Message From the Chair
Doesn’t it seem as though the whole world is out of control? And if not the whole world, certainly America seems to be. I’ve felt that way in the last nine months, and I know that many of you have felt that your brain is the zone that the Trump administration is flooding with its chaos and cruelty. Certainly, the Trumpian response to the Charlie Kirk shooting is abhorrent and sure to lead to additional political violence.
The only way we can survive this onslaught is to stay focused on the work that we can do to make things better in our communities. That’s what I counsel my neighbors and friends. Let’s face it, we can try—and we should try—to force changes at the Federal level. Demonstrations are a great way to show a local and national audience that we don’t agree with what’s happening. So, congratulations to those in our communities who have been so instrumental in making our voices heard.
But next year is an election year. We will be electing members of Congress, members of the state legislature AND our statewide offices of Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State. We can protest all we want, but if we don’t change who is making decisions for us at the state and federal levels of government, this $#%& is going to continue.
That’s why LD17 Dems have been SO active this year! We’ve held multiple town halls with Kevin Volk, our sole Democratic legislator. We’ve held issues forums, organized neighborhood meetings and days/evenings of action, and trained and educated voters. We collected food for hungry families, and school supplies, food and hygiene products for high school kids battling homelessness. We are planning canvasses in several of our fastest-growing neighborhoods, recruiting precinct committee members, and collecting teaching supplies for teachers in schools with a lot of disadvantaged students. Most importantly, we’ve done this with your support.
But the work MUST continue, or we’ll be stuck with the same retrogressive state legislature next year. And think about what would happen if Katie Hobbs lost her governor’s race? All those bad bills the Republican legislature sponsored--and the governor vetoed--would instead become law. The Secretary of State’s protection of our voting rights would be in the hands of an election denier. And our brilliant Attorney General would be replaced by a MAGA Republican. There is a LOT at stake next year, and we want to be in the best possible place to make sure that Republicans DO NOT take over state government.
So help us!
Volunteer when we call for canvassers, and we’ll connect you with the territory lead in your area. Canvassing is still the best way to reach voters in accessible neighborhoods. We’re starting now!
Support the work financially! We have nearly 200,000 voters in LD17, and only 28% of them are Democrats. We want to make sure at least 115,000 voters hear about our candidates, including lots of independents, and mailing costs have gone through the roof. Just sending our voter guide to 50,000 people last year cost nearly $30,000. We want to send it to a larger group next year, if we can raise the funds, to make sure we get closer to that target of 115,000.
Make phone calls with us—and better yet, be the team leader of our phone bank and help organize other volunteers!
There are lots of other ways to help, so if you have ideas, please share them with us. We’d love to welcome you to the team so we can collectively focus on what we can do, rather than what’s being done to us. Your mental health will benefit.