Tag: Eugene Young
234
That was the number of votes that separated Mike Purzycki and Eugene Young for Wilmington Mayor by the end of the night on Tuesday. The difference between Purzycki and Kevin Kelley was 415 votes. 12,578 votes for Mayor were cast. But at the end of the day, there were 2,734 votes cast for Eugene Young who made me proud to be a small part of his campaign everyday. Everyday. A quick reminder of where we started — a year or so back, as Eugene started talking with people to gather up support, the leadership of this city (and its pundits) told him that no one knew him, then that he needed to wait his turn for Mayor, then that he couldn’t raise any money. Eugene did, of course, overcome every bit of that and ignored the wait your turn crowd. With is smart and fiercely competitive management team, he ran a citywide campaign with more than 200 volunteers (91 volunteers showed up and volunteered on Tuesday. 91!) and ended up knocking on more than 50,000 Wilmington doors. He ran an honorable and progressive campaign and completely avoided the sideshows that were being run by the more establishment candidates. Eugene Young, his vision for the city and his crackerjack campaign team caught the attention of the News Journal who endorsed a genuine progressive for Mayor. It was a real heartbreaker to come up short by 234 votes.
The News Journal Endorses Eugene Young for Mayor!
I wasn’t sure if the NJ would even endorse this year given that the field never winnowed. But between the debates they sponsored and the poll they did on this race, the NJ did a good job n trying to engage the community outside of their pages. But the News Journal officially endorsed Eugene Young for Mayor of Wilmington. Go read their entire endorsement.
DL’s Endorsement for Wilmington Mayor
In most Blue States, the usual source of Democratic progressive governing is from its major cities. The Editors of Delaware Liberal have often lamented the fact that Delaware’s biggest city has been lacking in a more progressive political vision at pretty much every level. There’s one candidate in Wilmington’s Mayoral race who is finally advocating a comprehensive progressive vision for governing Wilmington — a vision that is inclusive of the entire city, that is committed to bringing city government practices into the 21st century and will start the work to tackle some of the social justice issues that damage and hold back some of our communities. Delaware Liberal is proud to endorse Eugene Young for Mayor of Wilmington.
Senator Cory Booker Endorses Eugene Young for Wilmington Mayor
This happened on Friday and is certainly impressive. Senator Booker has been on some lists as a potential VP candidate for Hillary Clinton, and there’s been plenty of cheerleading for him. He’s a solid progressive and defeated a fair bit of Newark public sector corruption and cronyism to win the Mayor’s seat. Here’s his pitch for Eugene Young, candidate for Mayor of Wilmington:
Wilmington Mayor’s Race — Undecided Leads the Pack
The News Journal released the results of their poll last night, which shows the race being much closer than the common wisdom (including mine) would have suggested. Here’s the numbers:
Kevin Kelly 18%
Mike Purzycki 14%
Dennis Williams 13%
Theo Gregory 11%
Eugene Young 9%
Norm Griffiths 8%
Robert Marshall 2%
Maria Cabrera 2%
Undecided 21%
The margin of error on this poll is 5.8 and reached landlines only. This surveyed likely Democratic voters. This polly also asked about registration and primary practices — where we find that this group of likely Democratic voters think that it should be easier to switch parties to vote and that primaries should be open.
Wilmington Mayoral Debate on Public Safety
Last Thursday evening, there was another debate among the Mayoral candidates for Wilmington (except the current Mayor — who apparently does not think he needs to explain or be accountable for his dismal record in this area). This one was focused on public safety and was sponsored by the News Journal and WHYY and held at the Grand. There have been quite a few debates/ public forums for Mayoral candidates in the last month or so, reflecting the very high interest in this race around town. It is a perfect situation for the kind of retail politics that Delaware is famous for and is a perfect setup for all of the organisations around town who feel that they need to work at supporting the public conversation. What you know from talking to people at these events is that there is a great deal of sensitivity about the crossroads Wilmington seems to be on and a great deal of motivation to try choose someone who will move the City in a much better direction. Public safety is a very large issue — but it is almost always entwined with discussions on education, re-entry, jobs. This is important, I think, because it indicates that many of the most interested voters in Wilmington understand that public safety is a complex issue and that city government has not been a good leader in addressing these issues. While reducing shootings and other criminal behavior is a priority, Wilmingtonians seem ready to hear about long-term prevention strategies as well.
Results of the Complexities of Color Wilmington Mayoral Debate Focus Group
You’ll remember that the CoC in conjunction with the Metropolitan Urban League Young Professionals, Delaware Young Democrats Minority Caucus and IMAC hosted a Mayoral Debate at Ezion Fair on April 18. One of the potentially interesting things that could come from that debate was some polling data — in the form of a focus group — that might start shedding some light on the state of this race. I’ve permission to share this results memo on Delaware Liberal (I will post the actual memo later today — I can’t do that from here right now):
Wilmington Mayoral Debates at Ezion Fair
Last night was another big Mayoral debate, this one including the newly announced (but not filed) Maria Cabrera and finally showing up Dennis Williams. This debate was sponsored by the Complexities of Color Coalition, the Metropolitan Urban League Young Professionals, Interdenominational Ministers Action Council, Delaware Young Democrats Minority Caucus and Delaware Black and held at Ezion Fair church in Southbridge. This was really well attended and the audience was definitely there to be engaged. The NJ provides a bunch of the highlights of the evening, but I want to focus on some campaign themes emerging and a different cattle call at the end.
If I Could Have A Moment Of Your Time…
I canvassed with Eugene this past fall and was impressed with his grasp of the issues and his solutions. I’m impressed by the broad coalition of volunteers and staff he has been surrounded himself with — people who are energizing their networks and creating one of the most professionally run campaigns I’ve ever seen in the city. It is gratifying to see (and work with!) younger people energized by stepping up to do the work of making sure that Wilmington is a great place for them to live in and work in.
The diversity and outreach in this campaign is awe-inspiring. Eugene is campaigning across the entire city, in every community. That’s refreshing and smart. Far too often candidates for mayor focus solely on certain communities. Even worse, a few pit communities against each other by employing fear and the familiar “tough on crime” stance, dividing the city into “us and them”.
It’s also no secret that campaigns need contributions. It’s also also no secret that our city needs a new direction and vision. I believe the person capable of setting us on a new path is Eugene Young. So I’m calling on (really, asking) the DL statewide community (because you guys are awesome!) to contribute to Eugene’s campaign. In order to keep track of our awesomeness please add .16 to your contribution. (You know… 25.16)
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