New “Virginia People’s PAC” Launches, Promises to Bring Diversity to State Campaigns

From the new Virginia People’s PAC:

NEW PAC TO INCREASE DIVERSITY IN VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES

Virginia People’s PAC (VPP) promises to bring diversity to state campaigns

FAIRFAX, VA:  The Virginia People’s PAC (VPP) has officially launched with a goal of bringing diversity into Virginia campaigns.  The Mission of the Virginia People’s PAC is to build a more reflective democracy in Virginia by recruiting, training, mentoring and building a community of senior-level diverse staff and leadership across electoral campaigns.

VPP is being launched by Nick Rathod. Rathod is a nationally recognized expert on state policy, is a former deputy director in the Obama White House, the founder of SiX (State Innovation Exchange) and has been a political and policy advisor to Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke and dozens of other state, local and federal elected officials. Rathod promised to ensure this PAC would have the resources needed for success, saying “Investing in the Virginia People’s PAC is investing in our future as a party.  We can only continue our success and momentum by ensuring that all Virginians have a seat at the table and our PAC will ensure that happens in campaigns”.

Angela Kasey, a former staffer for Tim Kaine, Kamala Harris and numerous other prominent state, local and national leaders and groups will serve as the Executive Director.  Angela noted that the PAC’s top objective was to build a bench so large and diverse that “one day our PAC will be obsolete“.  

Katherine Richardson who has helped build statewide field operations in numerous battleground states will serve as a Principal for the PAC. 

VPP has secured a talented group of Advisory Board members with diverse personal, professional, and geographic backgrounds. The members include Chris Bolling, Jim Dyke, Keenan Austin Reed, Adnan Mohammed, Valerie Slater, Tyler Tucker, Dr. Sarita Gregory, Zaki Barzinji, Jung Byun Lau, Monique Alcala, and Jeff Swift.

The VPP will work to disrupt the status quo by building a community of staffers (both new and experienced) who share similar backgrounds and values to support one another in their work in politics, build programming to help hone staff skills in particular subject areas, work with aspiring politicos to plug them into training programs through partnerships with Arena, Emerge, Progressive Pipeline and place staff into campaigns and party infrastructure across the Commonwealth.

Kasey noted that the “The talent already exists, but the training and opportunities do not.  The Virginia People’s PAC will change that forever.”