Since Election Day folks have asked me what’s next. Some of those people asked me to consider running for state party chair or for one of the other positions in state party leadership. However, I have decided to run for re-election as the chair of the Orange County Democratic Party.
On election night no one was more disappointed with the results from the U.S. Senate race than me. However, we did a lot of work right here in Orange County and while we don’t have all the data yet, we know that what we did had an impact:
- We made thousands of phone calls, door knocks, postcards, letters, and lit drops to turn out the vote among base Democrats.
- We increased overall turnout from 45% in 2010 to nearly 49% this year (our goal was to reach to 50%).
- We increased Democratic turnout to 56% and saw an 8% increase in Democrats who voted.
- We increased the number of votes we gave to the Democratic senatorial nominee by nearly 7,300.
- Our turnout work was recognized on Election Night by Steve Kornacki on MSNBC when described our effort as having "monster turnout." The New York Times, said “Ms. Hagan posted a better showing in Orange County, which includes Chapel Hill, and in Durham than any Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
All of this was done with a concerted effort from the Orange County Democratic Party as well as our Party’s coordinated campaign. We’re already hard at work plotting the course for 2015 and 2016 to increase our turnout so that we may turn NC blue again by keeping the White House, electing a new Governor, and electing Democrats up and down the ballot.
I want OCDP to expand our communities of interest to include the rural communities of Orange County; focus on voter education ahead of implementation of Voter ID; register more voters; reach out to other counties to help build their infrastructure; and bring a new generation of grassroots leadership.
I consider myself fortunate to lead and be led by such a dedicated group of Democrats. This party took a gamble by electing a 21 year old chair nearly four years ago. However, every day I’ve been guided by the principle that by working hard and staying focused we can do great things. There’s a lot work to be done. I hope you will recommit, as I have, to working hard and continuing the push to help make North Carolina the progressive beacon we know her to be.
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