Category: Virginia (Page 2 of 57)

The Movement Resisting Donald Trump Has A Name: The (Local) Democratic Party

While outside groups are getting the attention, local Democratic parties nationwide are seeing a surge of interest.

By Ryan Grim , Amanda Terkel
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democratic-party-trump_us_58ac7f3ce4b0c4d5105717e0

The resistance to President Donald Trump has taken a variety of forms, all of them well chronicled by the media. The Women’s March, which saw some 5 million people take to the streets in a single day, helped fuel the growth of Indivisible chapters around the country, and has itself continued organizing meetings and protests since. The groups Swing Left, Flippable and The Sister District Project are routing people to swing districts where they can be most effective.

[intense_alert block=”1″ margin_bottom=”25″]Democrats have already won two special elections in Virginia since November, and the state House and governor’s mansion will be up for grabs this fall.  If Democrats can ride a new wave into power, the gerrymandering of 2010 can be rolled back.  Local officials say they’re focused on creating a positive vision and a constant stream of activities to keep these new activists engaged.[/intense_alert]

Amid it all, observers and participants alike have wondered what the name is for this nascent movement. The Resistance? The Opposition?

But if the swelling ranks of county-level meetings are an indication of things to come, the grassroots movement underway already has a name. It’s called the Democratic Party.

Shocked by the outcome of the election and fearful for the future of the country, people of all ages, some of them Democrats, some independents, some Greens, found the time and location of a local party meeting and showed up.

Here are a few of their stories.

DPVA Rural Caucus 3rd Annual Retreat

Rural Caucus Mission: To nurture connections between communities of people who may, or may not yet, vote Democratic in Virginia’s non-urban areas, to engage local people to determine the issues and priorities that matter to them, and to ensure sustainable rural life and progressive values throughout all of Virginia.

 

Please save the date for our 3rd Rural Retreat (all Dems, liberals, and progressives – not just rural) where like minded…

Posted by Democrats of the 5th Congressional District of Virginia on Tuesday, February 21, 2017

General Assembly kills redistricting reform efforts

General Assembly kills redistricting reform efforts

RICHMOND – Three identical party-line votes smothered the last breath of redistricting reform for the 2017 General Assembly in a 7 a.m. meeting Tuesday. After the debate invoked an old dispute and deal between two legislators in opposite chambers and opposing parties, the Republican-controlled House Privileges and Elections subcommittee killed two proposed Senate resolutions on 5-2 votes that could have put redistricting reform on the statewide ballot in 2018.


Republican members of the House Privileges and Elections subcommittee voted against reporting one of several redistricting bills they considered during a meeting inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Feb. 14 2017. Committee members Luke Torian, D-Prince William, and Mark d. Sickles, D-Fairfax, who voted to report the bills and Delegates Margaret B. Ransone, R-Westmoreland, Mark L. Cole, R-Spotsylvania, S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk and Buddy Fowler, Jr., R-Hanover, voted against the measure.

After the debate invoked an old dispute and deal between two legislators in opposite chambers and opposing parties, the Republican-controlled House Privileges and Elections subcommittee killed two proposed Senate resolutions on 5-2 votes that could have put redistricting reform on the statewide ballot in 2018.

[intense_alert color=”#a39d9d”]
A soft call of “shame” rose as SJ 231 died from a crowd asking persistently for reform. The bill carried by Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr., R-Augusta, would have created under the state constitution a commission to redraw the lines in 2021 and standards under which they should operate.
[/intense_alert]
 
The subcommittee also killed SB 846 carried by Sen. L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, that would have formed an interim redistricting commission to address fallout if Virginia’s congressional and state lines were declared unconstitutional. Two court cases are pending.

The nonprofit OneVirginia2021 rallied support from Virginia residents throughout the 2017 General Assembly, including for a slew of House bills that died mostly on a block vote last month.

Federal judge in Virginia issues strong rebuke of Trump travel ban

A federal judge in Alexandria has issued a preliminary injunction against President Trump’s travel ban, dealing another blow to the White House attempt to bar residents of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.

The executive order, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema concluded, probably violates the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of religion.

[intense_alert]
“The ‘Muslim Ban’ was a centerpiece of the president’s campaign for months, and the press release calling for it was still available on his website as of the day this Memorandum Opinion is being entered,” Brinkema wrote.
[/intense_alert]
 
Brinkema’s order applies only to Virginia residents and students, or employees of Virginia schools. A nationwide freeze has been in place for several days, having been issued in Washington state and upheld by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Posted by Madison County Democratic Committee on Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Phoenix Rising?

A new, liberal tea party is forming. Can it last without turning against Democrats?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/a-new-liberal-tea-party-is-forming-can-it-last-without-turning-on-democrats/2017/02/11/94421200-efdf-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html

It’s a well-worn story now about how John A. Boehner, then House minority leader, joined a rising star in his caucus, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, in April 2009 for one of the first major tea party protests in the California Republican’s home town of Bakersfield.

A little more than six years later, after they surfed that wave into power, the movement consumed both of them. Boehner was driven out of the House speaker’s office and McCarthy’s expected succession fell apart, leaving him stuck at the rank of majority leader.

[intense_alert]
The women’s marches that brought millions onto streets across the country the day after Trump’s inauguration — spurred organically through social media — opened Democratic leaders’ eyes to the possibilities.
[/intense_alert]
 
Democrats are well aware of that history as they try to tap the energy of the roiling liberal activists who have staged rallies and marches in the first three weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.

 

According to data collected by Erica Chenoweth at the University of Denver and Jeremy Pressman at the University of Connecticut, marches held in more than 600 US cities were attended by at least 4.2 million people.

What if they can fuse these protesters, many of whom have never been politically active, into the liberal firmament? What if a new tea party is arising, with the energy and enthusiasm to bring out new voters and make a real difference at the polls, starting with the 2018 midterm elections?

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 Madison County Democratic Committee

Website by Ren LeVallyUp ↑

We are in the fight of a generation.
We are in the fight for a generation.

Our strength lies in both our numbers and the level of involvement of our members.

Please consider joining us as a voting member https://madisondems.org/about-us/join-the-mcdc/

 

2023 Founders Dinner - I'm a Democrat