Janice Yohai also created and launched a special Latino outreach pilot program for Back-to-School-Nights in September. The committee targeted 16 Fairfax schools with over 50% Latino populations, mostly elementary schools, and recruited 13 Spanish speaking volunteers, who engaged close to 1,000 Latino parents of schoolchildren.

More from The Blue View

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Old technology is newest tool to energize voters

Reported by Janelle Hartman and Stephanie Witt Sedgwick:

Postcards may be old technology, but they are being revived as an effective tool in the arsenal of Fairfax County Democrats to get a robust turnout at elections on November 6th.

Numerous postcard parties have been held in Fairfax County throughout the campaign season to target registered voters with personal appeals from writers urging recipients to come to the polls and vote for Democrats. The total number of postcards from area volunteers flooding the US Postal Service is unknown, but estimated at tens of thousands.

The cards are all hand written and addressed. There’s no set script, but each reminds voters of the date of election and the Democratic candidates in their district and urges the voter to have their voice heard on election day.

As volunteer Eileen Shropshire wrote, “It took me longer to write this card than it will take you to vote. Your vote matters!”

Two recent postcard parties with big turnouts:

On Sunday, Oct. 21, more than 30 volunteers from Lee District Democratic Committee  turned the back room of Fiona’s Irish Pub in Alexandria into a postcard writing factory — filling more than 1,000 postcards with personal appeals to voters who cast ballots in 2016 but skipped last year’s state election. Even Fairfax County Supervisor Jeff McKay and School Board Member Ilryong Moon squeezed into crowded tables to help.

A few days later, on Thursday morning, Oct. 25, more than two dozen volunteers filled the Whole Food Vienna café area (see image at top) to complete a three-month program organized by Vienna Neighbors United that has resulted in almost 10,000 postcards urging Virginia voters to go to the polls on November 6 and vote for the Democratic candidates in their districts.

More from The Blue View

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GMU students demand end to Koch influence over faculty and curriculum

By Brad Swanson:

George Mason University (GMU) students delivered a 2,000-signature petition to the office of university President Angel Cabrera on Thursday demanding an end to influence by donors such as radical libertarian Charles Koch over academic appointments and course material.

The protest was part of a National Day of Action sponsored by UnKoch My Campus, an organization dedicated to exposing and repealing  “pay to play” gift agreements from Koch and other radical right wing donors that give them power to pick professors and shape the content of their research.

Koch has given GMU an estimated $50 million, and a total of $150 million to universities nationwide. Many of the agreements are secret but some have been revealed to give the donors an unusual amount of discretion. In the case of GMU, Cabrera admitted in April that some GMU donor agreements with the Kochs “fall short of the standards of academic independence”.

More from The Blue View

 

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It’s Time to Take a Stand and Get Out the Vote!

So here we are, in the final days of the 2018 election year. This is where all the work we’ve done all year makes a difference. We’ve spent months getting out there, knocking doors, making calls, reaching out to friends and neighbors to identify the voters we need to get to the polls on November 6th. Now it’s time to make sure they vote.

Pundits and polls have been suggesting all summer that it’s going to be a big year for Democrats, but those words and numbers aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on if we don’t turn people out to vote. There is only one poll that matters, and it closes on November 6, 2018.

So now it’s time to Get Out the Vote, or “GOTV.” This is where we reach out to voters and our message focuses on voting (e.g. “Your polling place is Fox Mill Elementary School. Do you have a plan to go there and vote for Tim Kaine and Jennifer Wexton on November 6?”). We’ve spent the summer identifying the folks we need to mobilize, and now it’s time to mobilize them.

Like anything else, if you want to do GOTV well, you need to practice. So the final two weekends of October, we do “dry runs” to make sure everything is working perfectly for the final days before election day. The dry runs will be the weekends of October 20-21 and October 27-28. The final GOTV efforts will take place on November 3rd, 4th, 5th, and of course, the 6th (election day).

