ELECTION DATE: MAY 5TH

As many of you know, Lynchburg's city council was one of the few in the state that voted DOWN a 2nd Amendment sanctuary resolution. Just as a reminder, here is one of the MANY shenanigans they pulled during this whole debacle:

Dolan's changed vote

Anyway, I've been helping all of the pro-2A candidates with spreading the word and trying to get funding for them, but otherwise I'm just an activist being active. I'm not tied to any of these people otherwise.

What we need are Facebook likes and shares on social media. Since our election will be through mail only, all the city council campaigns are being fought solely through social media and mailers. That's where you all come in.

Please DO:

1) Like the Facebook pages of our 2A sanctuary friendly candidates. This is the easiest thing you could possibly do, but will be tremendously helpful in conveying popular support for our candidates.

2) Leave positive comments on their pages.

3) Contact me if you'd like to help out in more active and/or direct ways (which would be massively appreciated--the radical change in tactics has put us at a disadvantage as we are going up against a majority of incumbents).

4) Leave negative, but pleasantly worded comments on the Facebook pages of the anti-2A candidates.

Please DON'T:

1) Leave disrespectful comments with expletives and insults on the anti-2A candidates' pages. Remember: we have to appeal to Lynchburg soccer moms here.

2) Not do anything at all. That's how we got into this mess in the first place.

Have fun, and thanks for any help you can offer! Links are below:

Pro 2A candidates (all of these candidates have told me personally that they will pledge to vote for a strong 2A sanctuary resolution):

Ward 2: Larry Taylor <--this is probably the most uphill battle, and we have to win EVERY seat open to flip council, so if you want to focus on any one candidate, make it this guy. Ward 2 is heavily gerrymandered.

Ward 4: Chris Faraldi

Ward 1: Abe Loper

Anti 2A candidates (Wilder and Dolan voted against the 2A sanctuary resolution, and Jones is against it; Faraldi and Jones are competing for a vacated seat)

Ward 2: Sterling Wilder

Ward 4: Larry Jones

Ward 1: MaryJane Dolan

Good luck, but Wilder and Dolan won't be going anywhere. Lburg is turning bluer and bluer. My generation is full of Bernie loving commie assholes.

This isn't helpful and it's not particularly accurate. Sterling will be tough to beat, but our information on Ward 1 suggests Abe may have a roughly equal shot at this.

The virus has changed everything about this election. I'm not taking anything for granted, and will be going full bore until the end. That's how we change this.

Hopefully so, but until about 3 years ago, Ive lived in Lynchburg my whole life. I have not seen the council nor city citizens move right of center but more to the left.
Dolan is a bitch and I hope she is kicked to the curb.

Keep up the good work!

Anyone with a pulse can beat Dolan, incompetent, dishonest, weak, and a drama queen who tried to shutdown even hearing the citizens.

Bro......I appreciate your concern and support on stuff; however, if we ever had to go through tough times, I'm not sure I could restrain myself from not physically muzzling your bad attitude.  Have you ever been on a team, unit....etc?

Update: been making cold calls, and out of the last 10 people to answer the phone every single one of them told me they were voting for Larry. Out of literally every single call I've made, no one has said they were voting for Wilder.

There is a very, very good chance we can flip Ward 2. We have been fighting like hell and have outspent the other guy 4 to 1. We've gotten endorsements from the local firefighters association and the Lynchburg DA. I've yet to get a single mailer from Wilder or see a single Facebook ad.

Please, if you have a moment to spread some love on Facebook--or some donations for Larry--we can still use all the help we can get. This is the final push yall.

A lot of people watched through hours and hours of a 2A public hearing and yet 86% of those who cared enough to show up were not only ignored, but treated like children.  Vote'm out!

This was the seat I was most hopeful for because of his lack of campaigning to win his seat originally. I think he spent like 1600 bucks to win the first time. Not to mention he doesn't resonate with Ward 2 at all, while Larry would be a great representative of the district.

I'm really hopeful for Abe in ward 1 but that bitch is entrenched hard and that is a very liberal part of town, but I'm praying he pulls it off.

I'm in Chris's district and I'm very hopeful that he wins that since it would actually be a lost seat to their side if he loses since hes running for a retiring conservative and great rep. Not to mention I am seriously concerned with Larry Jones mental health considering what he has said and posted. Not to mention hes a "thank me for my service" kind of person.

ANYONE in Lynchburg needs to get your ass to the polls tomorrow, and drag as many as you can with you.

This election will signal to the rest of the state if our 2A anger will resonate into new voters. We have to show people that we will replace them if they vote against our rights.

I believe my mom is in Ward IV. Ill email her.

Awesome! Thanks so much.

https://results.elections.virginia.gov/vaelections/2020%20May%20City%20General/Site/Locality/LYNCHBURG%20CITY/Index.html

Looks like Dolan LOST !

6 of 6 precincts reporting.

Faraldi is IN.

5 of 5 precincts reporting.

Huh?

Number show Dolan.

Others are Faraldi, Wilder, and Helgeson.



ETA: And it looks like for Dolan it was all absentee ballots. Loper won every in-person ward count.

Well dam.

My bad. When I read it he was ahead and all 6 reported.

So it looks like a bunch of mail in ballots won the day for Dolan. Shocking.

Only real good news is Chris got in for the 4th but Larry and Abe apparently both lost. Larry lost by like 13 points, and Abe lost by a very slim margin of 4% or about 150 votes.

Theres some good and some bad. The good being that Chris ran a great campaign and will be a strong conservative voice alongside Perrow. The bad is that we took a shot at the king and missed.

No matter how strong Chris and Turner are, they are still the minority in a conservative/moderate town thats run by entrenched democrats.

What we now will get is higher taxes, worse public schools and officials who don't represent us. And it was decided by 16% of the fucking electorate and that was a god damn increase of 2% from the last city elections.

This is emblematic of why Virginia has fallen to the depths it has. I'm absolutely positive that 150 people in Ward 1 are kicking themselves because they thought their vote didn't matter. I'm sure that they came up with every excuse in the fucking book for why they couldn't request an absentee ballot, go and vote in person absentee and probably told themselves it was fine because they would just go vote in person. But then it was rainy and why get wet when your vote won't really make a difference anyways right.

And when it comes time to vote in the fall they will tell themselves that this time its important, this time they have to show up. Then when sitting in a tree stand, or going out for dinner they will start the metal conversation all over again. "My one vote won't make a..."

Welcome to Virginia

That sucks. Voter apathy is the death of us.

Edit: and a perfect example of why democrats want mail in/absentee ballots through and through.

An interesting take on this:

The race also saw a dramatic spike in absentee voting, which had been encouraged by local and state officials hoping to keep in-person voting to a minimum. Unofficial figures show 3,278 absentee ballots were cast, which amounts to about 37% of all of Tuesday’s votes. Four years earlier, just 120 residents voted absentee.

From what I can tell the in-person vote was overwhelming for the pro 2A candidates, yes?  I have heard no mention of suspected fraud, so it's probably more about getting entire families to mail-in, a black church or two and a whole lotta people that dwell in fear...…..these are the same people that barely represented in the public hearings.  Are we surprised a VERY weak person like Dolan appeals to this base?

Here's my analysis:

1. Yes, absentee voting hurt us. The D party in Lynchburg simply has a better outreach infrastructure. I don't believe there was any fraud outside of hard evidence, but the GOP chairperson here will be scrutinizing the absentee ballots nonetheless. They had more people willing to knock on doors, make phone calls, and stuff envelopes. It's as simple as that.

2. We played to our base instead of trying to expand it. Yes, I realize that, when you've got 3 months to run a campaign, you don't really have the time or resources to win people to your side; you simply try to maximize voter turnout for the people already onboard. This strategy is a losing strategy. To sum up what I'm seeing, the GOP is content to play within the reality of base percentages, whereas the Dems constantly push to alter that reality in their favor. That's why their base is expanding and ours, well, isn't.

3. We absolutely won in terms of sheer numbers across all three wards. Lynchburg is still a red city (for now), but there is nowhere close to an even distribution of those who lead right across the wards. They are highly concentrated in Wards 3 and 4.

And my action items:

1. Now is the time to start laying the groundwork for the at-large elections. We have a year and half to prepare, and we'd better make the most of that time.

2. We all need to step up and be willing to do the dirty work. I have moderate social anxiety and fucking hated doing cold calls, but you know what? I sucked it the fuck up and dialed numbers. It's not enough to just vote. It's not enough to just send money to the VCDL. The left is relentless, and with the growing influence of MDA in Lynchburg we have our work cut out for us.

3. Now is the time to start running radio ads, bill board messages, and hosting pro-2A block parties. It is time to start expanding the base. We have to be friendlier. We have to be more eloquent.

4. Be the change you want to see in your local GOP committee. It take 2 hours out or your entire month to attend a meeting and start gaining influence. Become a delegate. Network. And be willing to work your ass off when called upon.

I'll be taking a break for the next week or so but will be back at this in early June. I'll be working with several local leaders to perhaps put together a local Lynchburg VCDL chapter, or perhaps a PAC so we can start running ad campaigns via various formats. Let me know if you want to help with this. We're all in it together. If Lynchburg falls, it bodes poorly for VA.

Concur with everything.

I missed all the militia formations so don't have the member point of view, but what I see in the L-burg area is disappointing in their projection.  If you think gearing up and marching through the city at this time is going to gain influence, you'rr hurting our cause.  However, that seems to be the focus.  Look to Culpeper, they are doing things with calculated measure.  Right now Culpeper 2A folks are helping the needy with food, picking up roadside trash, hosting marches that don't look like badge collecting wannabees, and they've actually gotten good press for several months now.  Additionally if it ever went to SHTF this humble county could kick everyone's keister......they've done it before.  It's a diverse blend of citizens that is growing it's base and doesn't overplay themselves.   This city election shows that the 2A folks did not expand their sphere of influence.  As a pro 2A OC guy I currently have no desire to join the Lburg local 2A groups when I'm around.....but glad to represent in Culpeper.

Perhaps you know more than I do, but as far as I'm aware the Campbell and Bedford militias (the only ones operating in my AO at the moment) there hasn't been a push to do this. The only activities we've been doing have been some firearms and radio training (both of which were well attended) and some community service where they helped move a food bank.

That said, I've been more in the political arena so might be unaware of some of the other goings-on there. I'm going to reach out to the leaders of the militias to see about forming a "psy-ops" division (cool sounding name that's basically a political activist arm of the militia) that can activate when called upon to distribute and display signs, form an underground texting network, etc. etc.

The Dems have a political machine in Lynchburg that allows them to just push a button and the gears start turning. We need that same kind of apparatus, and it will fall on us to create it. We've been far too complacent with Lynchburg's history as a red city, but the dems WILL pull that rug out from under us in a matter of 1 or 2 election cycles if we don't act NOW.

Moms demanding hot action gaining traction here has been mind boggling.
Although you are correct, the Democrat machine is extremely efficient here, hell the damn Democrat headquarters is in the city hall building.

Yeah, and one positive outcome of this election was that it showed that they're still vulnerable, even in their "safest" wards. No openly conservative candidate has come close to performing as well as Larry did, and Abe only lost by 150 votes (~4%).

So yeah, there are definitely positive indicators. It is far from hopeless, and we will have a huge advantage in the at-large elections in two years.

You guys busted your asses, thank you for fighting and keep it up.

Is it safe to say if it wasn't for the rona we would have won?

You know, I don't think anyone can really answer that. Quite frankly, we had better percentages than we've had in a very long time, so while we lost, it wasn't the blowout we've seen in previous years. I'm really not sure the 'rona hurt or helped us.

Like I said, I'll be working with the GOP to bring some fresh blood/ideas into the mix so we can create an efficient machine next time around. I'll be meeting with alot of the guys that got the sanctuary movement in Lynchburg started within the next week and we'll be discussing the game plan going forward.

Voter apathy and where voters live is more likely the cause.

You've got your hands full with the well established MDA their, but we've seen you single handily stop there fundraiser....so there's no excuse as a team that more can't be done.

There's a March down Blackwater Creek Trail today by the Lynchburg militia.....IMO, being and unknown and coming out tactical today seems very stupid.  Your militias may very well have it together.  I certainly recommend the Culpeper approach, these guys are better armed and trained than most of the nation, but they appeal too.

Yikes! I didn’t even know there was a Lynchburg militia and I’m pretty well entrenched here. That’s odd.

Yeah, we actually agreed as a group (the core of the Lynchburg 2A movement) that we would be sitting on the idea of a Lynchburg militia for now. Whoever’s leading it isn’t connected with us.

Oops, something I said was misunderstood. It was the Lynchburg Battle Buddies going for a ruck on the trail. I invited Panta-Rei to go tonight.

Not militia related.

Lol right, that makes sense now

Yeah @panta-Rei people are just wearing packs and PC's, which actually isn't unusual; a few other (military perhaps?) trail regulars will jog in plate carriers. I bike the trail twice a week.

I was wondering myself lol. I don't think we ever organized anything militia related and from what I understand most are either with Campbell or Bedford.

Virginia Battle Buddies?

Not a militia, just people who hike with heavy packs, PCs and rifles.

I was too broad in my criticism and unfair.  There's a few questionable characters out there that have absolutely been negative to our cause, but I was wrong to apply that to any group.  It's also tough to discuss this kind of stuff in this venue.   There's absolutely a time gear up.....I see community success with our local 2A highly variable and vented in a bad way.  I'm not around enough to organize anything, but if any pro2A events are planned around Lburg I'll support it in some way.