The Chair’s Newsletter Vol. 1 No. 1
SUCCESS HAS FOUND US:
The Labor Day victory the LexRockBV Dems produced in Buena Vista has been seen by nearly 3,000,000 people in our nation through social media and was experienced by the hundreds of proud, determined and riled up Dems who showed up. Our great breakfast had a record crowd of 183 people, up from approximately 40 last year. At our breakfast people came from Botetourt, Stanton, Richmond and fifteen College Dems from Washington and Lee University.
In addition to our Democratic candidate speakers, Senator Kaine and Ken Mitchell who both also spoke at the Pavilion after the parade, State Senator Creigh Deeds spoke forcefully at the Labor Day breakfast about the need for action by all Dems to register voters, get out the vote and support our candidates every year in Virginia. I spoke with Senator Deeds by phone after the breakfast and he said he had been coming to the breakfast for many years and had never seen a crowd of engaged Dems like the crowd he saw at Parry McCluer High School. He thanked all of us for winning the day in Buena Vista.
Two great candidates plus hundreds of Democrats alongside them carried signs, drove a Pickup, rode a Harley and a Honda and walked in our great parade. Dems held hand-painted posters and signs for Harris, Kaine and Mitchell. We were greeted by many Buena Vista citizens with open arms and appreciative smiles. Ken Mitchell clearly set a new record for the number of people whose hands he shook and talked to while always trying to catch up to our group in the parade.
Maybe the day was best summarized by a woman watching the parade who told Ken Mitchell, “I have never seen more Democrats than Republicans in a Labor Day Parade in Buena Vista before. Thank you. I have been waiting for this day for a long time.”
At the Pavilion in a combative speech, US Senator Tim Kaine, looking straight at the Republicans and backed up by facts he stated, explained to the audience Democrats Deliver.
Ken Mitchell, Candidate for the US Congress spoke from the heart about how he wanted to bridge the divide in America, and proved he was the candidate, and the only candidate in this race who can do that. The Combined Campaign Staff and our own 50 volunteers who helped organize our winning the Sign War for the first time in decades, not only rose to the occasion, but defined the future of the LexRockBV Dems and proved to our nation, Democrats are on the move in rural America.
Republican speakers had a bad day. Youngkin got his left and right mixed up, was booed, repeatedly, and lied over and over. He said the economy in Virginia was booming and crime was down, taking credit for both while he said the economy in the US was terrible and crime was skyrocketing. Youngkin deserves no credit for a good economy in Virginia or crime going down, and he could not resist painting a false picture of the great economy and crime dropping all across America under the Biden Administration.
He said history had proven “Left policies don’t work and only conservative policies work.” Right after he talked about his party being in favor of law and order, he asked everyone to support the felon Donald Trump. We Dems could not take it anymore. We chanted “We Won’t Go Back” and the nation heard us.
Worse yet, Ben Cline blamed Dems for inflation. Our nation has the lowest inflation in the world and Trump’s mis-management of Covid directly caused such massive supply chain disruptions that in order to buy anything, even toilet paper, companies could gouge the customer, us, for every last penny we had. Not only is inflation down, but Ben Cline accused Dems of opening the border to “criminals” when the truth is the border has seen fewer crossings in the past three months than any time in nearly four years. Ben Cline showed he was out of touch and his claim that he “fights for you” came from the “same old playbook” that included his denying the election victory of President Biden, voting against the Shenandoah National Park, and his claim inflation was 17% in February when it was at already trending downward to 3.2%.
And the Republican candidate, Hung Cao, did not even show up for his speech, which the Republicans said he would give right after the parade as part of the Younkin/Cao/Cline ticket. You can’t make this stuff up.
I want to thank all LexRockBV Dems who volunteered and participated, and especially our Events Manager, Dorothy Blackwell who carried the load for weeks to put on an amazing and inspiring day we will build on and we will never forget. Click below and see what Social Media said of our Labor Day success:
Trump Has WORST LABOR DAY of HIS LIFE, PANIC Sets In
WE HAVE REACHED TEH BASE CAMP OF THE MOUNTAIN WE SHALL CLIMB
On Monday, September 9 th , we shall hold our second straight monthly meeting at the First Baptist Church. Our emcee at the Labor Day Breakfast, Ron Gravitt, a devout Baptist and our new Membership Chair is a Reverend. Most of us Democrats are people of faith, many of us are very spiritual, yet we have been attacked by Republicans on the issue of religion who don’t even regularly go to a Church, Synagogue, Temple or Mosque.
