By Barbra Tellman, LD 2 PC
On Sunday, May 28th, all six legislators from the two Legislative Districts spoke and answered questions from a 60-person audience at our combined Town Hall at the Valencia Library. They addressed a wide range of concerns, including education funding, dealing with violence and suicide, voting rights, public health, border issues, climate change, water, transportation, ERA, the proposed budget, and how citizens can and should influence the Legislature. Michele Manos, interim LD 2 chair, skillfully moderated the session.
LD 3’s new trifold brochure, in both English and Spanish, talks about the district, has voter- registration and election tips, and clearly states what the party stands for. Click here to download the Spanish version. Click here to download the English version. Copies are available from the LD and at PCDP Headquarters.
By Kim Holaway, Chair LD9
The PC and Volunteer Committee is identifying precinct leaders for each of our 57 precincts. We currently have 195 PCs, with a goal of 230 by year’s end. Precinct leaders are being trained to organize PCs and volunteers for activities related to our quarterly themes leading up to the 2020 election. Some precincts will “adopt” precincts that have no PCs.
Many precincts are thanking our fall 2018 “targeted” voters – those who didn’t vote in 2014 but did in 2016 – with door-to-door palm cards or postcards. Undoubtedly these targeted voters contributed to LD9’s high voter turnout.
Our Voter Registration Committee is identifying strategies for registering new voters through the fall. Current efforts include high school and community college students, new residents, special events, and specific locations. By winter, we’ll be emphasizing the Presidential Preference Election (PPE) and targeting voters registered as Independents (who’ll need to switch to Democrat to vote in the PPE).
About one-third of LD9 voters live in the City of Tucson. We’re encouraging them to attend city election and initiative events. Many of our PCs and volunteers are circulating Outlaw Dirty Money petitions and are involved in supporting the Pima County Preschool Investment Proposal and the Red for Ed movement.
We’re raising money through Blue Wave 2.0 recurring donations and LD9 t-shirt sales. The popular LD9 Happy Hours – a great way for new PCs to meet others in a relaxed setting – will continue. We collected donations for the Benedictine Monastery refugees at our last LD9 meeting.
Our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, May 28, 6:30 p.m.- 8 p.m. at Water of Life Metropolitan Community Church, 3269 N. Mountain Ave. Meetings feature speakers and state legislative updates. Please join us!
By Bonnie Heidler, Chair LD10
It has been a hectic first quarter in LD10, as we gear up to elect Democrats for Tucson’s mayor and city council. This is part of laying the groundwork for 2020: electing Democrats at the federal, state, and local level.
We launched our Voter Outreach program, designed to register voters, grow our volunteer base, and increase the number of PCs in LD10. We’re off to a good start on the latter, having added 16 during the first quarter of 2019, raising the total from 96 to 112. Our goal is to recruit 50 new PCs by the end of the year.
We also had a very successful fundraising event in March with LD9: our joint St. Patrick’s Day lunch. U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly, and the Tucson mayoral and city council candidates spoke. An all-woman Irish rock band played (led by PCDP’s executive director, Cat Ripley). We are now planning our July fundraiser: a beer tasting and silent auction.
Please join us at LD10’s monthly meeting, the third Wednesday of the month at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4831 E. 22nd St., 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. (social time 6 p.m.) Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild will talk about his accomplishments as mayor and his vision for Tucson’s future at the May 15 meeting.
By Steve Witthoeft, Chair LD11
We have been busy in the first quarter of 2019 planning our annual LD11 fundraiser, which we held on May 4 in Sun City, Oro Valley. The theme was Cinco De Mayo. Speakers included U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly and Arizona Daily Star editorial cartoonist/humor writer, David Fitzsimmons. Look for a recap in the next newsletter.
In our efforts to increase voter registration, our Voter Action Committee has been working with a great group from Southern California, called Field Team 6, which helped turning Orange County blue. We will soon start holding events in various “hot spots,” and hope to register many new Democratic voters. As the registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats by 17,000 in our district, we need as many new Democrats as possible!
We are also planning our first PC Summit, on May 19 at the Oro Valley Library. The objective is to engage and train our PCs and recruit new ones. Steve Farley, candidate for Tucson Mayor, will give the keynote speech.
We’re planning to move LD11’s monthly meetings around our enormous district, which encompasses 2,000 square miles.