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Winning in the November 7 Local Elections: Thursdays 4-7pm at Ix Art Park
We’ll be meeting every Thursday 4-7pm for “Turn Out the Vote Thursdays” at the Ix Art Park on the Brazos Tacos lawn, weather permitting. Come when and for how long your schedule and mood dictate; it needn’t be every week or the entire three hours! This week we’ll be writing postcards to newly registered City and County voters; if you can, bring a chair to sit on and a clipboard or something similar to write on.
There are lots of different ways to help over the next few months, do what’s most comfortable for you: door knocking, phone calling, voter registration, postcard writing, etc. For questions, please contact Mary Ann Harris: harrisma49@gmail.com .
For the past three years, we’ve been fortunate to have so many dedicated people join us at Ix Art Park to eat, drink, chat, and pitch in together to help our Democratic candidates win. In 2022, we had 100+ volunteers who attended at least one time, with many attending almost every week. If you’ve joined us before, please join us again. If you haven’t tried it yet, come on down and meet fellow Dems and enjoy yourself while working for a big win on November 7!
Mary Ann Harris, Nancy Damon, Suzanne Michels, Noemi Paz, and John Shepherd have been planning goals and volunteer opportunities to help hold the Senate and win back control of the House of Delegates! As in the previous years, the group will be:
- Writing postcards and making follow-up phone calls to newly registered voters. That combination has been very successful, resulting in this group voting at a consistent 75-80% rate in 2021-2023.
- Distributing “walk sheet” name and address lists of Dem-leaning people for our campaign canvassers to visit.
- Sending some specific issue-message postcards (a new idea we’re considering).
- Writing postcards and phoning Albemarle residents we’ve registered.
- Writing postcards and phoning for campaigns near Charlottesville.
Local Elections: Canvassing with the Albemarle Dems
We’re partnering to ensure we win our local races (with several uncontested City races, it makes sense to shift our efforts!):
State Senate: Creigh Deeds is favored to win our crucial Senate District 11, but the district has some very conservative areas, and we can’t be complacent if we’re going to keep this seat. His opponent, Phillip Andrew Hamilton, is quite a piece of work; among other claims to fame, he’s publicly misgendered his own 12-year-old, claiming that school teachers had poisoned his child’s mind into being non-binary. This is not someone we want representing us; please donate to or canvass for the Deeds campaign!
House of Delegates: Amy Laufer (our Albemarle County neighbor running in a competitive District #55 race) and Katrina Callsen (running unopposed in our District #54)
- Charlottesville City Council: Natalie Oschrin, Michael Payne, and Lloyd Snook
- Charlottesville School Board: Amanda Burn, Shymora Cooper, Chris Meyer, and Nicole Richardson
- Albemarle County Board of Supervisors: Bea LaPisto-Kirtley, Ann Mallek, and Michael Pruitt
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Allison Spillman Albemarle County School Board: Rebecca Berlin, Judy Le, Ellen Moore Osborne, and Allison Spillman. A special note about Allison’s race: she’s running against Meg Scalia Bryce, the daughter of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia-Bryce is (a) very concerned that the ACSB has been treating LGBTQ kids with respect and support, and (b) is very offended by its anti-racist curriculum. Scalia-Bryce has been winning the fundraising race by a wide margin, and we can’t let extremists like her start taking over our local schools. Please help Allison’s campaign any way you can, especially via donations and canvassing help.
If you’d like to canvass locally (figure roughly 3 hours):
- On a weekday, please email karencombs6522@gmail.com .
- On a weekend, use SignUp Genius to participate in one or more of the coordinated canvasses we’re doing with the Albemarle Dems, see the table below.
Sign up using this Signup Genius link!
Maps: Combs’ Office Mudhouse Crozet
Note: yellow highlights show “Weekends of Action” emphasis
Successful “Summer Fun in the Sun” Picnic with the Albemarle Dems (7/30/23)
75 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!).
Creigh Deeds
Amy Laufer
Sunday 7/30: Albemarle & Cville Dems Summer Picnic!
Come have fun and meet all our November candidates!
Date & Time: Sunday, July 30, 2pm-?? (original 6/26 was rained out)
Where: Darden Towe Park Picnic Shelter — Enter the Park, turn right at the T intersection, take the road to the end to reach the picnic shelter and Dog Park).
We provide: Hotdogs/Burgers/Vegan food options + games for adults and kids (we’re bringing cornhole, balls for soccer/kickball, bocce/petanque, and bubbles for little ones; feel free to bring more of the above or your own favorite picnic games/activities!).
You bring: Non-alcoholic beverages, a side dish or dessert, 1 chair per person, family and friends (kid-friendly!), and your Democratic Spirit!
Food, games, meet candidates, and lots of Dems… what’s not to like? Bring family and friends (especially those who aren’t as politically engaged!) and help spread the word!
RSVPs (optional but helpful) to: karencombs6522@gmail.com
“Turn-Out-the-Vote Thursdays” Resumes 8/10!
Turn-Out-the-Vote Thursdays will resume on Thursday, August 10, 4-7pm, on the grass at Ix Art Park. It’s a friendly group, with plenty of time to chat and catch up while we work, and we’ve added the extra hour (4pm start) to accommodate as many people’s schedules as possible.
Mary Ann Harris, Nancy Damon, Suzanne Michels, Noemi Paz, and John Shepherd have been planning goals and volunteer opportunities for November’s election (less than four months away!).
As in the previous election cycles, the group will be:
- Writing postcards and making follow-up phone calls to the newly Charlottesville registered voters signed up by our Voter Registration Team. That combination has been very successful, resulting in voting at an 80% rate in 2020 and 2022, and at a 75% rate in 2021.
- Distributing “walk sheet” name and address lists of Dem-leaning people for our campaign canvassers to visit.
- Sending some specific issue-message postcards (a new idea we’re considering).
- Writing postcards and phoning Albemarle residents we’ve registered.
- Writing postcards and phoning for campaigns near Charlottesville; we really want to win control of the House of Delegates and hold the Senate!
- Perhaps organizing a canvassing trip or two!
Consider one or more of these options and hopefully join in on whichever one(s) sound good to you!
Please contact Mary Ann Harris with any questions: harrisma49@gmail.com
