Folks often talk about how some districts and precincts are just so slanted toward one party or another that it’s deemed “safe.” It’s a great story to tell folks for when we lose elections out in those places, and likely helps us sleep at night.
But as fellow Kos contributor pdxbuckeye highlights in a recent diary, the concept of “Red America” and “safe precincts” is nonsense. There are many parts of the country that we’ve just written off because we get beaten by such large margins, or the party infrastructure is fragile. It’s understandable, but we have to start thinking about the reality of it:
In reality, there are only two types of precincts: ones that we’ve already won, and ones that we haven’t won yet.
At the core of Democratic losses over the past near-decade is a systematic takeover of our state houses and governors mansions, and it started from the bottom up. Once Republicans started taking control, they began to solidify their control by passing regressive voter ID laws and gerrymandering districts to competitive oblivion. There’s still more of us than there are of them, though; we just need our folks to come out to vote, and that starts with us. We have to start from the bottom up, energize our voters, and start winning back state and local races. Once we do that, we can start expanding access to the ballot box and achieve electoral justice.
This afternoon, I took to the streets with several volunteers and we knocked doors in an area which used to be a “safe precinct” for Republicans. Back in the 2000’s, it went for GOP presidents, governors and representatives at all levels of government. It still currently has a Republican (albeit moderate) representing it on the county board, but recently turned purple.
And now, it’s going to be a key precinct in my strategy to flip the 51st District.
I started with calling and canvassing a few of the neighborhoods. I eventually came across a couple who were gracious enough to open up their home for me to do a house party. Folks from the area showed up, and began to become aware of the elections this year. Fast-forward to today, and we’ve launched a canvass out of the very same home. We knocked on nearly 240 doors today.
And guess what? We’ve found folks who want to volunteer and yet another couple who’d like to open their home up for events. Some of these folks thought they were the only Democrats on their block. Slowly but surely, though, we begin to link them up with one another, and we start to build an energized network of folks who will get out to vote, and get their friends and family to do the same.
We build bonds on the grassroots level which we can call upon every single election cycle, every single year. That should be the Virginian way,
We all know it’s a long, hard road full of sometime awkward conversations (I spoke with a Trump voter last night!) and effort without instant gratification. We know it works, though. History has taught us that.
So let’s forget the notion that there are districts and precincts that are “safe” for Republicans. There are simply districts and precincts we haven’t won yet, and we’re taking the first step to winning them this year in Virginia.
With your help, I’ll make sure the 51st District of the House of Delegates is not “safe” for Rich Anderson, my Republican opponent. He supports taking away folk’s voices, so let’s take his seat!
Virginia HD 51 - Ken Boddye
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