This was an informal, agendaless meeting for members to come together to reflect on the recent election and discuss our thoughts and ideas on how we should move forward in 2025.
Members had some initial discussion about the election results, the emotions we are all experiencing and concerns for what lies ahead but quickly moved on to what do we do going forward.
There was discussion of the Danvers election results and what I’ll generously call, the “inappropriate” behavior of the Trump supporters outside the polls on election day. Kamala Harris won in Danvers with 55% (4.4% less than Biden in 2020), Elizabeth Warren narrowly carried the town with 50.4% winning by only 137 votes, Joan Lovely was the highest vote getter with 9,009 (58.3%) votes and Eunice Zeigler lost in Danvers (with 46.3%). Liz Brennan observed that the local GOP are emboldened by these results and that we must focus our efforts on the upcoming town election of Select Board and School Committee. The consensus was agreement.
The balance of the meeting was an exchange of thoughts and ideas for action. Actions discussed were to work for candidates for Select Board that align with our values, to encourage more people to run for Town Meeting member, to increase engagement in the Human Rights and Inclusion Committee and other town committee meetings. We must also increase our numbers and discussed ways to reach out to town Democrats and left leaning Independents via media, canvassing, etc.. We will continue to sponsor charitable events, as we have in the past, but will look for ways to raise our profile by these events.
Phil Bolduc and Ellen Graham provided incites on how people could become more engaged with the town governance and current issues. Chair Lou asked them to speak at future meeting(s) to continue to provide these incites.
The direction from this meeting is as follows: We recognize that there will be madness occurring at the national level, which we will have little impact on. We agree that, in 2025, we must focus our efforts on our local elections where we can have a direct impact on our town.
A separate but related issue is the difficulty in scheduling meetings at the library on a consistent date which negatively impacts attendance. Alternate venues suggested are Tapley Hall, Senior Center, Fire Department and M&T Bank.
This discussion will continue at our next formal meeting on January 8, 2025.
