There’s a lot of pride in southwest Virginia. We’re proud of our mountains. We’re proud of our music. We’re proud of our children. We’re proud of our schools. We’re proud of our communities.
We’re also divided politically like most of our nation, with many people abandoning traditional political parties in search of finding a person or group they resonate with. Populist dissatisfaction can be traced back through the centuries of our nation. The recent seeds of divisiveness in our area were sown by the Koch brother’s when they created Americans For Prosperity in 2004.
There is a false narrative that southwest Virginians voted against their own best interests in the last election. It’s been over a decade since Koch money began paying for organizers to go door to door to find out what SWVA people value and what messaging would convince them to vote for conservative candidates. Once they discover what messages work, they send out more organizers to distribute the message through door to door canvassing.
I started seeing Americans For Prosperity (AFP) literature on the doors when I started volunteering for Organizing For America. We were going door to door to advocate for the Affordable Care Act, health insurance reform legislation. The AFP literature started calling it Obamacare and it was full of lies to scare people.
Virginia and New Jersey are the only states having elections this year for their governors and state houses. Virginia is the only purple state. Already conservative money is pouring into Virginia and Americans For Prosperity have opened offices up all over our Commonwealth.
We can overcome AFP’s lies and deception. People in SWVA will vote for progressive candidates. They will vote for people who will protect their land and water. They will vote for people who will help their schools. They will vote for people who will help them take their children to a family doctor.
We have some great progressive candidates in SWVA running for our House of Delegates, one of them is Steve McBride. The picture of the pick-up truck in front of a memorial to the confederacy was taken in his district. We’ve been knocking doors and talking to voters in his district since April. People are excited to send Steve, a teacher and research scientist from Virginia Tech, to represent them in our General Assembly.
There is hope in SWVA for a new Virginia. There is hope that what we are learning from talking to voters will inspire others to join us. There is hope that when people learn about the work we are doing that they will send the resources we need to reach every voter. There is hope that we will win this November. There is hope….