Remembering January 6

January 6, 2021 is a day that is burned in the memory of every democracy-loving American. The images of that day are burned into our memories, and we will never forget that even after a violent mob sought to overthrow the Constitutional order, most Republicans came back into the chamber and voted against certifying the legitimate results of a free and fair election.

Before the 2021 election here in Virginia, Republicans were already setting the stage to claim fraud if they lost. When they won, not a single one of them raised questions about “election integrity” or “voter fraud.” In the meantime, Republicans in Fairfax County are trying to recall every Democratic elected official they can using campaigns of lies and deception. It is clear that allegations of voter fraud have never been in good faith, but are part of a war on democracy, the end goal of which is the complete de-legitimization of Democratic voters. Some have even written that “voter fraud” effectively just means “Democrats voting.”

If the promise of the United States of America means anything, it means the right to vote. We cannot forget that the Republican Party is now actively against democracy unless they are winning, and party leaders will call their supporters to violence to overturn elections they lose. That means it is left to us, the aptly named Democratic party, to promote democracy and the right to vote.

As we remember the horrible events of this day last year, we must recommit ourselves to the activism that led us to expand voting rights here in Virginia, and do everything in our power to preserve those hard-fought gains.

Check out FCDC Chair Bryan Graham’s statement on January 6 for more reflections on remembering this day.

Candidate Petition Signing Event!

DATE: Saturday, January 30

TIME: ​​Noon – 2:00pm

LOCATION:​ North County Health Services parking lot
1850 Cameron Glen, Reston,
Across from the North County Governmental Center (police station)

The Hunter Mill District Democratic Committee (HMDDC) recognizes the difficulty Democratic campaigns may be having collecting petition signatures in the pandemic environment.  We want to help.

On Saturday, January 30, HMDDC will be staging a multi-campaign, drive-up event to facilitate signature gathering. All statewide campaigns have been invited to participate. House campaigns for announced candidates serving the Hunter Mill District have also been invited to participate. Confirmed campaigns include:

Governor 

  • Justin Fairfax
  • Jennifer Carroll Foy
  • Terry McAuliffe
  • Jennifer McClellan

Lieutenant Governor

  • ​​Hala Ayala
  • Elizabeth Guzman
  • Mark H. Levine
  • Andria McClellan
  • Sean Perryman
  • Sam Rasoul
  • Xavier Warren

Attorney General

  • Mark Herring
  • Jay Jones

House of Delegates

  • ​​Jennifer Adeli
  • Ibraheem Samirah

We are very aware of pandemic restrictions on outdoor gatherings. Therefore, we are going to set up three areas well-spaced apart where campaigns can be staged to collect signatures from people arriving in their vehicles.

Participants must arrive by car, must stay in their car, and are required to be masked. No walk-ups.

Participants wishing to sign a petition for a House of Delegates candidate must live in that District. You should know in which House District you reside, or at least the candidate’s name.

Participants wishing to sign a petition for a statewide candidate do not have to live the Hunter Mill District. To expedite the process, you should know in which Congressional District you reside.

Participants can sign petitions for more than one candidate in a race!

No registration is required.

Hunter Mill 2021 Virtual Straw Poll Results

On January 7, 2021, the Hunter Mill District Democratic Committee held the first-in-the-Commonwealth straw poll for statewide candidates.

HMDDC had three primary goals for this event: 1) raise money for the committee, 2) present statewide candidates to HMDDC members and volunteers, and 3) get an early look at how the candidates lined up against each other. By most accounts, we achieved all three goals.

The event was open to all, and the individual campaigns were encouraged to bring supporters to participate. Participation did require pre-registration and the purchase of a “ticket.” Over 250 tickets were sold, which exceeded the Committee’s expectations, as did the total amount raised ($6,100+), which included contributions in excess of the ticket price.

It is important to note that this straw poll was not a scientific poll of the candidates’ support across the Commonwealth. Roughly 60% of the ticket purchasers were from Northern Virginia. Fewer than 20% of purchasers were HMDDC members. Participants skewed heavy to the campaigns that recruited them to attend. And voting was done using the Zoom Webinar polling feature which may not be as secure as in-person paper ballots.

In the end, attendees came away excited at the prospects for 2021 in Virginia. Democrats have a strong field of competitive candidates in every statewide race.

Below are the results.

Governor

Three of the announced gubernatorial candidates spoke to attendees. Justin Fairfax and Terry McAuliffe did not attend.

