Northumberland County Democratic Committee

July 26, 2024.  The events of the previous week are historic.  A sitting Democratic President, running for re-election and trailing his would-be dictator Republican opponent in national polls, on his own decided to drop out of the race and throw his support behind his Vice-President.

The political scene in the US changed overnight with the Vice-President – Kamala Harris, a woman of color – suddenly becoming the center of attention in every media outlet and completely taking the wind out of the sails of the Republican candidate who had only a few days before made a disastrous choice for his vice-president running mate.

We Democrats are suddenly excited – a young woman of color who is a successful US Senator, who was elected to be California Attorney General – is now our Presidential candidate.

HOWEVER – VICE-PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS WILL NOT WIN ON EXCITEMENT ALONE.

WE CAN LOSE THIS ELECTION.  WE MUST GET OUT THE VOTE.  WE MUST:

• You must vote for Kamala Harris for President
• Talk to our friends, neighbors, family and get them to vote for Kamala Harris for President
• Talk to our friends, neighbors, family who are in other counties and states and get them to vote for Kamala Harris for President
• And do not stop at one conversation — keep talking to them, make certain they really do vote for Kamala Harris for President.

GO TO THIS PAGE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE HARRIS CAMPAIGN AND FOR INFORMATION YOU CAN USE TO HELP KAMALA WIN

 

Hello all,

As part of the Executive Committee of the Association of State Democratic Committees, DPVA Chair Susan Swecker signed a statement endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the office of President of the United States. 

Statement from The Executive Committee of
The Association of State Democratic Committees (ASDC)

The Executive Committee of the Association of State Democratic Committees (ASDC) – representing the 57 State Democratic Parties across the country and around the world – proudly announces its full support and endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for the office of President of the United States of America in this, the most consequential election of our lifetimes.

Ken Martin, ASDC President and Chair of the Minnesota DFL, says:

“Following President Biden’s announcement, our members immediately assembled to unite behind the candidate who has a track record of winning tough elections, and who is a proven leader on the issues that matter to Americans: reproductive freedom, gun violence prevention, climate protection, justice reform, and rebuilding the economy.

That person is our sitting Vice President Kamala Harris.

Already in 2024, almost 15 million Americans have cast a vote in favor of our Vice President as a part of the Democratic ticket. As a Black woman and a South Asian American, Kamala Harris reflects the rich diversity of our Democratic coalition and our country. Having served alongside President Biden, she is ready on day one as a candidate and as our next President.

We are deeply grateful to President Biden for all he’s done for the Democratic Party and for our country: defeating Donald Trump, and the existential threat he posed – and still poses – to our democracy; spearheading our national economic recovery, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal; making historic investments in climate change prevention and student loan forgiveness; and, now, his selfless courage in stepping aside to ensure we can win in November and continue his legacy of building back better.

The stakes in this election could not be higher. The choice before voters could not be more stark. That’s why the Executive Committee of the ASDC proudly and enthusiastically supports Vice President Harris as she takes her rightful place at the top of our Democratic ticket, and will fight tirelessly alongside her to defeat Donald Trump this November.”

A list of ASDC Executive Members may be found HERE.

We were as surprised as everyone else by President Biden’s statement that he is withdrawing  from the Presidential race and is endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party candidate for President.

The Northumberland Democratic Committee will support Vice-President Harris or anyone else who is selected by the Democratic National Convention.  We will defeat Trump and his Project 2025.

The entire nation should thank President Joe Biden for his 50 years of service to this nation.

Below are two letters:  (1) President Biden’s letter announcing his withdrawal and (2) Vice-President Harris’ letter.

PROJECT 2025:  What is it?  Here it is:

TRUMP ALLIES’ 920 PAGE PLAN TO GIVE TRUMP MORE POWER OVER YOUR DAILY LIFE, GUT DEMOCRATIC CHECKS AND BALANCES, AND CONSOLIDATE POWER IN THE OVAL OFFICE.

Project 2025 is the plan by Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican allies to give Trump more power over your daily life, gut democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office if he wins. Trump’s campaign advisors and close allies wrote it – and are doing everything they can to elect him so he can execute their playbook immediately.

