by Cindy
This weekend, in an epic event that launched from ten different sites and involved 35 campaigns, 200 volunteers set out with their candidate lit and their MiniVan and knocked over 7,000 doors in Loudoun County. This was a massive effort of coordination, organized primarily by Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney candidate Buta Biberaj‘s team, the Loudoun County Democrats, and Take The Majority.
The event came about when Buta and her team (Krysta Jones and Barb Jones) realized that this was the 99th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, and that Loudoun County coincidentally had 19 women running for office. They wanted to have an event that would re-energize women around issues of equality and justice that touch their lives, and that would bring new volunteers out to knock doors in support of women’s equality and the ERA. The initial plan was to just include a couple of sites, but Loudoun County Democratic Committee Chair Lissa Savaglio wanted to expand it to a county-wide event. Take the Majority field directors helped organize the event and cut walk lists for all the volunteers.
Grassroots groups from around the area came to volunteer. Lots of young people joined in, from Generation Ratify in Arlington, and from several Leesburg high schools. TWW Loudoun, Network NoVA, and Herndon-Reston Indivisible sent volunteers. Do the Most Good came all the way from Montgomery County, MD to pitch in. Congresswoman Wexton helped launched a canvass.
The first 99 people to sign up to volunteer had their names printed on the tee shirt specially designed for the event. Special swag bags were handed out to volunteers courtesy of the amazing team at Vote Like a Girl. A party was held after canvassing at Twinpanzee Brewing, sponsored by Loudoun County Democrats, Senator Barbara Favola, Delegate John Bell, and Senator Jennifer Boysko (who, by the way, knocked 5 packs of doors herself!).
This was such a fun and well-organized event. This is the way we win–by talking to voters (efficiently) and having fun doing it. It was like a big weekend-long grassroots party. Feel regrets that you missed it? Don’t worry, it was such a huge success, they’re organizing another one some time in October, stay tuned!
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