By Holly Hazard: PHILADELPHIA — Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu gave a rousing speech urging Democrats to reclaim the mantle of patriotism from the Republican Party this past weekend at The Arena Summit, a symposium designed to train progressive grassroots activists and political candidates that several Fairfax Democrats attended. Landrieu said it’s the Democrats who support workers, children, community,…
Category: Politics
Photo Essay: Big weekend of action
By Karen Kirk: About 40 Hunter Mill District canvassers hit the ground running Saturday after a rousing reminder from U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly about the importance of getting a majority of Democrats elected to the House on Nov. 6. Connolly told canvassers who gathered at former FCDC Chair Sue Langley’s home that with a majority, House Democrats will aggressively investigate…
Lots of support for Democrats at Vietfest
By Todd Thurwachter: Volunteers from FCDC and the Democratic Asian Americans of Virginia (DAAV) reported the strongest positive engagement yet at this year’s Vietfest held in August. They found a great deal of support and enthusiasm, particularly among young voters, and recommended trying to recruit more young volunteers for next year’s Vietfest. Most important, they identified and built up an army of volunteers…
Anne Holton inspires at Lee Dems luau
By Janelle Hartman: Pride was as thick as the humid air Saturday as Lee District Democrats gathered for their annual luau, where a special guest symbolized the contrast between an inclusive Virginia and those who want to turn back the clock. Anne Holton was 12 years old when her family became role models for desegregation, as her father, Linwood —…
Comstock stays mum during attack on FBI’s integrity
By Julie Galdo: Two of northern Virginia’s Congress members defended our federal intelligence agencies against vicious insinuations of corruption last month during the aggressive questioning of FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok. But our region’s third member of Congress was nowhere to be seen. Strzok came across as a dedicated Federal employee who made a dumb mistake by expressing his personal…
Netroots Nation Day 3: A bold vision for our country
By Diane Weeks: NEW ORLEANS — The Netroots Nation Conference wrapped up its third and final day Sunday with rousing speeches, planned and unplanned, from elected officials, political hopefuls, and spontaneous protestors. And the big reveal – Netroots Nation 2019 will be July 11-13 in Philadelphia, Pa. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio laid out a vision for the country…
Netroots Nation Day 2: ‘You can’t lead people if you don’t love the people’
By Holly Hazard: NEW ORLEANS — “You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people,” said Sen. Cory Booker in his keynote speech Friday at the Netroots Nation Conference in New Orleans. He had this challenge to conservative values: “People talk about patriotism. You can’t be patriotic if you don’t love the people in the country you’re in.” The…
Netroots Nation Day 1: Grassroots engagement, ending corruption and fighting harder
By Holly Hazard: NEW ORLEANS — “Republicans are clearly looking for new grassroots groups making campaign finance mistakes and filing complaints and we need to watch for these tactics,” said U.S. Rep. Graig Meyer, N.C., on Thursday on the Netroots Nation Conference panel, “Navigating Partnerships with the New Democratic Party and the New Grassroots.” One mistake mentioned was witnessing a…
Fairfax activists represented at Netroots Nation Conference
By Holly Hazard: Netroots Nation, the largest gathering of progressive political activists in the nation, convened its annual meeting in New Orleans on Wednesday, August 1. Offering over 100 workshops with 565 panelists and trainers to over 3,000 attendees, and keynote speeches from Cory Booker, Kamila Harris, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren, it promises to inspire and engage progressive Democrats…
Kavanaugh will support Trump’s march toward autocracy
By Judith Shamir: Donald Trump has always made it abundantly clear that his choice for the Supreme Court would be someone who, like him, is staunchly determined to overturn abortion rights as well as many other civil and human rights. In picking Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee, he is fulfilling that promise. Kavanaugh’s pick is the most frightening of all…
Fighting for democracy and the soul of our country
By Karen Kirk: These are dark times for democracy. That was the theme of a few speakers at Saturday’s Women’s Summit 2018 who encouraged progressive activists to pull out all the stops to turn the U.S. House and Senate blue in November. At the sold-out summit in Herndon, activists and Congressional candidates praised the audience, mostly women, for their hard…
Former opponents pledge support to Jennifer Wexton
By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick: The Virginia CD-10 primary candidates gathered today in Sterling, Va., to pledge their support for Tuesday’s primary winner, state senator Jennifer Wexton (D-33). The CD10 Unity event fulfilled a pledge all candidates had taken to support whoever won the primary. Moderator Zach Pruckowski, Chair of the 10th Congressional District Democratic Committee, declared all the candidates winners…
Here’s the story of a candidate who won by losing
By Holly Hazard: Lost in the discussion of how minority Democrats won Medicaid expansion last month in the Virginia General Assembly is the story of one vibrant 26-year-old woman who may have made a big difference. The story starts with the surprising change of mind of Del. Terry Kilgore, a long-serving Republican whose 1st District ( parts of Lee, Scott,…
Wexton wins VA-10 Democratic primary to challenge Comstock
By Karen Kirk: State Sen. Jennifer Wexton won the Democratic Primary election Monday for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, getting about twice as many votes as her nearest competitor, former State Department official Alison Friedman. The Associated Press called the race for Wexton at 8:05 p.m., and for Comstock shortly after. With 99% of the vote in, Wexton won 22,530 votes or…