Newsletter Volume 3 • Number 6
“We just gotta get Blue in the White House”
At age 20, college student Austin Janssen, who grew up in Old Greenwich, is already a veteran canvasser. He’s door-knocked for 2021 first selectman candidate Bill Kelly, Rep. Steve Meskers, pro-schools local candidates, and now state Senate candidate Nick Simmons. “It was such a shock when Trump got elected,” Janssen says. (He was 12 at the time.) “So I’ve really put my heart and soul into helping elect Dems in Greenwich.”
The data shows that under-30s are more left-leaning, and have swayed recent elections, but consistently turn out in lower numbers than older generations by about 15%. Glenville resident Amelia Szabo, below, is making up for that. Just 21 and a UConn poli-sci grad, she won a seat on the town legislature (RTM), and on the Democratic Town Committee (DTC). “I learned a lot from people in my community about the issues they care about, like flooding and traffic,” she said, “and I wanted to amplify their voices.”
This is also what animates Laith El-Tayyeb, 25, the new Democratic district leader in Chickahominy. “I come from a generation of school shooting survivors. ‘Thoughts and prayers’ was all Republicans would give us. They blocked student debt relief. They’re kicking society’s most vulnerable while they’re down, while making the one-percent richer. To be blunt, it’s evil.”
New DTC member Meghan McCreary, 29, has been interested in the mechanics of presidential politics since candidates started calling everything “rigged.” “Figuring out how this all works gives me a little power,” she explains, such as at a caucus to elect our district’s delegates to the national convention. “I’m feeling confident that we voted for eight sane and competent people.”
24-year old Selin Bayram, an RTM and DTC member, has an MS in Psychology, and aspires to be an OB-GYN. Her politics center on health issues, from a woman’s right to reproductive freedom, to quiet leaf blowers, and clean energy at Hamilton Avenue School. “I’m telling my friends and neighbors what’s going on,” she says. “You deserve to have a say in what happens, even if you think you don’t.”
“People my age, they’re issue-based,” Janssen observes. “They haven’t figured out that you need to back a party, and though you may not agree with every issue that Democrats stand for, the alternative is so much worse.” El-Tayyeb agrees. “We just gotta get Blue in the White House.”
These young advocates make it clear Democratic politics is alive and well in our town, so please join them in supporting the DTC however you can. Together we can turn the tide Blue.
Thanks again to Democrats
Coming soon – no more lurching or entrapments in Greenwich Library elevators!
Democratic State Reps. Rachel Khanna, Steve Meskers and Hector Arzeno recently announced they secured $400,000 to help fund elevator modernization at the Greenwich Library. The elevators, with 80-year-old motors, will be upgraded for safety and disability requirements.
Republicans on the town finance board, the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET), had voted down money for the elevator upgrades in 2022 and 2023, despite reports of frequent service calls, slamming doors, and inadequate accessibility. Republican BET Budget Committee chair, Leslie Tarkington, opined “maybe we can defer these elevators for one year…if it’s been waiting since the 1940s.”
This state funding is another example of what a unified Democratic delegation can bring home. Rep. Arzeno noted, “The Greenwich Library elevator was one of the projects high on the list, and we delivered.”
We now have a state delegation that can put a bandaid on what town leaders have failed to address, but we can do better. Help us flip our state Senate seat this November too, so we can send an entirely Blue delegation to Hartford. Imagine that!
Democratic Action Calendar
July 12. Call.
Nick Simmons virtual phone bank: Friday, July 12: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Join Zoom here.
July 13 & 14. Canvass.
Join the Nick Simmons campaign canvass this Saturday or Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or 2:00 p.m. RSVP here for details.
July 16 & 18. Call.
Rachel Khanna virtual phone banks: Tuesday, July 16 and Thursday, July 18: 4-6 p.m. Signup here.
| Volume 3, Number 6 • July 11, 2024 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |