News from the Coconino Democratic Party: Primary election July 30

NEWS FROM THE COCONINO COUNTY DEMOCRATS

July 29, 2024

Project 2025

Darrell Boomgaarden from our Strategic Research and Messaging Committee presented a summary of some of the plan’s recommendations at our recent Monthly Action Meeting. That document is inserted here (it’s long, but we think it is important). Below, we’ve added links to some additional sources – in case you want more information, or information on a specific element of the plan, or a different format.

PROJECT 2025: A BLUEPRINT TO FASCISM

Led by the Heritage Foundation that started drafting it in 2022, this plan was written mostly by Trump administration officials. Its overall purpose is to turn America into a Christian nationalist state with an autocratic leader. Project 2025 has four parts (public):

-Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise – 1,000 page blueprint– refers to Trump 312 times
-A 180-Day Transition Plan
-Conservative resources (people) pre-qualified to fill federal jobs
-A Presidential Administration Academy to train new conservative leaders Project 2025 purportedly has a fifth section (not public): a series of executive order drafts for a new president based on use of the 1871 Insurrection Act – allowing the president to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement.

Key elements of Project 2025:

Have the FBI Director report directly to the President and direct the Department of Justice to investigate political “enemies.”
Eliminate the Department of Education.
Privatize Medicare, eliminate Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices, and raise the Social Security retirement age.
Reverse current student debt relief efforts.
Ban Critical Race Theory and “Gender Ideology” in public schools – any educators who share such information must register as sex offenders and be imprisoned.
Reverse Biden-era policies attempting to reduce climate change – e.g., increase dependence on fossil fuels, withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Halt all cyber-security efforts to combat mis- and disinformation.
Require the federal government to deprioritize DACA, phase out temporary work-visa programs, impose punishments on so-called “sanctuary cities.”
Potentially remove more than 11 million undocumented people from the country.
Permit red states with restrictive abortion laws to monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate bans.
Call on the president to withhold funds appropriated by Congress as a political tactic, effectively blackmailing our allies and punishing blue states who oppose Trump policies.
Severely restrict access to abortion – CDC to stop promoting abortion as health care, FDA to stop approving abortion pills.
Remove LGBTQ+ protections – abolish the Gender Policy Council of the President, remove all reference to “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” from government records and policies.
Rescind policies that prohibit discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status and sex characteristics.”
Reverse protections against racial discrimination in housing – further make it easier to sell off homes used for public housing – a boon to developers.
Transition 50,000 current merit-based career federal employee positions to political appointees – current political appointees number only 4,000.
Impose a “loyalty test” on all applicants for federal jobs based on questionnaires – asking positions on guns, abortion, 2020 election validity, etc.
AND MORE!!!

According to Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation: “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

More references on Project 2025:

The fact-checking site Snopes.com served as a resource for Darrell’s summary, and also for this post on MSN.

Joyce Vance shared a brief description of a couple of thoughtful discussions of Project 2025 she had held with acquaintances: a good model of how to focus on an issue that your contact might specifically care about.

Jay Kuo and The Big Picture newsletter sorts out Project 2025 policies by particular topic (If You Care About Democracy, If You Care About Women’s Rights and Bodily Autonomy, etc.).

If you prefer to listen to podcasts, you might cue up the recent “Sisters in Law” podcast (three lawyers discussing legal perspectives on today’s issues). Project 2025 – specifically, provisions to exert strict federal control over state and local law enforcement – is dissected in the third part of this episode.

If you have time for a long read, and the curiosity to understand both conservative and liberal perspectives on some of the specific policy recommendations, you might peruse this deep assessment by Isaac Saul in his newsletter, Tangle.

Analyses of the climate and environmental components of Project 2025 include this piece from the Yale Climate Connections site and another from The Nation.

Project 2025 is already underway, given the shocking legal rulings we have seen recently, the unconstitutional behavior by some Republican state governments, and the increasing number of fronts on which we are losing our civil rights. Please talk about this with your friends and neighbors – most of the public is NOT supportive of this platform!

THANK YOU TO OUR MONTHLY DONORS

The Coconino County Democratic Party relies on volunteers and contributions to accomplish the amazing work we do to elect Democrats. We sincerely thank every one of you for your support. This month we want to highlight our Monthly Donors. Currently we have about 90 donors who on average donate a total of about $3500 per month towards our operation. We have monthly donations between $5 and $500. This steady source of income allows us to effectively plan and achieve our goals.

