Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th CD): “There are so many of us, I think, that in the last 61 days have been filled with grief, anger, a little disbelief and a sense of this is not the America that we expected. We lived through Ronald Reagan…George Bush and Richard Nixon for some of us, but never got this level of racism, misogyny and xenophobia and just carelessness with our country. It’s an emotional struggle, at least for me, I think for many of us every day, trying to figure out what to do…find ways to create a sense of hope and mission and the energy to fight back…We all of us can speak wherever we can…to fight back…How many times have we heard somebody say is this like 1933 in Germany, the slippery slope towards a fascist, totalitarian [regime]…We can’t legitimize this, we can’t roll over, we can’t be complacent, we really do have to fight back…For Alfonso, who’s living in a 66-34 Virginia House of Delegates district…we can win all 17 of those [House of Delegates districts held by a Republican but won by Clinton or where Trump got no more than 46% of the vote]…if we get the 2016 voters to show up in 2017…We need A+++ precinct work [to get those Dem presidential voters out in 2017]…When [Alfonso] takes back the Virginia House in 2017 or gets us darn close and when I help my folks take back the U.S. House in 2018, then we can be a lot more relaxed for the last two years before we elect a Democratic President in 2020.”
Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-49th): This is a pretty amazing time and a pretty precarious time to be Americans. There are certain things we’ve always taken for granted about the tone and the tenor of how we legislate and how we govern and how we deal with each other…They’re who we are…as Americans…Well, in this last election, Virginia stood strong…We have to continue standing strong. The first messages we can send about who we are and what we represent and what we stand for is in the Commonwealth of Virginia this year…In 2017, we elect the Governor of Virginia, the Attorney General, the Lt. Governor and the entire House of Delegates…There are four major elections next year [Mayor of LA, Mayor of Chicago, Governor of New Jersey, all of which are going to go Democratic]…I care about Virginia…from the social safety net to the environment to transportation and transit and how we educate our kids. But more importantly even than all those vitally important issue is how we treat each other, how we communicate with each other…and how we govern…and the respect we give each other as we go about that process…That’s what so important about this election [in Virginia 2017]…”
Alfonso (part 2): I’m fighting and Don’s fighting…and I know all of you are fighting to make sure that the American Dream remains the American Dream…The first thing you can do…is tomorrow and Tuesday, make phone calls for Cheryl Turpin, Ryant Washington and Jennifer McClellan. If Ryant Washington wins, we take back the majority in the State Senate, and what a message that will be. You can do it from home…think about what good we can do in a low-turnout election…The info is on my Facebook page…We’re going to keep winning back seats [despite Republican gerrymandering]. I think we’ll pick up 3-4 seats this year, and…with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that’s coming down the pike, I think it’s looking like they’re going to decide for us, and if that’s the case we’re going to be able to pick up more seats. We might not get the majority back, but we can make Richmond a very different place…But the most important thing we can do besides picking up seats if fight like hell to have a governor of Virginia who’s a Democrat…When we are done with [the Democratic primary process for Governor and LG] we need to all come together and we need to fight, because everything is at stake…
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