  • Jennifer Caroll Foy: 36%
  • Jennifer McClellan: 36%
  • Lee Carter: 14%
  • Terry McAuliffe: 11%
  • Justin Fairfax: 2%
  • None of the above/No preference: 2%
Lieutenant Governor

Only one of the announced Lt. Governor candidates (Paul Goldman) did not attend the event. Due to technical and timing issues, Elizabeth Guzman did not have the chance to speak until after the poll had been conducted. In an effort to achieve a more equitable result, another poll was taken after Del. Guzman spoke. In the interest of transparency, the results of both polls are shown below. While the need for two polls came about by accident, seeing both numbers may provide some interesting insight. Notably, both polls reflected consistent number 1, 2, and 3, rankings.

First Poll (Before Del. Guzman spoke)

  • Sam Rasoul: 46%
  • Sean Perryman: 24%
  • Elizabeth Guzman: 8%
  • Mark Levine: 7%
  • Hala Ayala: 5%
  • Andria McClellan: 5%
  • Xavier Warren: 3%
  • None of the above/No preference: 2%
  • Paul Goldman: 0%

Second Poll (After Del. Guzman spoke)

  • Sam Rasoul: 45%
  • Sean Perryman: 22%
  • Elizabeth Guzman: 17%
  • Hala Ayala: 6%
  • Andria McClellan: 4%
  • Mark Levine: 3%
  • None of the above/No preference: 1%
  • Xavier Warren: 0%
  • Paul Goldman: 0%
Attorney General

Both announced Attorney General candidates spoke to attendees.

  • Mark Herring: 64%
  • Jay Jones: 30%
  • None of the above/No preference: 6%

Check out ffxvotes.org for info on voting in Fairfax County

Voting has already started in Fairfax County. It’s a great time to check out ffxvotes.org, which has everything a Fairfax County Voter needs to vote on or before the Tuesday, November 3 General Election!

UPDATED: Vienna Election to Take Place May 19

Wednesday night, April 22, the Virginia State Senate voted to reject Gov. Northam’s request to move the May municipal elections to November, a request supported by the Virginia House of Delegates. Gov. Northam used his executive authority to move the elections from the original date of May 5 to May 19, 2020. This decision puts voter’s health and safety at risk.

For those of us in the Hunter Mill District, the decision not to delay the municipal elections means the Vienna Town Elections will take place on May 19th.

Prior to Northam’s request, HMDDC was running an active phone banking operation into Vienna to encourage voters to vote absentee by mail. We put that operation on hold when the Governor’s request was made. We now need to resume our calls into the Vienna voters who are eligible to vote in the Town Council Election.

NOTE: The Vienna Town Elections are non-partisan and candidates run as independents. This year many of those “independents” support Republican causes and candidates. This includes Linda Colbert who is running for Mayor.

For those of you who were previously helping make calls, thank you. You should have received a message earlier this morning from Joanne Collins and Susan Pederson regarding how to proceed.

For the rest of you, we need your help now. We need additional volunteers to call voters in the Town of Vienna to remind them of the town elections, ask them to request an absentee ballot, and let them know two members of HMDDC (Howard Springsteen & Roy Baldwin) are running for office. This is a virtual phone bank that does not require you to commit to specific times. Please consider donating some time over the next few days to participate in this effort.

Contact Joanne Collins (collinsjoanne@yahoo.com) or Susan Pederson (susanpederson4@gmail.com) TODAY to volunteer and discuss your participation. They will provide additional information and set you up with everything you need

The BlueView, the Fairfax County Democratic Committee newsletter, has published two articles with statements from the Mayoral and Town Council Candidates:

For those of you who live in the Town of Vienna, it is essential that you vote in this election. These are the elected officials who most directly affect your daily life. If you have not already mailed in your absentee ballot, to request an absentee ballot go to: www.elections.virginia.gov/voterinformation. Don’t wait.

2019 VICTORY!

A huge thank you to all of our volunteers who called voters, canvassed voters, donated money and helped all our candidates up and down the ticket this election cycle! We would especially like to thank our Fighting4Fairfax organizer Henry Pratt, and campaign manager, Jeremy Cullimore.

We had a Democratic sweep in Hunter Mill and we congratulate all of our winning candidates below, including Hunter Mill members Sen. Janet Howell, Del. Ken Plum, Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, Hunter Mill Supervisor-Elect, Walter Alcorn, and Hunter Mill School Board Representative-Elect, Melanie Meren!

Finally, thank you to Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and to Hunter Mill School Board Representative Pat Hynes for their many years of service to Hunter Mill District, Fairfax County, and also for supporting the Hunter Mill Democrats.