So you ask. . . HOW DO I BECOME A MONTHLY DONOR?

Click this link which will take you to the Donate Now section of our website. There you will be able to create a monthly donation and indicate how many months you want to donate. (Most of our donors indicate “unlimited” as you can always cancel your donation). For those of you already donating you can easily go into your account with your email and password and manage/increase your donation. If you ever have any questions, do not hesitate to call our Office Manager, Sally, and she can help you!!

We also have about a dozen or so donors who give monthly or quarterly with a generous check and we sincerely thank those folks as well. You are more than welcome to stop in the Ice House office with a check or mail a check to Coconino County Democrats P. O. Box 701 Flagstaff, AZ 86002.

We are sincerely grateful for the support of all of our volunteers and donors.

Where and How to Vote in the Primary

Arizona’s Primary Election is coming up on July 30. In addition to finalizing the candidates who will appear on our ballot in November, of course, the Primary is an excellent opportunity to test our voting and election systems. And for individual voters, this is your chance to ensure you know how and where to vote.

Are you on the early voter list? You should have received your ballot by now – call the Recorder’s Office (928 679-7860) if you haven’t. You can vote at your convenience, then return the ballot either through the Postal Service, at a drop box, or at a polling place.

Not on the early voter list, but want to vote early? You can request an early ballot from the Recorder’s Office before July 19. Or you can go to one of the County’s early voting locations – in operation now – to vote in person.

Planning to vote in person on Election Day? Coconino County will have 15 Vote Centers open on July 30; these are locations where any County resident registered to vote may receive and vote the ballot of their home precinct. There will also be 23 Precinct Polling Places, where only the residents of the specific precinct(s) served may vote. (Although actually, County residents from elsewhere can use one of the ExpressVote machines to vote their home ballot from outside that precinct.) ExpressVote machines at each site allow people to vote in Spanish, Navajo, or Hopi, or to use Braille to access the ballot, or to use other accessibility technology. Look at this list of in-person voting options, and make your plan now to visit your chosen polling place between 6 am and 7 pm on July 30. Remember that if you are waiting in line at 7 pm, you must be allowed to remain to vote that evening!

After you vote (or really, at any other point in the process), you may track the status of your ballot using BallotTrax, a new service offered by the Arizona Secretary of State and supported by Coconino County. Go to this website to see the status of your ballot or to sign up to have updates sent to you: https://trackmyballot.azsos.gov/voter/

Please share this information with everyone you know!

Observing at the Polls and in the Elections Center:

Helping and Representing Voters

Help keep our elections safe, secure, legal, and transparent! You’ve seen our earlier calls for poll watchers or observers before. Poll observers are the eyes and ears ensuring that any difficulties at a polling place are detected and corrected quickly. Meanwhile we are also able to appoint observers who watch the receiving of early ballots and the verification of signatures at the Recorder’s Office, and the tabulation of ballots at the central Elections Center. All of these observers are our best defense against distrust in our elections. Early ballots are coming in NOW and will continue to arrive through Election Day; and tabulation is starting this week! If you are willing to take a shift or two during July to observe these processes, please contact Laura Huenneke (laura.huenneke@gmail.com) as soon as possible.

Coconino Democrats Events in the Coming Months

We have some big events coming up on the calendar! We’ll be sending more information about these and more plans for supporting our candidates in the General Election following the Primary. Note the DATE CHANGE for the Monsoon Picnic, now on August 24.

Action Meeting: Second Saturday each month, 10 am to 12 pm

Primary Election Date: July 30, 6 am – 7 pm. Mail in your early ballot now, or make your plan to vote in person!

Monsoon Picnic: August 24, 11 am – 3 pm, Bushmaster Park

Coconino County Fair: August 30 – September 2, Fort Tuthill

Democracy Fair: October 5, 11 am – 3 pm, NAU Campus

Oktoberfest: October 5, 9 am – 7 pm, Wheeler Park

Western Region Navajo Parade and Fair: (date tbd) October

(we need a float building team, can you help?)

Dia de Los Muertos: tbd

Election Night Watch Party: November 5, 7 pm, Orpheum Theater

Roosevelt-Kennedy Gala: April 5, 2025, High Country Conference Center at NAU

Interested in helping with any of these events? Look below for the link to our volunteer sign-up sheet, find the month of the event, and sign up!

