Please consider making a donation to MCDC. We have a lot of plans in the works including a voter education postcard mailing about the many races on the November ballot. Please visit https://secure.actblue.com/donate/madisondems to donate or mail a check to:
MCDC
PO BOX 81
MADISON VA 22727-0081
We Democrats have a lot to feel good about coming out of the 2022 midterm elections, as the party fended off a red wave that polling — and history — warned was imminent.
It was literally one for the record books.
Madison County is now represented in the US Congress by the amazing Abigail Spanberger. Expect her to double down on her tireless, bipartisan work with the very narrow Republican majority.
2023 will be a critical election year for Madison County (* and all of Virginia; see below). Two School Board seats, two Board of Supervisors seats, Commonwealth's Attorney, Clerk of the Court, Sheriff, Treasurer, and Commissioner of the Revenue will all be on the local ballot in November, along with all 100 House of Delegates seats and all 40 State Senate seats.
We have a lot of work ahead!
Due to increased work and family obligations, Mesha Jones has taken the difficult decision to step down as the Chair of the Madison Dems. We are extremely grateful for her leadership this past cycle and we sincerely wish her the happiest of New Years.
Please be sure to attend our next meeting, scheduled for 10:00 am on Saturday, January 28, 2023, at Antioch Baptist Church, located at 1165 Mud Road in Madison. Doors open at 9:30 for coffee and conversation:
The first order of business will be to establish the number of active committee members. To ensure that you have the right to vote in that day's election and in subsequent business meetings, please complete the attached 2023 membership form and either bring it with you or mail it to the address shown on the form. We must have your completed form in hand by 10:00 a.m. on the morning of the meeting if you wish to vote in that day's election and/or business meeting
The second order of business will be to elect a new Chair, a position that is open to any active member in good standing. If you are interested in running to complete Mesha's term, please complete the attached officer prefiling form and email it to vicechair@madisondems.org or mail it to the address shown on the form. We must receive your form by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 20, 2023, in order for your name to appear on the ballot. Once the filing deadline passes, we will send you another email letting you know who the candidates are.
Thirdly, we will convene our business meeting (quorum required) to discuss a change to our bylaws that would help keep us funded by charging a nominal annual membership fee (with an opt-out provision for anyone experiencing financial constraints). If passed, we will hold a second vote in February to ratify the change.
Finally, our incredible Democratic candidate for the newly-formed 62nd District of the Virginia House of Delegates, Sara Ratcliffe will address the group about her vision for 2023 and circulate a petition for us to sign to get her on November's ballot.
Help us send Sara to Richmond!
* What Glenn Youngkin did in 2022
Glenn Youngkin is, without question, the worst governor of Virginia – Democratic or Republican – in a few decades. Inaugurated on January 15, 2022, after winning the election narrowly over Terry McAuliffe, Youngkin went hard right in almost every way, pretty much from the outset. For just 22 of the worst things Youngkin did in 2022 (not in any particular order), see below. It’s not a pretty picture, to put it mildly...
Even before he was sworn in, Youngkin started announcing members of his administration, and damn was that bad news. For instance, on January 5,Youngkin named Trump’s disgraceful/anti-environment former EPA administrator, Andrew Wheeler, as the next Virginia Secretary of Natural & Historic Resources. This pick was beyond appalling, for a host of reasons. For more background on Trump’s EPA head, Andrew Wheeler, see here, including Wheeler’s wildly false claim that the climate crisis isn’t an “existential threat” (which of course it is!); his completely batshit comment that “the threat posed by climate change is ’50 to 75 years out’”; the fact that he is – and no, this is not parody – “Vice President of the Washington Coal Club” (WTF???); his refusal to “raise environmental standards for fine soot pollution”; his weakening of mercury regulations; etc. In short, Wheeler was one of the worst, if not the worst, EPA administrator in history. Also, see here for Wheeler’s testimony to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, against a 5-cents-per-single-use-plastic-bag tax. Democratic members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors then proceeded to rip Wheeler’s idiocy.
On the first day of his administration, in sharp contrast to his relatively measured inauguration speech, Youngkin signed 11 executive orders/directives, with all kinds of divisive and “red-meat” stuff for his right-wing “base.” As then-DPVA-Executive-Director Andrew Wheeler put it, “Unifying words are shallow and meaningless when followed by hyper-partisan, anti-science drivel.” Among other things, Youngkin’s actions banned “critical race theory” (which isn’t taught in Virginia public schools), rescinded the COVID vaccine mandate for Virginia employees, ended the statewide school mask mandate, etc. With regard to that last point, even conservative Republican Bill Bolling, who served two terms as Virginia Lt. Governor, was highly skeptical, saying that “Local School Boards do not work for the Governor. They are a part of local government, not state government. They do not report to the Governor” and “Executive Orders are not the same as law, and Executive Orders cannot unilaterally reverse existing law.” And as State Senator Louise Lucas put it, “Hey [Gov. Youngkin]…You will learn we in the legislature write the law and it only changes if we agree to do so.”