The large number of people coming to our Headquarters daily and the nearly constant meetings we have at the Democratic Headquarters have shown that we are quickly growing out of our office space. Our office is filled with people picking up signs, buying our buttons, contributing to our candidates and our coffers, and thanking us from bringing them out of the shadows and giving them momentum they have not experienced in our LexRockBV area for a very long time. If you know of good office space available in our area starting in 2025, please let us know.
At our monthly meeting on September 9 th at the First Baptist Church, we will vote into membership more than 20 new members for a second straight month, bringing our membership to well over 100 and our number of active volunteers to over 80. Thirty people now serve as volunteer staff to keep our office open under the great leadership of Linda Patterson, our Office Staffing Coordinator. We are expanding the number of volunteer office staff so we can have our office open even more hours each and every week.
We have filled 25 volunteer coordinator positions in the last several months. There are six open coordinator positions and if you are interested in either an open position or helping a person in any of the volunteer areas mentioned below, please let us know at lexrockdems@gmail.com.
We are growing and getting more organized in a way never achieved before for a Local Democratic Committee covering a population of our size (33,000). Craig Deeds told me the key to success in a local committee is to share leadership broadly and involve as many people as you can. We are doing exactly that. We are riding a great wave and our job is to build a better surf board that not only propels us to success, but can also serve as an example to every local Democratic Committee in every rural part of America that wants to grow and improve its operations.
Here is a list of the coordinators to give you a better sense of our team and how we are organized.
List of Officers and Coordinators of the LexRockBV Democratic Committee
Executive Committee:
Herb Rubenstein, Chair
Gene Zitver, Vice-Chair
David Mayersky, Vice-Chair
Ron Gravitt, Vice-Chair
Dorothy Blackwell, Treasurer
Laure Stevens- Lubin, Secretary
Jade Harris, At Large
Coordinators - Our Volunteer Leaders
Office Management:
Sharon Burgess, Office Manager/Coordinator
Linda Patterson, Office Staffing Coordinator
Dorothy Blackwell, Treasurer and Compliance Coordinator
David Mayersky, Information Technology and Website Coordinator
Herb Rubenstein, Website and Organization Records Coordinator
Laure Stevens-Lubin, Secretary and Organization Records co-coordinator
Paul Maynard, Data Base Coordinator
Membership Management:
Susan Worrell, Membership/Onboarding Coordinator
Volunteer Management:
Brenda McCanon, Volunteer Co-Coordinator
MaryAnne Maynard, Volunteer Co-Coordinator
Event Management:
Dorothy Blackwell, Events Coordinator
Anne Riffey-Buckner, Parades Coordinator
Fundraising Management:
Dorothy Blackwell, Projects and Events Related Fundraising Manager
Herb Rubenstein, Development Director/Coordinator
Communications:
Gene Zitver, Vice-Chair, Correspondence and Zoom Meetings Coordinator
Susan Worrell, Acknowledgement Coordinator
Krista Anderson, Social Media Co-Coordinator
Madeline Robinson, Social Media Co-Coordinator
Louise Ward, Large Sign Coordinator
Political Activities:
Gene Zitver, Precinct Co-Captain Coordinator and Opposition Research Coordinator
Jade Harris, Candidate Support Coordinator
Herb Rubenstein, Candidate Support Coordinator
Allen Pickens, Harleys for Dems Coordinator
Dave Brockway, Veterans Relationship Coordinator
Rene Hasey, Poll Watching and Greeters on Election Day Coordinator
Open Coordinator Positions:
1. Communications Coordinator
2. Education/Training/Book Club Coordinator
3. Yard Sign and Campaign Literature Coordinator
4. Get Out The Vote, Voter Registration, Election Day/Security Coordinator
5. Government Relations Coordinator, plus three volunteers one for each Lex, BV, Rockbridge County Meetings and to promote applications to boards and commissions
6. Young Voters Coordinator
We are conducting a survey of every person who serves in the capacity as Volunteer Office Staff. We are organizing and delivering our first Volunteer Office Staff Training Classes on September 13 and September 30, from 2-4pm in the office and on Zoom. The Committee is now in great shape, and we need to continue to grow and become better organized, and no question about it, there is work to do. Please let us know if you would like to join the Committee. There are no dues, just a request for participation with the areas listed above and helping Dems win elections and enact Dem friendly policies at every level of government. Also let us know if you would like our assistance in getting appointed to a board or commission or run for office. Nationally, and in LexRockBV we need more and more Dems running for office and applying to become a member of a board or commission.
