By Susan Laume: Gun violence was a defining issue at the Springfield District candidate forum on Thursday, Oct. 3, attended by candidates for Fairfax County School Board, county Board of Supervisors, and state delegate. Laura Jane H. Cohen, Democratic-endorsed candidate for school board, criticized incumbent Elizabeth L. Schultz, Republican-endorsed, for favoring armed teachers in schools. Both Cohen and R.K.…
The Great Blue Wave Election Alert Sign-Up Contest has begun, with free bottles of special Blue Wave Reisling wine awarded to volunteers who sign up at least 48 voters to receive Election Alerts from Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC). The contest is sponsored by FCDC’s Voter Registration & Education Committee (VREC), chaired by Janice Yohai (pictured). The aim is to…
By Jane Barker: If history holds, turnout for the election in November will be the lowest in Virginia’s four-year cycle of annual elections, as this poll comes three years after the previous presidential election. But so much hangs in the balance this year – Democratic majorities in both the state House and Senate are tantalizingly close – that we cannot…
By Paul O’Shea: The leader of New Hampshire’s successful drive to abolish the death penalty – making it the 21st state to do so — will deliver the keynote at the annual luncheon of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) in Reston on Oct. 5. Renny Cushing is a state legislator in New Hampshire whose work as a…
By Susan Laume: Lucky Clifton residents on Monday, Sept. 16, got an opportunity to sample free ice cream and show their support for Virginian ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Clifton was just one stop in an ice cream truck tour of the Commonwealth by volunteers to remind voters that if Virginia ratifies the ERA it will become the 38th…
As the largest minority in Fairfax County, Asian-Americans are a major focus of outreach activity for the local Democratic Party, which faces a critical election on Nov. 5 to determine the control of the state assembly. Today Republicans hold one-vote majorities in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and the Democrats are mounting a major effort here in northern…
Press release from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee: The Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) and Jeff McKay for Chairman have launched a joint field effort to help drive Democratic candidates to victory on November 5. This joint undertaking, called “Fighting for Fairfax,” is the most comprehensive campaign support initiative in the party’s history. Fighting for Fairfax augments the existing paid…
By Brad Swanson: Sean Perryman has only been president of the Fairfax County NAACP for a month, but he already has his priorities clear. “My plan is to focus on fewer issues, but go deeper,” he said. The top three topics for him are cannabis legalization, school name changes, starting with Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, and more…
By Brad Swanson: Ricardo Alfaro is a man on a mission. As the newly elected president of the Latino Democratic Caucus in Virginia, he has crafted an ambitious workplan to expand the group’s reach and counter the rising tide of fear engulfing the Latino community in the Trump era. “No one should feel unsafe going to school or grocery shopping…
A pink slip at work is bad news. But blue slips may make the difference between Democratic wins and losses at this November’s election. Blue slips are the informal name for the one-page reminders that Democratic volunteers are handing out to voters, directing them to manage all their voting needs by going to the “Voting” page on the Fairfax County…
It’s never too early to begin grassroots organizing. That is the concept behind an innovative program at Sully District Democratic Committee that enables students to organize and participate in political events in their own community. Gun violence, unsurprisingly, is one of the topics that students in the program – called GROWTH Student Interns – feel most strongly about. “I am…
By Brad Swanson: What motivates a man to spend more than two decades – and counting – as a volunteer running a farmers market? In the case of John Lovaas, a manager of the award-winning Reston Farmers Market, the answer is self-evident. “I doubt anyone would work at a volunteer job for 22 years unless it was wildly satisfying and…
By Brad Swanson: Like many readers of The New York Times, both here in northern Virginia and across the nation, Dan Helmer was taken aback by the indifference to gun violence shown by an incumbent Virginia state delegate, especially in the wake of last week’s dual mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. The only difference is that Helmer, a…
By Kimberly Davis: A curious alteration of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s famed Impressionist painting “Luncheon of the Boating Party” has captured attention at recent events. Wait, isn’t that state delegate candidate Dan Helmer (dist. 40) in white? And there’s some other familiar faces there… Many of these faces and close to 200 more showed up for a real-life boating party on Sunday,…