On January 19, Youngkin named someone who thinks “CRT” is “a dangerous philosophical poisoning in the bloodstream” as VA’s Director of “Diversity, Opportunity and Inclusion” (a name change from “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”) In response, on January 20, State Senator Mamie Locke ripped Youngkin, both for “swapping equity for opportunity” and for using “Critical Race Theory” as a “red herring.”
On January 25, Youngkin started up an Orwellian, thuggish “tip line” to rat out teachers for doing their jobs. In response, “pretty much every education group in the state” called for him to shut down. As State Senator Jennifer Boysko put it, the “tip line” “reeks of the McCarthy era, where individuals were encouraged to turn their colleagues in for allegedly subversive political reasons.” As Del. Marcus Simon said, the “tip line” is “creeping authoritarianism” that’s “scary to those of us who have studied history in school…reminds us…of some really unpleasant periods in the world’s history, where you have governments encouraging their citizens to rat each other out, to report violations of the doctrine of the state that’s approved…what you’re allowed to say and not say in a classroom.” And as former VA Secretary of Education Atif Qarni put it, the “snitch line…has created a suffocating environment for numerous educators, especially who teach social studies and history…definitely has had significant negative impacts on our teachers.”
In his first year as governor, Youngkin spent a LOT of time not doing his job, but instead campaigning in Virginia and around the country for a slew of extremist candidates like Yesli Vega (“celebrated her July 4th with a notable insurrectionist who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021“), Jen Kiggans (wouldn’t say that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 elections, literally running away from a reporter who asked her!), Hung Cao (After the January 6th insurrection, Hung Cao defended violent insurrectionists saying “these are my people, set them free”) in Virginia; Paul LePage in Maine (“met eight times with members of the sovereign citizen movement between January and September 2013″); Tudor Dixon in Michigan (“in a May 2022 debate, when asked ‘do you believe Donald Trump legitimately won the 2020 election in Michigan?,’ Dixon responded ‘Yes.’”), Derek Schmidt in Kansas (“brought Kansas into an unsuccessful lawsuit after the 2020 presidential election seeking to overturn the results in battleground states as Trump and other Republicans spread baseless claims of widespread voter fraud”), Heidi Ganahl in Colorado ( “refuses to denounce John Eastman, former CU professor and author of the fraudulent legal memo used to justify the Jan 6 plot), Tim Michels in Wisconsin (said “that illegally decertifying the 2020 presidential election will be ‘on the table’ if he becomes governor, and wouldn’t say whether he would certify the 2024 election”); Kari Lake in Arizona (“repeatedly pushed the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen – even going further casting doubt on the 2022 elections“); etc. Sensing a pattern here? Also note that Youngkin’s candidates lost most of these races, which doesn’t exactly do wonders for Youngkin’s claims to be some sort of Republican rising star.
Since Kari Lake lost her election to Democrat Katie Hobbs, Youngkin – who called Lake “AWESOME!” when he campaigned for her in October – has said nothing as Lake has spewed conspiracy theories, attacked U.S. democracy, refused to concede, etc. Disgraceful.
After Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was brutally attacked in his home in an assassination attempt aimed at Nancy Pelosi, Youngkin appeared to make light of it, saying at a campaign rally for far-right-Republican candidate Yesli Vega, “There is no room for violence anywhere, but we’re gonna send her [Nancy Pelosi] back to be with him in California.” Disgusting. And no, Youngkin didn’t apologize, as the news media falsely reported; instead, he simply said he “didn’t do a great job.”
In early February, Youngkin’s campaign attacked high school student Ethan Lynne, putting up a photo of Lynne with Gov. Northam, who they added, “had a Blackface/KKK photo in his yearbook.” As Lynne said at the time, “I will not be intimidated by these attacks and will continue to be a voice for students across the commonwealth.” Still…why was the Youngkin campaign lashing out against a high school student at all?
Youngkin continued to hide his actual position on abortion, which is that he’d “‘happily and gleefully’ sign ‘any bill’ to restrict a woman’s ability to make her own health care decisions.”
On a related note, in early July, Youngkin delivered a cringe-inducing, falsehood-filled speech in Nebraska, in which he declared that he couldn’t “go any further with stopping and taking a moment to thank our Lord for our Supreme Court that rightfully returned the responsibility to make decisions on behalf of those that have elected us.” In that same speech, Youngkin wildly lied (something he’s an expert at) about American energy, the public schools, and many other things. Typical Youngkin.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Youngkin’s budget “gives major corporations and the top 1% massive tax cuts at the expense of those who need it most.” Voodoo economics, anybody? “Trickle-down?” “Supply-side?” “Laffer curve?” Ugh.
In response to a horrific mass shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart, Youngkin – as Shannon Watts put it – “manage[d] to tweet about [it] without using the words gunman or shooting.” Youngkin also refuses to take any serious action to stem the continuing scourge of gun violence in Virginia or to take on the gun lobby. Instead, Youngkin has continued to state that he “will not sign a piece of legislation that has anything to do with imposing limitations on our Second Amendment.”
