Cville Dems

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

Candidates

Successful “Summer Fun in the Sun” Picnic with the Albemarle Dems (7/30/23)

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photo of people sitting at picnic tables listening to speeches75 people turned out on July 30 and did have a lot of fun… and got to hear good, short speeches from most of our local candidates!

The Albemarle Dems were super well-organized and had everything running smoothly and brought plenty of good food; thank you Karen Combs and crew!

John McLaren coordinated getting gas grills (thanks to Rodney Beard and Jules Tatum for providing the equipment and transportation) and Martha Donnelly (game buyer extraordinaire), Emily Little, and Dan Doernberg organized the games, with cornhole provided by Josh Throneburg and Jason and Tom Vandever.

Erin Monaghan took the games and miscellaneous other things to our storage locker for the next picnic (everyone said we should do this again, and hold more joint events with Albemarle!).

 

photo of Creigh Deeds speaking and holding a microphone wearing informal shirt and slacks

Creigh Deeds

 

Photo of Amy Laufer wearing a white blouse and blue skirt and sunglasses at the picnic

Amy Laufer 

Albemarle County Board of Education candidate Allison Spillman wearing her campaign t-shirt at her booth under a tent
Allison Spillman

 

Photo of Lloyd Snook, Sheila Haughey, and Madison Cummings at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Lloyd Snook, Sheila Haughey, and Madison Cummings

 

Dems standing in the food line at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
The food line

 

Photo of grill cooks Lewis Combs and Rodney Beard making meat and plant-based hamburgers at the 20230730 picnic
Grill cooks Lewis Combs and Rodney Beard

 

Photo of Tom Vandever and Brian Pinkston at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Tom Vandever and Brian Pinkston

 

Photo of Karen Combs wearing a blue "Get Vocal Vote Local" T-shirt at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Karen Combs

 

Photo of Carrson Everett wearing sunglasses and a blue "Get Vocal Vote Local" T-shirt at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Carrson Everett

Photo of Dems at the at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic sitting around before the speeches began

 

Report: June Primary Results

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Round graphic saying "Virginia is for Voters" put out by Virginia Department of ElectionsWe held our primary on June 20th. As Democrats, we believe in competition, and as a sign of our healthy, vigorous party, we had plenty of competition on the 20th! Our candidates for state and local races ran vigorous campaigns, full of positive ideas and proud Democratic values.

This is good for our party and for the Commonwealth, because it allows voters to see Democrats debating how best to move our economy forward to include everyone; to protect rights to healthcare; to increase access to housing; to prevent gun violence; to protect our environment; and to provide a better future for all Virginians. Republican primaries, on the other hand, tend to be contests to see which candidate can best attack the most vulnerable minority scapegoat of the moment; voters see this and notice the difference. Thanks to all of our candidates for making it clear what Democratic Party values are all about.

In the city council primary, Natalie Oschrin, Michael Payne, and Lloyd Snook won the nominations, congratulations to them… and thank you, Dashad Cooper and Bob Fenwick, for running and campaigning with honor and making us all proud.

In the 54th House of Delegates District primary, Katrina Callsen won the nomination; congratulations Katrina, and thank yous to Dave Norris and Bellamy Brown for running and consistently promoting beautiful Democratic values.

In the Senate District 11 primary, Creigh Deeds won the nomination. Congratulations, Creigh, and thank you Sally Hudson for running and standing for good government for all.

A SPECIAL WORD OF THANKS to the volunteers at the polling stations on primary day, who greeted voters and provided useful information, as well as to the precinct chairs who organized them. And to all the campaigns’ staff members and volunteers who knocked on countless doors and spread their candidates’ messages; you’ve all helped our party grow!

The voters were the real winners of this affirmation of the democratic process. Now we look forward to the general election in November, where we need to ensure that our excellent candidates win the offices we nominated them for!

