I am shocked, sad and disappointed.. For anyone who was near me on Tuesday at the polls, I was very confident that we had this and I was very wrong. I am not going to begin to analyze how this happened as we all can hear the various reasons on cable news. However, we lost all the swing states and blue states New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Virginia were very much closer than we would ever think.
Need some time to go through the seven stages of grief and then regroup and go forward.
In Danvers, Harris 8,588 (53.8%) – Trump 7,063 (44.3%)
Our first FreedomFest was very successful. The room was full, the speakers were great, the enthusiasm was high, the food was great and the rookie host was OK.
Who knew that just about every speaker we invited wanted to attend FreedomFest. With 12 scheduled speakers, I was concerned that the event could drag on but each speaker was crisp, inspiring and informative and the agenda just moved right along. We even added 2 speakers (Marsha Finkelstein and Beth Kontos) to the program. We appreciated all the speakers who gave up their Saturday evening to join us. We were sorry that Senator Lovely was unable to join us as she came down with COVID and we wish her to feel better soon.
In the spirit of the Harris/Walz campaign – We Chose Freedom and We are NOT Going Back!. The guests wore their favorite patriotic or political shirt or, in some cases, tie. They all looked Maaahvelous! DanversDems were well represented with many members attending plus some new Danvers faces and many folks from neighboring towns. I was especially pleased to see the support from many of the Democrat City/Town Committee chairs that attended.
I want to thank Marilyn and the DanversDems LeadershipTeam (Julie, Tom, Kacey and Liz) for pulling this all together. Thank you to everyone who donated food. There was a wide variety and plenty for everyone. Special thanks to Lou and Ellen George and Dave Rodriquez for manning the kitchen, to Marco for helping me with the microphone, to everyone who passed me notes helping me with people I needed to acknowledge or stuff I forgot, to Tom and Carla Meagher for taking the leftover food to the Beverly Shelter, to Joe Durand for taking pictures and Tom Meagher for general guidance to me on the order of the proceedings and speakers. I also want to give a special thanks to everyone for their embrace and kind words for Maria, who was determined to attend FreedomFest after her operation.
We also raised money for the DDTC Scholarship Fund.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing everyone. Next meeting is Tuesday, October 15.
DanversDems congratulate Eileen Duff and Tom Driscoll for their recent primary victories and we proudly add endorsements for the campaigns of Eileen Duff for Southern Essex Register of Deeds and Tom Driscoll for Essex County Clerk of Courts.
Lexington Select Board members voted unanimously Wednesday to offer Danvers Town Manager Steve Bartha a position as its town manager, marking the likely conclusion of his 10 years as a Danvers public official.
Bartha was one of 24 applicants who sought to fill the Lexington position vacated Tuesday by Town Manager James Malloy who retired after six years in the role.
Bartha has served as Danvers town manager for a decade, taking over the position after former Town Manager Wayne Marquis’ retired in 2014.
Before Lexington’s official decision, Danvers Select Board Chair (and DanversDEms) David A.Mills told the Salem News, “This is my 12th year on the Select Board, and in that time, the most important vote I ever made was for Steve Bartha to be the town manager. He has been a superb manager, and I would love to have him stay on.”
I do not know Steve Bartha other than to say hello but at the meetings I have attended he was always well prepared, knowledgeable about all topics and on top of everything going on in the town. I think that I would share David’s opinion .
DanversDems held a Toiletries Drive for the Danvers Food Pantry on Saturday and Sunday August 10 & 11 at the CVS downtown at 1 Maple Street.
DanversDems turned out to collect items for the Danvers Food Pantry. First time we held such an event at a business location. We collected many items from DanversDems and from people visiting the CVS.
If anyone wished to donate but was unable to, you can bring items to Thursday meeting or contact Liz at liz.conrad98@gmail.com
Thanks to Liz Brennan for running this successful event.
Everyone has heard by now that President Joe Biden has withdrawn from seeking the nomination and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
There will be and already is lots of discussion concerning whether VP Kamala Harris is the selection or maybe others will seek the nomination. But that is a discussion for tomorrow.
Today we should reflect how lucky we were to have President Biden for the last 3.5 years and be grateful for what he has done for us and the country.
Joe Biden is a good and decent man. He saved us from 4 more years of Donald Trump and the extreme anti everything party.
We all want to forget COVID but Joe Biden took over when thousands were dying daily. He got supplies to hospitals, got shots into arms, provided money to businesses to keep them afloat and the country out of a depression.
He was inaugurated in a heavily guarded ceremony with almost no participants because Donald Trump executed an unsuccessful insurrection on January 6. Joe Biden navigated us through this. Who actually thought that the DOJ would arrest and convict hundreds of insurrectionists.
He passed the biggest bill to allocate money to fight climate change. Maybe the biggest threat to all of us.
He passed the CHIPS act bringing the manufacturing of computer chips used for just about everything electronic back into the United States.
This economy created millions of jobs, raised peoples wages, stock market over 40,000. The economy is so hot that all efforts to slow if down have met with limited success as there’s still demand for jobs.
He almost single handedly resurrected NATO and unified it to fight Russia the second largest threat to democracy (you know who number 1 is) in Ukraine. He has also unified our allies on the Pacific Rim to counteract China in the region.
Insulin capped at $35, out of pocket costs for Medicare at $2,000, working every path to eliminate student debt.
We filled the courts and executive positions with people who looked like America. People from all races and religions. He nominated the Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
How many times have we heard politicians say that you must put the country ahead of oneself for the good of the country. How many politicians have ever done it? Joe Biden just did it. Joe Biden should be honored for the patriot that he is. He likely has saved us again from Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans (which appears to be all of them).
Joe waited until after the MAGA Convention to announce this so we could hear from the very old, mentally unstable, incoherent man ramble on for 90 minutes. Until after the over confident MAGAs picking a horrible VP with no experience who changed all his views. Basically Donald Trump with a beard.
Thank you if you reached this spot. I likely missed many accomplishments but this is what I could recall off the top of my head.
I believe today what I always have: that there is nothng America can’t do when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America.
