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John,
A month after graduating college in May 2006, I started my journalism career as a full-time newspaper reporter June 12, 2006. My first assignment: cover Virginia's Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. Less than four percent of all voters across the commonwealth cast a ballot that Tuesday as Jim Webb won.
So later that summer, I stopped by the National Press Club to hear some of the D.C. politics pros weigh in on the races that would determine control of the Senate. When Virginia came up, I perked up but was quickly taken aback when I saw one of the analysts smirk as she scoffed at Webb's chances, saying he may have had some grassroots excitement behind him but he would be buried under incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen's money that fall.
Well, not only did Webb prevail, but his win flipped the chamber Red to Blue and finally put a much-needed check on the Bush administration.
I learned two vital lessons that summer about campaigns:
1) Pundits are just paid speculators . They form opinions based on campaign finance reports and what some party poobahs tell them instead of what's happening on the ground in the day-to-day operations of the campaigns.
2) Fall campaigns are won in the summer . Webb's "rag-tag" team simply out-worked and out-hustled Allen every step of the way that summer so that when Allen stumbled, they put themselves in a position to capitalize, presenting Webb as an acceptable alternative to Allen in front of the electorate. The volunteer base among the grassroots and Netroots of people willing to knock on doors, make phone calls and donate whatever they could, even if it was just $5, made all the difference.
Seventeen years and three winning campaigns of my own later, my grassroots and Netroots supporters remain the engine that drives our campaign. So please keep that spirit going by donating to our state Senate campaign -- one of the seven battlegrounds to determine control of the chamber this Nov. 7. [[link removed]]
That fall in 2006, after all the sweat and work, Webb just barely squeaked by -- but whether by 1 point or 100, a win is a win.
So that brings me to this campaign:
We're winning the summer.
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Today, we launched more than 50 canvassers from Democracy Summer among our diehard volunteers, staffers and yours truly. We're talking to voters one by one, door after door, while we have even more supporters making phone calls, sending text messages, writing postcards and donating to the campaign.
With eight weeks and five days to go until early voting begins Sept. 22, we're running our campaign the way we won our House of Delegates campaigns in 2017, 2019 and 2021: by working harder than anyone else and by out-performing our opposition in every single metric of the campaign.
We know what it takes to win and my ask today is for you to donate $10, $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can so we can sustain our paid advertising program, which is now underway and will be through Election Day on Nov. 7. [[link removed]]
Our doors, phones, texts and postcard numbers are great, with thousands of doors knocked this month and more than 700 unique donors contributing to the campaign. Our efforts are showing up in our polling too as our message of fixing roads and feeding kids is resonating and we're putting ourselves in position to win this fall, no matter how much money from donors like Harlan Crow our Republican governor throws into this race. (Yes, SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas's favorite amateur travel agent actually is a major donor to Gov. Youngkin.)
So what's the other side doing? Well, this week, Gov. Youngkin stopped in western Prince William County to issue a new policy directive to make life harder for trans kids in schools. That's not a coincidence and it is very much a reminder of what's at stake this fall.
By keeping our Democratic state Senate and winning back our majority in the House of Delegates, we'll put a check on his administration so we can actually support our constituents instead of singling out and stigmatizing them.
We're two months away from the first ballots of this campaign being cast and I'm ready to win. So please pitch in what you can today and let's win every single day between the summer and fall so we're ready to win big this November 7. [[link removed]] Thank you so much for all of your help to date; I genuinely could not win without your support and I'm grateful for everything you've done and continue to do.
Donate Here: [link removed] [[link removed]]
Warmly,
Danica
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Friends of Danica Roem
P.O. Box 726
Manassas, VA 20113
United States
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