Hunter Mill District Democrats
Your Local Democratic Party
Virginia Democrat Ibraheem Samirah won the Virginia 86th District special election Tuesday with 59 percent of the vote, defeating Republican candidate Gregg Nelson and independent challenger Connie Haines Hutchinson.
Samirah will replace Democrat Jennifer Boysko in the Virginia House of Delegates. Boysko was elected to the Virginia Senate, replacing Democrat Jennifer Wexton, who was elected to Congress in November.
More from The Blue View
You probably know that thanks to the hard work of Democrats in Hunter Mill, Fairfax County, and in the rest of Northern Virginia, we are sending Jennifer Wexton to represent us in Washington. In order to do that, Jennifer Wexton has had to vacate her seat in Virginia’s 33rd Senate District. We will vote on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 for a new state Senator. Jennifer Boysko, a current representative in Virginia’s House of Delegates, has been nominated as the Democrat running for the seat.
The election will be open to all registered voters who live in the Hunter Mill Precincts of Frying Pan and McNair. Voters in those precincts will vote in their usual polling locations on January 8, 2019. Polls will be open from 6am to 7pm.
In-Person Absentee (Early) Voting for the SD33 Jan 8th Special Election is available now at the Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Pkwy, Fairfax, VA 22035. Early voting will be available from Monday, 11/26/18 through Saturday 01/05/19 from 9am-5pm.
Canvassing and Phone Banking will launch from 6 Pidgeon Hill Dr, Sterling, VA. Sign up here to help with weekend shifts:
And Sign up here for weekday shifts:
Remote Phone Banking is also available. If you are interested in volunteering in any capacity, please feel free to reach out to Chad Wiggins, Field Director cwiggins@vademocrats.org / 571-839-7040.
Handwritten postcards are a great way to communicate with potential voters with a human touch. Volunteers will also be organizing postcard-writing campaigns at the following dates, times, and locations:
Boysko’s campaign is also in need of housing for one more organizer through January 10, 2019. If you can assist, please reach out as soon as you can.
Jennifer Boysko’s campaign website has further information on her as a candidate, and you can access it at https://www.jenniferboysko.com/. For more information on how to get involved and help make sure a Democrat stays in Virginia’s 33rd Senate District, contact Hunter Mill’s Vice Chair for Precinct Operations, Joanne Collins collinsjoanne@yahoo.com / 585-703-1121.
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
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.
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
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.
If 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.
By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick:
Volunteers packed the Sterling campaign of office of State Senator Jennifer Wexton (Loudon-Fairfax), candidate for Virginia’s Congressional District 10, kicking off a day of canvassing Saturday for them and an even longer day of campaigning for Wexton and her staff.
A crowd of over 140 people filled the office to capacity early Saturday morning and more volunteers were expected later in the day. John Begala, Wexton’s political director, said the turnout was so large that he could only compare it to what is normally the largest canvassing effort, the Get Out The Vote weekend right before the election: “We would be very excited if this was the GOTV turnout, and to see this five weeks before the election is really something.”
Before the group fanned out across the local area and Wexton took off crisscrossing the district, the group, which included volunteers from local progressive groups including Virginia Democracy Forward, Network NoVA, NOPE! Neighbors, Herndon Reston Indivisible and the Georgetown University Democrats, was welcomed by local politicians.
Looking back on the events of the past week, Delegate Jennifer Boysko (Fairfax-Loudon), urged the crowd to take “our energy and our anger and move this campaign forward.”
Delegate Mark Sickles, (Fairfax) promised that Wexton was a tireless worker, who “would get under the hood and fix what’s wrong in a bi-partisan way.”
Wexton had some parting words of her own. While incumbent Barbara Comstock, her Republican opponent, may have the backing of big money, including the Koch brothers, Wexton said she had more, “I love you guys, you are something better than Koch money.”
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
The November election is only two months away, and every single vote counts in building our blue wave. To make sure we do everything we can to elect Tim Kaine, Jennifer Wexton, and Gerry Connolly in 2018, we’re asking everyone who can to join our elected officials and participate in a weekend of action this weekend, September 8 and 9, 2018.
On Saturday, we will be having a canvassing and phone banking event from the home of Sue Langley:
2435 Flint Hill Road
Vienna, VA 22181
Gerry Connolly will join us at noon, and Ken Plum and Pat Hynes will also participate. More information is available here.
On Sunday at 9am, Delegate Jennifer Boysko will join us for canvassing and phone banking in Fox Mill:
2982 Franklin Oaks Drive
Herndon, VA 20171
More information is available here.
There are opportunities on both Saturday and Sunday throughout the day, so come meet your elected officials and join us in fighting to restore sanity to our government.