The Charlottesville Democratic Committee
Dear Dems,
Let’s be clear: We’re facing a constitutional crisis of previously unseen proportions.
Donald Trump and his unelected co-conspirators are ripping apart the US government with no regard to the legality of their actions. What’s to be done?
Below are some actions you can take. If you have others to suggest, please share them with us by contacting our newsletter editor, Mary Jane Gore, at communications@cvilledems.org.
Thank you for all you do,
Nancy Damon and Josh Throneburg
If you’re angry, frightened, fed up, and want to get politicians’ attention, NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (aka AOC) emphasizes the effectiveness of phone calls to your congressional representatives, no matter which side of the aisle. From her Instagram account:
“For the first few years that I was in office, Republicans flooded my phones. Do you think they really thought they were going to change my mind? No. But they constantly and consistently [called].
Republicans flood the phones far more than people who are not Republicans flood the phones. And it does have an effect, because you really start to understand the strength and the scale of what you are up against.
Republicans need to get that message too, because it skews our whole environment to the right when the constant pressure comes from one place. Like, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but people who watch Fox News all day and right-wing media all day call their members of Congress, and they tend to call members far more, and far more consistently and regularly than everybody else does. And that really matters because phone calls are one of the biggest ways that members measure, not just it’s not just numbers, it’s how they measure enthusiasm, it’s how they measure how much people are mobilizing around a certain issue. And the more they see them mobilizing, the more careful they will be in terms of not making those people more upset. And they will get pressured into acting, or hedging, what have you.”
If you want to pick up a script quickly for a call to representatives in DC, take a look at 5 Calls, a progressive issue website that provides short and sweet scripts for calls on a host of issues.
We’re hearing about various boycotts this month, and perhaps more to come as protests swell against GOP’s questionable and outright unconstitutional policies and orders. Here are two we know of, but please understand:
• a listing here is not an endorsement
• we don’t know more about these events/organizers than you do if you’ve visited their links.
We do have representation in Congress, and as constituents we can visit Rep. John McGuire at his nearest local office, Lynchburg. Kristin Szakos is helping organize a trip next Wednesday, others are encouraged to keep the pressure on by organizing trips too! For more information about trips there, contact kszakos@gmail.com.
Susan Stecker is outgoing DPVA chair; Ken Martin is incoming DNC chair.
Virginia
Susan Swecker, chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) Central Committee, is resigning before her current term expires (after serving for 10 years), so there will be an election to fill out the rest of her term. There’s about a year left to go before the next reorganization of the DPVA Central Committee and election of DPVA’s officers.
The DPVA Steering Committee will be meeting soon to set the rules for electing the next chair. Cville Dems will not be voting in this state leadership election. Members of the DPVA Central Committee will vote to fill the chair’s seat at its March 22, 2025 regular quarterly meeting.
The proposed rules for this election indicate that candidates for chair will need to submit paperwork to DPVA by March 8. At this time, there are no “official” candidates to succeed Swecker as chair and finish the rest of her term — but that could change very soon. There are rumors about who may run, see this Blue Virginia article.
National
Ken Martin won election as the new Democratic National Committee (DNC) head, replacing current chair Jaime Harrison. Martin, currently the chair of the Minnesota Democratic Party, won the race with 112 more votes more than the second place candidate, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler.
Martin offered little on his plans to confront President Donald Trump, saying his “war room” will combat misinformation and that the party will also conduct a review to learn why Democrats lost ground with Latino, female, young, working-class, and other voter demographics last November.
78% of 100 college presidents surveyed agreed with the statement “Donald Trump is going to war with higher education”; that’s a chilling prospect for the nation, and will have huge impacts on Charlottesville generally as well as UVA and PVCC specifically.
The Chronicle is holding a free online interview with its lead Higher Ed reporter on Thursday, February 20, 1pm titled “Donald Trump and Higher Ed: What’s Next?” to tackle questions like “What will become of various streams of federal funding for higher ed? Will Immigration and Customs Enforcement show up on campuses? Will the Department of Education be shuttered…how would that impact colleges?”
You can register to watch the interview on the Chronicle website.
This website is paid for by the Charlottesville Democratic Committee and is not affiliated with any office holder or candidate.