VOTING IS TODAY (6/20!), Meet the Candidates

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Round graphic saying "Virginia is for Voters" put out by Virginia Department of ElectionsHere are the candidates running in all three Democratic Primary races (see a sample ballot here):
Vote any time from 6am-7pm at your (maybe new as of May 1) local polling place; find where to go here (and you can still register same-day!). If you have any questions about voting or your voting status, call the City of Charlottesville Registrar at 434-970-3250 (Albemarle readers should call the County Registrar at 434-972-4173).
Here are the candidates running in all three Democratic Primary races (see a sample ballot here):

State Senate District 11

(vote for only 1)
• Sally Lindquist Hudson (sallyforvirginia.com) — overview info
• Robert Creigh Deeds (senatordeeds.com) — overview info

House of Delegates District 54

(vote for only 1)
• Katrina Elizabeth Callsen (katrinacallsen.com) — overview info
• David M. Norris (votefordave.org) — overview info

Charlottesville City Council

(3 seats, vote for no more than 3)
• Natalie Oschrin (nat4cville.com) — overview info
• Robert F. Fenwick Jr. — overview info pending from candidate
• John Lloyd Snook Jr. (lloydsnookforcouncil.com) — overview info pending from candidate
• Dashad Lorenzo Cooper (dashadcooper.com) — overview info

Related Primary Notes

• Thanks to everyone who’s taken part in the process — candidates, campaign staff members and volunteers, Election Board members and election officials/volunteer poll workers, donors, the Registrar’s Office, and (most important) the voters. As Democrats and democrats (capital and small “d”), we care that American and Virginia elections are fair, efficient, transparent, and accessible to all our citizens!
• This has already been an exciting election (historically high early voting!) due to the hard work all of our excellent Democratic candidates have put in; they’ve all made us proud and are to be celebrated! Please show consideration and empathy to all the candidates and their staff members and supporters, regardless of who you supported; we need unity for future contests starting with the November general election against our Republican opponents!
• In that vein, some local Dems have organized a Primary Day watch party and invite all the campaigns to join in; it will start at 7pm when the polls close (cash bar, with some live music and limited appetizers provided) at Rapture on the Downtown Mall.

REPORT: June 2nd Summer Bash Fundraiser (Featuring Rural GroundGame’s Lynlee Thorne)

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Fundraising Committee Chair Nancy Damon and her group (we thank them all for their great work on this!) gave us this recap of a very fun and successful event (even the weather cooperated!):
We had about 150 people come out to socialize, meet the candidates, and hear our speaker Lynlee Thorne, Rural GroundGame’s Political Director.
Big thanks to:
  • Our 60+ sponsors, at all levels, whose generosity makes all our work possible!
  • Our primary food vendor Soul Food Joint (for the chicken and sides and all their table and chair hauling/set-up/takedown), and to Sticks and Mona Lisa Pasta for some of the vegetarian dishes.
  • To Black Bear Composting for… composting!
  • To everyone who pitched in to help with the cleanup, which included delivering our excess to The Haven, which they greatly appreciated.
It worked out very nicely having Lynlee speak; we got lots of compliments about her organization’s good and important work, and our arranging the chance for them to learn more about it.
As Lynlee explained in her talk, Rural GroundGame (RGG) is a Political Action Committee that provides in-kind assistance to Democratic candidates running in rural areas across the Commonwealth. Our party has tended to neglect rural voters, and that has hurt us badly, especially in state-wide elections. RGG helps candidates in many ways (e.g. supporting canvassing efforts, media coordination), and it’s developing a new online platform and research arm.
For more information about RGG, to make a donation, or to see how you might be able to plug in as a volunteer or collaborator, visit www.ruralgroundgame.org.
                
                 

Meet the Candidates running in the June 20, 2023 Democratic Primary

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Round graphic saying "Virginia is for Voters" put out by Virginia Department of Elections

Here are the candidates running in all three Democratic Primary races (see a sample ballot here):

House of Delegates District 54 (vote for only 1)

Charlottesville City Council (3 seats, vote for not more than 3)

State Senate District 11 (vote for only 1)

Note: as a matter of policy, the Cville Dems don’t take sides in primaries, but we’ll continue to share information about these races through June in an even-handed way.
We’re tracking these races on our website and giving candidates some access to our social media… and we’re offering each candidate some space towards the bottom of each newsletter for campaign information/graphics.