Let's get to work!

Hello Riley County Democrats,

We are just 43 days away from the beginning of advance voting and 63 days away from Election Day. The clock is ticking, and now is the time for all of us to get involved.

The Riley County Democratic Party GOTV campaign is officially underway, and we need your help. There are several ways to get involved, whether you want to knock doors, make phone calls, or help distribute literature.

Every Saturday, we're making it easy to get started. Join us at 10 a.m. at the headquarters for canvassing training, where we’ll walk you through the technology and resources you’ll need before sending you out. Then, from 12–2 p.m., we’ll have a phone-banking session. We provide the phones, laptops, scripts, and training materials, so you don’t need to bring anything except yourself. 

Once you’ve completed training, you can canvass or drop literature whenever it works for your schedule, and you can stop by the office during our regular hours to make calls. And bring a friend! It’s more fun together, and having someone alongside you makes it easier to stay motivated. 

If you can't make it to the HQ or don't have time to canvass, you can make calls from home. Just email me at chair@rileycountydemocrats.org, and I'll send you the instructions.

And don't underestimate the power of your own contacts. I challenge each of you to text or call 15 friends: five Democrats, five independents or third-party voters, and five Republicans. Help them make a plan to vote, and explain why it’s important to support Democrats this year.

Here's a draft message to initiate the conversation:

“Hey! Just a reminder that advance voting in Riley County begins October 14, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Make sure you have a plan to vote! There are a lot of important races on the ballot this year, so take a look at the candidates and issues and vote all the way down your ballot. I’m supporting the Democratic candidates, and I hope you’ll consider doing the same!”

Every one of these efforts matters, because elections aren't won by one person or one organization—they're won when ordinary people decide to do their part. 

At our fundraiser on August 29, Mayor Quinton Lucas shared a story from his 2019 campaign. A woman asked him what he was going to do about gun violence in Kansas City. He gave her a long, technical answer about the respective roles of the state and federal governments before she stopped him and said, “I asked what you’re going to do. You’re the mayor.”

I've been thinking about that story ever since. It's easy to look around and ask what someone else is going to do. But we can't wait for someone else to do their job before we do ours. If we want to see Democrats win in November, each of us has to do what we can, when we can.

Maybe that's knocking doors every Saturday. Maybe it's making ten phone calls from home. Maybe it's sending 15 texts.

Whatever you can do, do it.

We cannot brave another two years of incompetent, destructive governance in Topeka or Washington. When November 3 arrives, I don't want any of us to wonder whether we could have done more.

Let's get to work.

Kelm Lear

Chair