A couple of days ago I wrote a DIARY spotlighting a special chance to get an early start on turning Virginia blue in the off year state House elections in November. All House 100 seats are up for grabs. Right now the GOP is only 1 seat away from a super majority. But there are a couple of reasons to be hopeful.

First, there are already multiple Democrats who have filed to run against GOP incumbents this year. One of the problems Virginia occasionally faces is a lack of candidates, but following the success of the 90 for 90 vote registration push and activism, and following the impact that our own candidate diaries had on fundraising for Democratic candidates, it appears that more candidates are taking the plunge. This is good, you can’t win if you don’t run.

But there was another more pressing reason for us getting this early of a start on getting these candidates some love. Right now the Virginia House is in session. There is a hinky little law in Virginia that prohibits incumbents from fundraising or even accepting donations while the House is in session. This gives both us and our Democratic candidates a golden opportunity to pile it on early. We have just opened about a 45 day window where all of those candidates can accept contributions, start putting a war chest together, while their opponents have to sit on their hands looking at empty coffers! Getting a start this early means we can put those opponents behind a cash 8 ball right off of the bat, as well as getting our candidates some name recognition and helping them frame the case before the GOP can open its mouth. Several candidates are already signed up with 90 for 90, and I promised to start highlighting them this week. I keep my promises.

With that in mind, I’m pleased to introduce our very own Ken Boddye, running in VA-51. He is an active member of Virginia Kos, and writes about activism and local issues. He is a poli-sci graduate of Georgetown, which don’t come easy, and worked in New Mexico as a community organizer (shades of Obama) in fighting for health care reform. Not a bad resume for a guy who ain’t even 30 yet!

I was impressed right off of the bat by Ken’s opening statement on his campaign website homepage, which reads in part;

Although the 2016 Presidential Election has come and gone, life still goes on in the commonwealth and there is still a lot of work to be done. Our General Assembly has a serious case of misplaced priorities - much of our current leadership in Richmond would rather legislate to score points with an ideological base than actually improve the lives of working Virginians.

Bang! That’s shining a spotlight where it needs to be focused. First highlight what’s wrong, then tell how to fix it. And Ken has issues thoughts on that too. Ken also wants to shine a spotlight somewhere the GOP won’t want it. Virginia allows unlimited campaign contributions, but requires that candidates disclose sources. However, an average citizen getting the information on donor identities and amounts can be very difficult. Ken wants to streamline the process to make it easier for citizens to find out who’s whispering into a local politicians ear, and how much they’re ponying up to get their attention. I always love it when I see a candidate at least trying to make the whole damn thing more transparent.

There are plenty more issues statements on Ken’s website, which is HERE. You can also donate by clicking HERE. And if you feel motivated by one of our own running, and want to get in on the ground floor by volunteering so you can get a share of the warm and fuzzies when he gets elected, you can pootle on over HERE. Enough licking our wounds, let’s start causing some wounds of our own, I guarantee you’ll feel better.

One more thing. Ken is already listed on the mighty 90for90.org, but he’s only one of 10 Democratic challengers already listed for the House of Delegates! If you can type, and if you have some time on your hands and nowhere to go while you pay off the Christmas CC bills, pootle on over the the VA election page of 90 for 90, which is HERE, pick a candidate, and give me a hand, as the Chinese say, “Many hands make light work”. Also, for Virginians, keep your eyes and ears open for Democratic candidates who might be running that are not on 90 for 90, find their website, write them up, and get their info out on social media. Come on people, let’s not let this six week goldmine go untapped, it most likely won’t come around this cycle again. Over and out.