Senate of Virginia

  • Jennifer Boysko, 33rd District
  • Barbara Favola, 31st District
  • Janet Howell, 32nd District
  • Chap Petersen, 34th District

Virginia House of Delegates

  • Mark Keam, 35th District
  • Kathleen Murphy, 34th District
  • Ken Plum, 36th District
  • Ibraheem Samirah, 86th District

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

  • Jeff McKay- Chairman
  • Walter Alcorn, Hunter Mill District Supervisor

Fairfax County School Board

  • Melanie Meren- Hunter Mill District Representative
  • Karen Keys-Gamarra- At-Large Member
  • Abrar Omeish- At-Large Member
  • Rachna Sizemore-Heizer- At-Large Member

Fairfax County Constitutional Officers

  • Steve Descano- Commonwealth’s Attorney
  • Stacey Kincaid- Sheriff

Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District

  • Monica Billger- Director
  • Chris Koerner- Director
  • Jerry Peters- Director

Democratic School Board Candidates Drop by the Reston Farmer’s Market

Democratic Candidates for School Board dropped by the Reston Farmer’s Market on Saturday! From left: Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill), Rachna Sizmore-Heizer (At-Large), Elaine Tholen (Dranesville), and Karen Keys-Gamarra (At-Large). Abrar Omeish (At-Large) was unable to attend.

You never know who will drop by the farmer’s market, and the Hunter Mill Democrats are there every weekend. If you’re interested in volunteering to staff the Hunter Mill Dems’ farmer’s market table, contact huntermilldems@gmail.com.

 

Please vote in the June 11 primary; important seats are at stake!

This year’s primary is special!

Every 4 years, all 10 seats on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors are up for election – one Chairman at-large, and one for each of 9 county magisterial districts. There are no term limits.

This year, half the current Supervisors are retiring after years of service. These seats are seeing competitive primaries for the first time in decades! It’s an unprecedented turn over!

These 10 elected officials on the Board of Supervisors annually set homeowner property tax rates in Fairfax County. They establish the annual budget that allocates our property taxes to fund county-administered services – in the upcoming FY 2020 it is a $4.4 Billion budget of YOUR tax dollars – to fund public schools, police and fire services, health & human services, libraries, parks & recreation, transit, environmental sustainability, affordable housing, and much more. The Board also approves land use & development policies & plans – and more!

Linked here is a fantastic flier about the candidates and when/how to vote, from the Fairfax Democratic Committee.

You can also view links to candidates’ websites here:
https://fairfaxdemocrats.org/2019/04/23/2019-democratic-primary-information-for-voters/

Quickly, though, the competitive seats are:

  1. Board of Supervisors Chairman (4 candidates);
  2. Hunter Mill District Supervisor (5 candidates);
  3. Commonwealth’s Attorney (2 candidates);
  4. Precincts with a Senate Primary in Hunter Mill:
    1. 240 Colvin: Barbara Favola vs Nicole Merlene for SD31;
    2. 235 Frying Pan and 237 McNair: Jennifer Boysko vs Sharafat Hussain for SD33.

Please share with your friends and make your voting plans! Polls are open from 6am-7pm on June 11—check your voting location here. And, there are early absentee voting options before then. So no excuses!

Every vote really matters!

#GOTV #BlueWaveStartsLocally #LocalBlueWave #BlueWaveFairfax

Hunter Mill Unity Event June 12, June Meeting Postponed to June 19

The Hunter Mill Democrats’ monthly meeting, normally scheduled for Wednesday, June 12, is being postponed to the following Wednesday, June 19 in the cafeteria at Lake Anne Elementary School at 7:30pm. We will be meeting to approve new members and discuss candidate donations. Your participation is important as we decide as a committee how to begin disbursing the funds we have been raising since last year. Hunter Mill has a proud tradition of supporting Democratic candidates, so please plan to attend to make your voice heard!

On June 12 at the North County Governmental Center, Hunter Mill Democrats will instead have a Unity event  with our 2019 candidates, prevailing candidates, nominees and elected officials from 7:30 -9:00 PM. This event will bring us back to our shared Democratic cause as we work towards a blue victory in November. Be sure to join us for this celebration and let’s get to work to elect Democrats!

April 29 Hunter Mill District Supervisor Democratic Candidate Forum

Join the Hunter Mill District Democrats for their Hunter Mill District Democratic Committee Candidate Forum on April 29th from 7–9 PM at CenterStage at RCC Hunters Woods. This forum will allow Hunter Mill District residents to hear from their Democratic candidates for the Hunter Mill District Board Supervisor. This seat, currently held by Cathy Hudgins, is being vacated. Our Democratic candidates will be on the ballot for the June 11th primary and the prevailing candidate will be on the general election ballot on November 5th.

Check out https://huntermill.fairfaxdemocrats.org/bosforum/ and the HMDDC Facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/597568030758259/. The event is free, but tickets for attendance may be reserved here. We also encourage members to submit questions for the candidates beforehand here.