Here is a taste of Trump’s Project 2025:

• Takes Away Reproductive Freedom Nationwide
• Uses the Presidency for Revenge on Trump’s Political and Personal Enemies
• Terminates the Constitution
• Consolidates Power in the Oval Office
• Guts Democratic Checks and Balances on Presidential Power
• Gives Handouts to the Ultra Wealthy Paid for by Working Families
• And Much, Much, Much More

Where did Project 2025 come from? The highest levels of the MAGA Trump elite wrote Project 2025 as a blueprint for Trump to implement if he wins a second term. This same group of advisors and allies got Trump to adopt most of their agenda in 2017, but this time their Project 2025 agenda is even more extreme and dives into almost every aspect of Americans’ daily life. And they’ll be able to accomplish it by firing civil servants and installing loyalists into the federal government to do their bidding. Fortunately, we have access to it in time to warn America and stop their power grab.

Don’t believe us? Check out the 920-page Project 2025 report on their website and read it in their own words.

On Wednesday, June 19, 2024, we observed the Juneteenth Holiday.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about Juneteenth.  The short version is that, at the end of the Civil War, word of the end of the war and of emancipation of enslaved people spread slowly through the US.  The last area to learn of the war’s end and emancipation of enslaved people was Texas where, on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation at the end of the American Civil War.

Lift Every Voice and Sing

In 1902, American poet James Weldon Johnson was trying to compose an appropriate message to observe Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  However, Johnson decided to write a poem which was themed around the struggles of African Americans following the Reconstruction era (including the passage of Jim Crow laws in the South). “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was first recited by a group of 500 students in 1900. His brother J. Rosamond Johnson would later set the poem to music.

Here is a link to the hymn being sung by the Spelman College Glee Club.  (There may be a 5-second ad at the link.)

Here is the James Weldon Johnson’s poem, which also is the lyrics to the song.

Lift every voice and sing

Till earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand.

True to our God,

True to our native land.

 

When the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is performed, it is traditional to stand.  Please do stand in unity with all who stand for the right.

Do you want to see the REAL Rob Wittman?  Then crank the time machine back to October 2022 when Wittman was running for re-election (again) in a re-drawn First Congressional District where he was forced to spend a little money on an ad introducing himself to the 261,000 new residents of Virginia’s 1st Congressional District.  It was a great ad – Wittman hit all the Republican talking points about inflation and the economy while denouncing Democrats.

Wittman was shown as a typical, aw shucks, good ol’ boy, suburban father strolling around a supermarket.

But something was missing from that ad.  Nowhere did Wittman introduce himself as a Republican.

And there was more missing from the October 2022 ad.  Wittman never said he has voted time and again against a woman’s right to choose her own healthcare and that he voted against the Right to Contraception Act.  He never admitted that he supported Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 Presidential election

Rob Wittman has been in Congress for seventeen years and he’s trying to stay for two more.  Let’s see what he does in 2024 – will he tell us he’s a Republican?  Will he tell women that he knows more than they and their doctors about their healthcare?  Will he tell us he wants to outlaw contraceptives; that he has endorsed Trump; that he voted against improved roads, airfields, and other projects in his District; that he will abide by the results of the 2024 Presidential election?

Don’t count on it.

As long as the “Republican base” marches to Trump’s tune, Wittman will march right beside it. And if the base changes its mind on Trump, Wittman will change, too.  That’s what a Congressional careerist like Rob Wittman does and that’s why Wittman does not deserve another term in Congress.

We First District Democrats MUST support our candidate — Leslie Mehta or Herb Jones, whoever wins the June 18 Democratic primary election.

Congressman Rob Wittman should get his stories straight.  On May 22 Wittman published an editorial in the “Washington Times” newspaper in which he stated:

Virginia’s First District encompasses some of the most unique transportation challenges in the country.

From congested highways to strained commuter rail systems and deteriorating roads and bridges to sediment-filled waterways, our infrastructure faces significant hurdles.

Addressing rural transportation infrastructure is crucial for U.S. national security and economic competitiveness on the world stage.

 

What Wittman did not say is that he voted AGAINST the November 2021 Infrastructure Act that included millions of dollars for the very transportation needs he described.  Here is a partial list of what Wittman voted AGAINST.

