July meeting brings lots of new faces

Our monthly July meeting on the 25th was not only one of the best attended meetings lately, but there were lots of first-timers. Of course the group was energized by KAMALA!! Such energizing news at such a key moment made this past week seem truly historic.

Our guest speaker was RSU Political Science Professor Kenneth Hicks, speaking about his Book-in-progress, American Kulturkampf. It’s a great, in-depth work that analyzes how cultures in the 19th and 20th centuries were created at the intersection of religion and nationalism. He had a well-produced slide show and afterwards, he took questions, which led to some interesting conversations.

Some of the attentive audience on Thursday

Among other topics discussed, we heard more about our Vice-chair Paula Strickland going to Chicago to help nominate our next president. We also heard about a plan in the works from Rae Ann Wilson, Chair of Congressional District 2, in cahoots with our State Party Chair, Alicia Andrews. They are planning a series of events in black townships throughout the state and they hope to attract some national media attention. And they just might! We will post more when we hear anything.

2024 Annual Picnic was a great time!

First of all, the weather was an absolute gift, on a day that was forecast to be hot and sultry, we had intermittent overcast and a breeze off the lake. It did start getting hotter toward the end, but since the picnic was scheduled to end at 2, we were packing up by then.

We had over 30 attendees, speakers CD2 Democratic candidate Brandon Wade and CD1 Democratic candidate Dennis Baker. There was a great vibe of importance and gravity in the air, with the incipient Presidential election, and most important, support for Joe Biden, on everyone’s mind.

We want to thank all the volunteers, folks who brought salads and chips and drinks, for all their hard work and pulling together.

Standing: CD1 Candidate Dennis Baker, CD2 Candidate Brandon Wade; Seated: County Party Secretary Sue Lamb, Communications Director George Schaefer, County Party Vice Chair Paula Strickland, County Chair Gerry Mooney.

Mailing project goes really well!

On Saturday April 27 a bunch of us gathered at our office at 106 S. Cherokee Ave. in Claremore to kick off our main fundraising mailer of the election season.

Small, monthly donations are the backbone of our funding. The office rent, internet services, utilities are all paid for by the generosity of our regular members. Our new effort is designed to bolster our funding, but more than anything to let the Democrats of Rogers County know that we exist!

Headed and run by George Schaefer, it was truly a group effort. Chair Gerry Mooney arranged for the flyers to be printed and folded, dowloaded and printed address labels, Vice-Chair Paula Strickland ordered envelopes and mailing labels, and several of our regular members donated sheets and rolls of first class stamps. About 700 stamps were donated so we have another 300 or so stuffed envelopes that need postage.

In addition, Rogers County has over 11,000 registered Democrats so this will be an ongoing project throughout this election season. You can always get involved in helping the county party expand our message.