The Mountain We Need to Climb
Those are our successes and organizational challenges. Here is our most pressing election need between now and November 5th, election day.
There is no more pressing need Democrats have in our area than raising money for Ken Mitchell for Congress. As one political consultant who has worked on over 75 Congressional Campaigns told me in August: “If I were you, I would spend full time raising money for Ken Mitchell.”
Now is time for all of us to make a financial investment in Ken Mitchell’s campaign and encourage all of the people we know to donate to the Ken Mitchell campaign. Our committee volunteer canvassing team has been doing canvassing every other week, and we will ramp up our canvassing program significantly for Ken Mitchell in the next few weeks. Everything we do for Ken Mitchell helps our strong effort supporting Vice-President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to become our President and Vice-President. Everything we do for Ken Mitchell helps our strong effort supporting Senator Tim Kaine for the US Senate.
There are some Democrats who have never donated to a 6th District Congressional Candidate. Most Democrats in our Congressional District have never asked another person to donate to a Congressional candidate. Some Democrats even say no Democrat can win this seat. That is exactly the negativity and defeatism that propelled me to urge our three small local committees of Lexington, Rockbridge and Buena Vista to consolidate, so we could become the fighting force and the force for good that we just showed three million viewers on Social Media and proved to ourselves, the people of Buena Vista, and the voters in the State of Virginia.
We Democrats have arrived at the base camp, and now it is time to climb the mountain.
Ben Cline is supported financially by the Rocovich dynasty out of Roanoke. They have access to big money and Ben Cline has never been beaten in a political race in his life. But now is the time.
An investment in Ken Mitchell’s campaign is an investment in the future of the Democratic Party of the 6th Congressional District and Virginia. Before I started working 20 to 30 hours a week for Ken Mitchell I asked him one question. I asked him if he would run in 2026 win, lose or draw this election. He said he would. I have been a Congressional candidate before and although I did not get the nomination, our Democratic nominee in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District in 2006 with my full support defeated an incumbent Republican who had never lost a political race either. Dems have held that seat ever since and it was the key race that started the process in 2006 that turned Colorado Blue by 2012. Ken Mitchell’s upcoming victory is part of what “Meidas Touch” has told millions of people this week, “Change Is In the Air.”
I know Ken Mitchell can win. I cannot find an organization to conduct a poll in our 6th Congressional District and I have never even seen a poll in our Congressional District. I bet Ben Cline who has $500,000 in his war chest has conducted a poll or two and if his poll numbers were great, he would have published them. People on the street every day tell me they are voting for Ken Mitchell but add “please don’t tell anyone”. I ask people on the street every day if they have ever heard of Ken Mitchell, and many say “No.” I then respond by saying, “He is running against Ben Cline for Congress.” And they say, “If he is running against Ben Cline, I will vote for him.”
I cannot guarantee victory for Ken Mitchell, but I am also not predicting he will lose. If you have spent any time with Ken Mitchell you know he works hard every day, sometimes 16 hours in a day to meet and listen to people, to study the issues and do the hard work of fundraising. He is a 24 year veteran. He has met with health care and education officials in meetings that I set up at Ken’s request. At one of those meetings we were told “Ben Cline has never been in this building.” Ken Mitchell pounds the pavement, has virtually an all-volunteer campaign staff working hard every day and will be a great Congressman.