• $25,000,000 to expand I-64 in New Kent County;
• Hanover County Municipal Airport upgrades: $1,480,000;
• $790,000 EACH for upgrades at these airports: New Kent County; Tappahannock-Essex County; Middle Peninsula Regional;
• $3,712,000 for improvements at the Richmond Marine Terminal/Port of Richmond;
• $72,371,000 to expand capacity and improve navigation in Norfolk Harbor;
• $1,500,000 for Essex County for community transit planning.

The Biden administration’s Infrastructure Act did exactly what Wittman says needs to be done “. . . address rural transportation infrastructure.”  The problem is that Wittman voted “NO” to transportation improvements in the First District.

However, after voting NO, Wittman has made it a point to show up at construction sites and claim credit for the funds —  he is a charter member of the “Vote No But Take The Dough Club”. 

He has been in Congress for seventeen years.  He does not deserve to serve any longer and should not be re-elected in November.

Even Republican Voters Don’t Trust the GOP To Save Social Security and Medicare
by Joan McCarter | February 28, 2024 – 7:14am
— from Daily Kos

A new survey from Navigator Research doesn’t just show how strongly voters feel about protecting Social Security and Medicare, but it also shows how much voters don’t trust Republican lawmakers to do it. And that’s including a solid majority—61%—of Republicans.

The survey finds that 75% of registered voters are either somewhat or very concerned that congressional Republicans “passed a tax plan that gave record-breaking tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and biggest corporations, but would result in cuts to programs that people count on like Social Security and Medicare.” Supporting tax breaks for the wealthy at the cost of Social Security and Medicare are the most concerning positions of Republicans in Congress on the issue of taxes.

Voters have good reason not to trust the GOP. Right now, House Republicans are plotting yet another fiscal commission that could fast track Social Security and Medicare cuts, in the name of deficit reduction, and they want to include that commission in the 2024 funding package. We’ve seen this ploy from Republicans before, with the Bowles-Simpson commission in 2010 and a congressional “super committee” in 2011. These committees are how Republicans have tried to cut Social Security and Medicare without dirtying their own hands. In this ploy, a committee would be responsible for coming up with the plan, and then Congress would have to pass it in order to save the country from the deficit.

This time around, however, the majority of Democrats aren’t going to play the deficit-peacock game, and they’re calling this plan what it is: “They should probably call this commission the Commission to Slash Benefits,” Rep. John Larson of Connecticut said at a recent press conference. “It’s tantamount to passing a death panel, because that will be the impact on so many Americans.”

more…

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/joan-mccarter/109541/even-republican-voters-don-t-trust-the-gop-to-save-social-security-and-medicare

Rob Wittman is coming after your birth control pills — he’s coming after you, your daughters, your granddaughters, your nieces.

Rob Wittman and the Republican Party continue their war against women by trying to ban contraception.  I know this sounds unbelievable but it is true.

For most of our history, contraception was whispered about.  In most states, it was illegal to manufacture, sell, or use, or to teach about contraceptive devices.   Under the Connecticut Comstock Act of 1873 it was illegal to use “any drug, medicinal article, or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception“.

In 1961 Estelle Griswold and Dr. Lee Buxton opened a clinic in New Haven to teach about contraception and provide contraceptives.  Griswold was arrested, found guilty, and appealed.  Her case went to the Supreme Court who ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965, that “marital privacy” is a protected right and contraception is a protected private matter — just as Roe v. Wade was based largely on privacy concerns.

In his concurrence with overturning Roe, Justice Thomas wrote:  “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, . . . Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous’ we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”  According to Thomas, it is “erroneous” for people to have the right to contraception and Griswold was a mistake.

In an attempt to protect access to contraception, in July 2022 the House of Representatives passed the “Right to Contraception Act”.  ROB WITTMAN AND 194 OTHER REPUBLICANS VOTED “NAY”.

Now, the same groups who worked for 50 years to overturn Roe are quietly working to overturn Griswold because they claim contraception is a “form of abortion” – they lie, it is not.

Don’t be fooled: Republicans and Rob Wittman are coming after your birth control pills.

Wittman must be voted out of office in November.