Thank you to everyone who joined us in Arlington this weekend for YDANoVA. I’ve been telling people this since Sunday but y’all are the ones who made this weekend a huge success. We could have put on as much programming as we want to but if people hadn’t been there and hadn’t participated as well as they did or been as engaged as they were, it would have been for nothing. 

I have had amazing feedback and reviews from our elected officials, panelists, and guests about y’all. They were incredibly inspired and energized by the amount of young folks they saw this weekend who are so dedicated and hardworking as you are and said they’ll be coming back to support whenever we need it. 

We could not have done this without all of the support from our guests and sponsors. YDA was joined by Congressman Don Beyer, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, Delegate-Elect Adele McClure, County-Board Member-Elect Maureen Coffey, and Officer Harry Dunn on Friday night.

And throughout Saturday, we were joined by so many amazing guests but namely: Speaker Designee Don Scott, Former Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, Democratic Party of Virginia Susan Swecker, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, Senator-Elect Saddam Salim, Delegate Briana Sewell, Delegate Alfonso Lopez, Delegate Dan Helmer, Delegate Irene Shin, Delegate-Elect Joshua Cole, Delegate-Elect Rozia Henson, Alexandria City Council Member Aliya Gaskins, Arlington County Board Member Takis Karantonis, Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, Arlington School Board Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres, DNC Member and former YDA President Atima Omara, the Rural Ground Game staff, members from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, members of the National Education Association, Grassroots Dems HQ, the Democratic National Committee Staff, and the Democratic Party of Virginia. I’m sure there is more we can thank but we would be here for a while.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention once again how fortunate we were to be able to partner with the Virginia Democrats this weekend. For those that were not aware, DPVA had also scheduled their Steering and State Central Committees this weekend and DPVA Chair Susan Swecker took up the task of moving it from Richmond to Arlington so they could be there in support of the Young Dems. I could not be more grateful for that partnership. 

On Sunday, we ended early after discussing the business part of our national committee meeting. Thank you to everyone who came and voted in our appointments for the next biennium. I know personally that our new staff is eager to get to work and to make sure that this biennium is one of our best and most effective yet. 

In the next few days, we will have those headshots that people were able to get on Saturday and we will be sending out a feedback survey for anyone who wishes to leave that. We can only make these better if we hear from y'all.

It was amazing to see y’all’s beautiful faces this weekend and my heart is filled with tremendous joy and gratitude for all of it. Y’all come on back now whenever you like.

See y'all in the Spring!

Matt Royer

VAYD President, YDA Chief of Staff