Your donation will go a long way to pay for TV, radio and social media advertising and even help pay his staff. If 80% of the voters of our 6th Congressional District just knew the name Ken Mitchell, knew what an honest, hard-working man he is, and knew his policies that would help our region, a region Ben Cline consistently votes against with his plastered smile, Ken wojuld win this race. Your financial contribution can and will make a historic difference in the 6th Congressional District.
The nation will take notice of Ken Mitchell taking this seat from a Republican who votes against funding Ukraine, denies the election victory of President Biden, votes against reproductive and even contraceptive rights of women, and relies of rich Republicans and corporations to fund his campaigns. Any financial contribution you make to Ken Mitchell is not just a contribution acknowledging that he is a great candidate. It is a direct rebuke to all that Ben Cline stands for and that Republicans like Ben Cline have wrought on our Country.
And, my fellow Democrats and all people reading this inaugural Chairs Newsletter, a challenge to Ben Cline by a great candidate like Ken Mitchell is worth investing in. Now is the time to donate in one of two ways.
Donate online at: www.kenmitchellforviginia.com – top right side of page DONATE button.
Donate by sending a check to Ken Mitchell for VA, P.O. Box 1795, Harrisonburg, VA 24450.
Volunteer for our Committee or directly for the campaign if you can. It will not take any type of miracle for Ken Mitchell to be elected. It will just take us Democrats doing what we have never done before in this Congressional District – adequately fund our candidate so he can be competitive in advertising and get the name recognition he deserves.
Saving the Best for Last
For those who have made it through my 1776 words already, please visit our brand-new website, created by a wonderful volunteer, Kate Gordon. www.lexrockbvdems.com
Call me at 303.910.7961 anytime or email me at herb@herbrubenstein.com.
Come to our office at 11 South Jefferson and sign your friends up to volunteer and become members of the LexRockBV Democratic Committee. Encourage everyone you know to donate to Ken Mitchell as every donation, even a $10 dollar donation, really counts
The LexRockBV Democratic Committee is now nationally recognized and appreciated by millions who saw what we can do on Labor Day in Buena Vista. We accomplish great things when we work with other great Democrats from across the state. We strive to constantly improve how we run our committee, expand our volunteer base, get the signs out, and how we create a great financial footing for our Committee for the first time in history.
We need to bring more Dems and former Republicans, and yes, more of our money into the political process in the 6th Congressional District. I guarantee you that if our Democratic nominee for Congress in the 6th Congressional District raised and spent as much money as the Republican nominee, on January 3, 2025 when the new Congress is sworn in, Ben Cline will not be our Congressman. Ken Mitchell will be our Congressman and he will fill the role as our duly eleccted Representative brilliantly, helping all of the people in our district.
This is a district of hard-working people who do not want political violence, do not want government passing laws stopping women from managing their own bodies, and do not want a Commander in Chief who supports our enemy, Russia, more than he supports spending the money necessary to give all of our residents proper access to quality child care, access to health insurance, access to clean air and water, as well as access to broadband and the benefits of the internet.
Rockbridge, BV and Lexington folks do not want politicians lying to them and we know that because the people here teach their children to tell the truth and not to lie. They do not want the Department of Education to be eliminated because the people here take their children to school or home school them every day and help them with their homework because they want their children to have the best education they can get. The people here do not want to abandon Ukraine because they do not want to send their daughters and sons to fight Russia in Poland and the other countries Putin will invade if he crushes the people of Ukraine.
We have the right Congressional candidate; we have the right values, and we are finding our voice and gaining energy. We are Blue Ridge Democrats and we are volunteering, putting out signs and no longer fear the Republicans or cower to their bullying tactics and fear mongering. We are standing tall.
Let’s put our money now where our mouth is, take this Congressional seat and turn Virginia Blue and help turn Rural America Blue. Thank you for all you do to help make this November 5th the day when we finally turn this country around, help heal its wounds, chart a new future, and defeat the Trump crime syndicate and its soldiers like Ben Cline.
Herb Rubenstein, Chair
LexRockBV Dems
September 5, 2024