Get to Know Our Regional Coordinated Campaign Team

Hi everyone! My name is Curtis Kinnaman, and I am the Regional Organizing Director for northern Arizona for the Arizona Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign. The coordinated campaign is part of the Arizona Democratic Party, and Flagstaff is home base for the northern Arizona region (seven counties: Coconino, Navajo, Apache, Gila, Yavapai, Mohave, and La Paz).

There are several parts of the campaign here in Flagstaff. The Organizing Team includes me and several Field Organizers, who are assigned specific geographic areas. Collin Gunn, who is the Flagstaff Field Organizer, works in the broader Flagstaff area. Field Organizers conduct voter outreach in order to turn out as many Democratic voters as possible on November 5th. And this is where the community comes in. Collin is just one person; part of his job is to build community participation in these efforts, as he cannot personally reach everyone. The more volunteers we bring in, the more people we are able to reach, and hopefully, the more votes Democrats get in November. We use a variety of methods to bring people together. Our most traditional methods are door to door canvassing and phone banking, as this allows us to have direct conversations with voters. However, we also host events at our field office to engage voters and volunteers in multiple ways. These range from events designed to have fun and talk with other Democrats, like the game night we hosted last week or a sports event watch party, to training on messaging or reacting to political events. We want our field office to be a space where people can come to get their questions answered, find ways to get involved, or to simply have a good time with like-minded people. We coordinate extensively with the Coconino County Dems to ensure that we are working together on events and to make sure that all of us are able to reach voters to ensure that Joe Biden gets elected in November.

Also present in Flagstaff is a member of the coordinated campaign’s political team, Dylan Baca. Dylan is the Regional Political Director for northern Arizona. Dylan’s role differs from organizing in several ways. He works to bring candidates or elected officials to the Flagstaff area or other northern Arizona locales. He also works closely with local as well as county party leadership to ensure that we share information and resources.

Below are details about the office as well as upcoming events we are planning:

Field Office Location: 121 E Birch Ave Suite 207 Flagstaff AZ, 86001

Office Hours: Tuesday-Friday: 10:30am – 7pm; Saturday-Sunday: 9am-5pm

Contact Information:

Curtis Kinnaman (Regional Organizing Director)

Phone: 602-339-4178

Email: ckinnaman@2024victory.com

Collin Gunn (Field Organizer)

Phone: 480-528-7463

Email: cgunn@2024victory.com

Dylan Baca (Regional Political Director)

Email: dbaca@2024victory.com

Upcoming Events

Here is a link where you can find all the events that are scheduled across Arizona. You can also use this link to sign up for events. We try to schedule events at least 7-10 days in advance.

https://www.mobilize.us/jumpstartaz

Feel free to reach out to myself or Collin with any questions or concerns that you may have. We are here to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot and believe in a blue Arizona moving forward. We welcome help from all who are willing in order to achieve our goals.

Join Us in Our Key Outreach and Voter Education Work This Summer

Flagstaff’s community calendar of fantastic festivals and celebrations is in full swing, and the Coconino County Democrats are fully engaged. We have something for everyone – from the most outgoing festival fan to the more introverted writer or strategist. This month we are particularly eager to have volunteers for our monthly shift at the Flagstaff Family Food Center (coming up on August 1) and for the great conversations we are having at each Sunday’s Flagstaff Community/Farmers’ Market. Please use our “one-stop-shop” way of signing up for any of these opportunities with the link below.

New Volunteer Signup Sheet!

As our outreach and community activities heat up with the summer and the campaign season, we are introducing a new and convenient tool for signing up. This link below will take you to a spreadsheet where you can learn about all of our events and sign up for those you’d like to help with. The tabs at the bottom are by month; click on JULY if you’d like to see what we have going that month, for example. Each sheet then presents all of the events for that month, from serving dinner at the Flagstaff Family Food Center, to tabling at one of our summer festivals, to talking to voters at the Sunday markets. Put your name and contact information into the sheet where you’d like to help; no need to email or call or click Submit, because the sheet will be updated and your information will be visible to the organizer as soon as you sign up. Thanks for being part of the fun and the great work we are doing this election year!

Volunteer Events and Signup

Calendar of Events