By Bridget Manley, publisher
With a big-name national Democrat in town, the theme at the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Democratic Party headquarters on Wednesday was one of enthusiasm and buzz.
“We have the ticket that we have been waiting for,” Mayor Deanna Reed told the crowd that piled into the building. “This is the same energy as 2008!”
The atmosphere at the campaign stop featuring Mitch Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor and one-time Louisiana lieutenant governor, seemed to match that of Democratic rallies around the country since President Joe Biden announced he would end his re-election bid and Kamala Harris emerged as the party’s eventual nominee.
Volunteers taped Harris signs to the windows while others pressed buttons to pin to people’s shirts. Local party leaders, who had two days to organize the event after hearing that Landrieu would be coming to town, welcomed attendees and handed out fans. The air conditioning seemed to struggle to account for the surge of humanity in the room.
The energy was happily chaotic, as though the volunteers were all building the plane together in mid-air, yet still full of hope.
Landrieu, in his remarks, highlighted the records of both Harris and Walz and lambasted Republicans for calling Harris a “DEI candidate.”
“That’s just a dog whistle,” Landrieu said. “We have a sickness in this country that no matter how good you are, no matter how fast you run, no matter how many A’s you get, how hard you work, it’s not good enough…talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not.”
Landrieu, who served as Louisiana’s lieutenant governor until 2010, now works as Biden’s senior advisor for infrastructure coordination.
Area Democratic activists said they hope that the energy surrounding the ticket of Harris and newly named vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, will help propel Democrats in down-ballot races in Virginia and locally in Harrisonburg. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine is seeking re-election and running against Republican Hung Cao.
In the 6th Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Ben Cline is seeking a fourth term and faces a challenge from political newcomer Ken Mitchell, a Democrat. Mitchell, an Air Force veteran and farmer in Rockingham County, also attended Wednesday’s event.
Mitchell said he decided to run after deciding that Virginians in the sixth district were “not being adequately represented” by Cline.
Mitchell’s platform includes passing the Equal Rights Amendment and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and helping to fund healthcare, education and infrastructure in rural areas.
Mitchell, who owns a farm in Rockingham County, said he hopes to sit on the Agriculture Committee, if he’s elected. Rockingham County is Virginia’s top-producing agricultural county, with Augusta, Page, and Shenandoah Counties in the top five in the commonwealth. Mitchell said voters are concerned about the loss of agricultural land to development and hope to protect farms in the district.
Mitchell said that his team is discussing with the Republican congressman’s campaign some potential dates and locations for one or two debates or forums with Cline.
“I’ll debate him anytime, anywhere,” Mitchell said.
A trio of Democrats who won the city primary election will compete with one independent candidate in November for three seats on the city council. Reed, Vice Mayor Laura Dent and political newcomer Nasser Alsaadun, a local business owner, attended Wednesday’s event. Reed fired up the crowd before Landrieu spoke.
“Let’s let them know that we are blue in Harrisonburg,” Reed continued.
The three Democrats will face independent candidate Javier Calleja in November’s election.
Kathy Beery, who ran for city council in the primary this June, has been volunteering to urge people to vote. She said that since Harris’s announcement as the Democratic candidate, the energy has been growing.
“Everyone coming in is excited,” Beery said. “Some of them are saying they have never done this before, asking what they can do, so yeah. There is a lot of energy.”
Harrisonburg Democratic Chair Alleyn Harned told The Citizen that enthusiasm, volunteering and overall engagement are higher than normal for this time of year, and he said he hopes the momentum continues.
“This already is as engaging as the peak of the Biden engagement this year,” Harned said.
Harned said the support for the Harris-Walz ticket is coming from everywhere – particularly from Republican voters locally who want to preserve democracy.
“We have some real weirdos on the Republican ticket,” Harned said, using a term Democrats have embraced since Walz started calling Republican leaders “weird” earlier this summer. “JD Vance, Donald Trump, and even the congressional leadership. Ben Cline signed the insurrectionist letter to throw away the votes in several states. We have this anti-democratic force running against down-ticket veterans. Ken Mitchell cares about American democracy in a way that Ben Cline did not show care for American democracy.”
Harned said Democratic activists hope to support three candidates running for Harrisonburg School Board: Tim Howley, Matt Snyder and Hazzar Pastor Perdomo. Candidates for school board run unaffiliated.
“If you are asking us if we are fired up, obviously, we are very fired up,” Harned said.
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