It all comes down to this, so we are asking you to sign up for two or more shifts doing dry runs or GOTV. You can sign up at this link.Click to sign up for GOTVIf you have questions, reach out to our field organizer Maddy White at maddy.white@virginiavictory.org. It’s time to stand up for women, children, and ALL of our communities. It is time we take a stand. This is your opportunity to get out there and set Virginia and the entire nation on a better path.

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Long-term NoVa immigrants in TPS program face expulsion

By Brad Swanson:

Organized labor and allies rallied Saturday morning against Trump Administration plans to deport an estimated 20,000 protected status immigrants from northern Virginia.

“This is a cruel and vicious attack on families,” said Virginia Diamond, president of the Northern Virginia AFL-CIO. Many of these immigrants have been in the USA for a generation and have sunk deep roots into their communities, she pointed out.

Nationwide, the federal government plans to withdraw Temporary Protected Status (TPS) covering 400,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and Honduras in 2019 and 2020.

TPS was originally granted because of political turmoil and elevated violence levels in home countries but supporters say that after many years of living in America, TPS holders have become American in all but name – homeowners, job holders, valuable members of their communities. Moreover, 300,000 children, all US citizens, have been born to these families and raised in this country. Their fate if their parents are forced to leave is in question.

After hearing speeches outside the Northern Virginia Labor Federation office in Annandale on Saturday morning, rally participants dispersed to canvass for Jennifer Wexton, a Democratic state senator who is in a tight race against incumbent Barbara Comstock as representative for the 10th Congressional district – the second biggest region for protected status immigrants, after Long Island, New York.

“Comstock has been silent on the [TPS] program,” commented Jaime Contreras, vice-president of Service Employees International Union 32BJ. “Wexton has been a supporter of labor in Richmond.”

More in The Blue View

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Next Hunter Mill Democrats Meeting, Wednesday October 10, 2018

The October meeting of the Hunter Mill Democrats will take place on Wednesday, October 10 at 7:30pm at Louise Archer Elementary School, 324 Nutley St. NW, Vienna, VA 22180. This will be the last Hunter Mill meeting before election day, so come and learn what you can do to help build the Blue Wave!

All are welcome to arrive at 7pm to meet one another and members of the executive board before the meeting begins at 7:30pm.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, October 10!

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Volunteers Needed for Vienna Oktoberfest on October 6th

The Hunter Mill District Democratic Committee will have a table at this year’s Oktoberfest in Vienna. This will be a great opportunity to connect with the community and engage with those who may need an extra push to go to the polls on November 6th.

But we need YOUR help! Can you work a shift or two to make sure our table is properly staffed? Event details are below:

When: October 6, 2018
Where: Church Street, Vienna
Shifts Available: 7:30 AM – 8 PM

Click here to sign up for a volunteer shift.

Please contact huntermilldems@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you next week!

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It’s all business in Wexton-Comstock debate

By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick:

On Friday morning, the candidates for Congressional District 10’s House seat met in Leesburg, Va. for a debate hosted by the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce. The debate, part of the Policy Makers Series, drew a sell-out crowd of close to 550, a high mark for the Policy Makers Series.

State Sen. Jennifer Wexton and U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock faced off on questions that were all business-related over the course of the morning. The topics ranged from national issues, the Affordable Health Care Act and immigration to more local issues, such as Metro funding and the welfare of Dulles Airport.

The candidates opening statements set the tone for the debate. Comstock talked about her record in delivering tax cuts, reducing regulation and delivering for the district, saying she has focused on “results, not resistance.”

Wexton spoke of the challenging times we are living in, her point of view, the need for bipartisanship and the perils of a president who Congress has failed to check.

Among the many topics on which the candidates had clear differences was the tax bill. When asked what they felt were the benefits, short-comings and how it could improve, Wexton pointed out that four-fifths of the tax cuts went to the top 1%. She called for tax reform that is fair and benefits the working class, not this package which, she argued, is mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren. As for District 10, she cited the cap on state and local deductions as an example of a part of the bill that has directly negatively impacted the district’s taxpayers.

From The Blue View