Campaigning in Virginia

Five students belonging to Princeton College Democrats campaigned for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam in northern Virginia from October 29-31 (including travel time from and back to Princeton) with financial support from PPro. Those students were: Amanda Eisenhour ’21, Shafaq Khan ’21, Sebastian Quiroz ’20, Sullivan Hughes ’21, and Jeremy Nelson ’20 (left to right in first picture below, with Mac Odell ’62).

Jeremy Nelson ’20 describes the trip as follows:

I wanted to fill you in on how our trip turned out over the last few days. We had a great time knocking doors, speaking to voters, and recruiting GOTV volunteers in Sterling, Virginia, and Arlington, Virginia. We braved the remnants of the nor’easter on Sunday to win Democratic votes! We knocked hundreds of doors and finished each night by making phone calls.

Attached are some pictures of our excursions. In the first one, taken at the Arlington office, Malcolm “Mac” Odell Class of ’62 is centered. He just happened to be volunteering and ran into us! We enjoyed getting to know him and hearing about his career in sustainable international agriculture. Also in that picture is our full team of five Princeton students.

Not only did we push the Northam campaign closer to victory, we also made an impression on the Virginia organizers. They were impressed that we came from New Jersey to help, so we put a bit more shine on Princeton’s name in their eyes. One organizer, Matthew Butler, gave out his contact information and told us to call him when we are looking for work.

We are immensely grateful for your sponsorship of our trip. We learned about Virginia politics and campaigning in general, while being inspired by the virtuous quotes inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial and Mac’s stories of New Hampshire victories. Again, we cannot thank you enough for your assistance and enthusiasm, and we look forward to working together again soon.