WDC held its Nov 8th "Happy Hour To Honor Our Volunteers and Voters" at Denizens in Silver Spring.   We were excited to be joined by Marc Elrich, our newly elected Montgomery County Executive, and Debbie Spielberg, his current senior legislative aide and campaign chairwoman. Will Jawando and Gabe Albornoz, both newly elected county council at large members, attended as did Jennifer Hosey (D-17), who was recently re-elected to MCDCC. Susie Turnbull, candidate for lieutenant governor and long-time WDC member, showed up as well.

Happy, exhilarated and tired was how most attendees described how they felt. Those who had canvassed, phone banked, written postcards, run fundraisers, designed campaign literature, and worked at the polls filled the room, and shared stories about participating in these activities.  The mood was mellow and full of well-deserved reward and promise for future things to come as everyone took time to relax and chat with old and new friends. Members enjoyed celebrating the hard work that led to Montgomery County's Blue Wave success and committing to future activism. WDC will have many opportunities to actively engage in promoting the Democratic agenda.

Fran Rothstein, president of WDC, opened with a few remarks that included the importance of putting gun control on the national agenda in the wake of yet another mass shooting that left 12 dead at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Ca. After thanking all who volunteered in this year’s races for their hard work, she introduced our new officials.  

Marc Elrich thanked everybody and emphasized that he would remain accessible in his new role.  As told to this reporter, a top priority will be restructuring the government of Montgomery County when he takes office on December 3rd.  Susie Turnbull congratulated all of the elected officials in the room, as well as Debbie Spielberg, for their well-deserved success, noting that Montgomery County is truly remarkable in its Democratic activism.  She commented on how well Democrats performed statewide, winning county executive and legislative seats. She ended with: “Who knows what’s next”?   

Will Jawando thanked WDC members for their support and encouraged WDC to continue to build its base of young and diverse members. He acknowledged Susie Turnbull’s contribution and remarked on the particular challenges of this year’s gubernatorial race.  He noted that nine Democratic members of the County Council would be coming back and that he was looking forward to starting work this December.  Gabe Albornoz spoke to the momentum gained by volunteers knocking on doors and described WDC member Karen Murphy, the face of the Coordinated Campaign, as one of the hardest working people he had ever known.

The evening’s festivities also included pop-up signs of support for the Mueller investigation (following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ forced resignation on November 7).

And finally there was cake.   Well done, volunteers, and congratulations to all our elected officials!

Join us for the December 13th Happy Hour at Trapezaria in Rockville

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