Lobby Day approaches with full force! And that means lots of events and phone calls for the Dem Summer interns. Getting the word out has been relatively easy. But getting commitments out of people for a whole day has been tough, especially since many of the involved and most likely attendees are already volunteering on Tuesday for the run-off election. But Ray and I have persevered, speaking to WSSU students, the Forsyth County Democratic Women, meeting one-on-one with several area activists, and attending numerous other community events. We have a nearly full van-load of people committed to travel with us to Raleigh, and meetings now set up with Senator Don Vaughan, Senator Linda Garrou, and Rep. Earline Parmon. We’ll surely be stopping by other offices as time permits.
The highlight of my week so far was definitely talking to the Forsyth County Democratic Women. They had a group of at least 20 or 30 people, and speakers such as a candidate for a NC House seat and the wife of Billy Kennedy, who is running for US Congress against Virginia Foxx. Needless to say it was intimidating to speak after these people who are so used to articulating their points. Ray and I gave our quick talk about Dem NC, our non-partisan goals for getting out the vote, and Voter-Owned Elections. In the middle of our presentation, US Senate candidate Cal Cunningham walked in, along with a gaggle of campaign staff and press people. My heart rate definitely increased a bit, but we remained unfazed. Mr. Cunningham spoke immediately after us and complimented our work, praised Democracy NC, and re-iterated his support for the Fair Elections Now Act. Afterward, I was happy when several people gave us great comments on our brief speech.
Before I sign out, I wanted to mention a great conversation I had earlier this afternoon with a gentleman from Greensboro who is joining our Lobby Day delegation to Raleigh. He was so genuinely excited to attend with us and spoke for several minutes about how much he appreciated Dem NC’s cause for VOE implementation and the work of us young people as interns. It was one of those bright spots that gives you a great feeling and validates all the work being done on behalf of good government in NC. It certainly gives me some good personal momentum to carry me into next week.
Until next time,
Sean
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