Bittersweet News
While there’s no meeting this month, there’s still some 43rd news: Effective Dec. 7th, our current Chair, Scott Alspach, will step down to spend more time with a soon-to-be newborn! His announcement is below:
As we near the end of election season (remember to vote "No" on the recall by Tuesday if you live in District 3!) and enjoy the holidays, I want to start by saying thank you for all of the work you have put in to building our organization and getting out the vote over the past year.
With the generous support of our 43rd PAC Founders, we started a Political Action Committee, and with the help of our PCOs and members, we sent 5,000 handwritten postcards to voters within two weeks. In addition, we hosted multiple canvasses for our endorsed candidates and had important conversations with voters about the future of our city. With your continued support, I believe that we will be able to dramatically scale up this work over the next few years.
Which brings me to the news I have to share: My wife and I are expecting our first child to arrive this month and I will be resigning as Chair of the 43rd on Tuesday, December 7th in order to spend more time with her and our new arrival. I'm excited to begin experiencing the adventures of parenthood but unfortunately will not have the time required to lead our organization in the way you all deserve.
Tara Gallagher was elected Vice Chair at our November meeting and will serve as acting Chair until our January 18th meeting when 43rd PCOs will elect a new chair. In addition, we will fill a few other board roles, including Tara's previous King County Democrats Representative position, at the January meeting. Please keep an eye on your inboxes for more on the open positions and how to run for them and reach out to Tara at tara.gallagher@43rddemocrats.org if you have any questions.
Serving on the board and as Chair of the 43rd District Democrats has been a true pleasure. I attended my first 43rd meeting, along with hundreds of others, in November of 2016 after the election of Donald Trump. While it is easy to be discouraged by the current challenges facing us, it is worth reflecting on the progress we have made in the past five years. In 2017, we flipped the Washington State Senate. In 2018, we took back the House. In 2019, we fought back against Amazon to elect a progressive City Council (resulting in the Jump Start tax and millions of dollars for affordable housing), and in 2020, we called in to other states to help elect President Joe Biden and deliver him unified Democratic control of Congress. None of this would have been possible without the work of thousands of Democratic Party volunteers like yourself. All of the calls, texts, post cards, and door knocking we've done have made a difference!
As you all know, our democracy is still under threat from the authoritarian Republican Party and their attempts to discredit our election system under the direction of Donald Trump. Our resolve will continue to be tested and I encourage you to take time this December to both rest, recuperate, and make plans for how you will defend our democracy in 2022.
I want to extend a special thanks to past and present members of the 43rd's Executive Board, I wouldn't have made it as Chair without their hard work and support. I'm excited and confident about the continued growth of our organization under their leadership.
It has been a true pleasure getting to know and work with each of you and I look forward to continuing to do so in my capacity as a PCO.
