My Fellow Young Democrats-

This week, we had our Meet the Arlington Ticket event and seeing everyone come out to support our Democratic candidates made me think of how far we have come since I started with AYD back in 2016.

How many of us in this room took that call to action. To get off the sidelines and into the game because it was on us to make sure that we would not sit idly by and watch one person try to destroy our country and you know what? We did exactly that.

We flipped the House of Representatives. We flipped the House of Delegates. We flipped the State Senate. We flipped the US Senate. And we took back the White House just like we said we would all the way back in January of 2017.

But now, we find ourselves in a little bit of a different situation. We have contested races all over Arlington for the first time in a long time. We have razor thin margins in other places. So we’re finding that we need to protect. We need to hold onto all that progress we have made and expand upon it.

Here in Virginia, we may have won the battle but the war is still raging on. We have a similar scenario to what we had in 2016. We have a lot of folks feeling apathetic and complacent in elections and they’re exhausted. I’m tired too, but we gotta keep moving.

We have a lot of people feeling frustrated that their voices aren’t being heard. It’s on us again to lift them up and unite together because we cannot afford the alternative. It’s on us to show them that Democrats will deliver on the things that they need us to because we have done just that since 2019.

We have fought too hard and have come too far to turn back now. You know what they say? Your offense is your best defense. So we have to keep pushing, keep knocking on those doors, keep making those calls, reaching out to our neighbors, friends, and family.

It’s on us to infuse those people with the hope and the motivation we need them to have by showing them that we realize that the issues they care about most are not some radical, leftist agenda. These are basic. Basic human rights.

You want to know what else? What’s happening in Texas, Florida, and throughout the south, such as limiting the right to vote and making it harder for people to get to the ballot box, all of that will be here before you know it.

We know what Glenn Youngkin and the Republicans plan to do if we let them. They may hide behind vague statements and shiny campaign ads but we know what they will do. Glenn has already said that he would gut all of the reproductive protections that we have worked hard to put in place. But we as Democrats know that Abortion is healthcare and for someone who hates big government, he seems extremely fine with regulating people’s bodies.

There are a few words that I do not want to hear in the same order come November 2nd.

That’s: “Governor Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Governor Winsome Sears, Attorney General Jason Miyares, and most importantly Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert.’

We cannot afford that. We cannot afford to wake up and realize that we have regressed decades backward. We cannot afford to go back.

The teacher who commutes 2 hours one way can’t afford that. The construction worker who is currently being misclassified as an independent contractor can’t afford that. The trans student sitting in her classroom wondering why other students’ parents are more concerned about where she goes to the bathroom than why there aren’t enough books on the shelves cannot afford that.

This is our opportunity to deliver for all of those people because we cannot go backward. We can only go forwards.

We must- WE MUST elect Terry McAuliffe, Hala Ayala, Mark Herring, and every single Democratic Nominee throughout Virginia because even with Democrats of all backgrounds, we can deliver for Virginia and as one of our favorite Virginia candidates used to say “Keep the Big Boys Honest.”

What I need you to do now is to dig deep. Like I always say: if you can’t give your time, give your money. If you can’t give your money, give your time.

Join us tomorrow here in Arlington to knock doors starting at 10 AM.

Stay tuned for our full campaign plan.

Democratically yours,

Matt Royer