I was overwhelmed by the support and dedication of my friends and supporters! A week before the election, Kien Lee, a Hillary supporter I met on Facebook (but have not met in person) volunteered to pay out of his own pocket for ads to run all week on Facebook to advertise my election! Wednesday my friend Paula volunteered to make goody bags to pass out. Thursday, another friend called and said, "how many t-shirts do you want? Send me your logo!" and another woke up at the crack of dawn on Friday to make 96 brownies to hand out! The friend who made the t-shirts? When I went to pick them up, she'd also made signs and stickers!
Others took time out from very busy schedules to be there for me and I'm really touched by all of the support! Friday nite I was counting votes and had 24; I made last minute pleas, especially when I found out that folks could vote once the caucus started and leave. My friends helped with visibility - Susan Clifton helped distribute the coffee and 2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts I brought, my Firefly friend Myron stood faithfully with a Trigg sign held aloft to the point where I worried about how his arm was holding up, and others wore t-shirts! My brother stayed standing near the entrance of the tent until just when it started to get maximum exposure with the Trigg shirt he was wearing. Two friends showed who normally don't get involved in politics: Myron and Amy I know from my "Firefly" world. And they all enthusiastically cheered me on!
My friends were all confident of a victory, but I wasn't so sure. Roughly 80 people out of approximately 1000 caucus attendees caucused in the Hillary tent, which made it difficult to ferret out voters. I just walked down the long line with my goody bags, sign and treats and just kept asking "anyone caucusing for Hillary?"
The flood of people was overwhelming! The line wrapped around the huge front lawn of the Teamsters Hall. At one point it threatened to rain on all these folks in line, but it quickly passed. Despite some confusion, and the large numbers of folks, the caucus goers all seemed to take it all in good spirits and have a great time. The 5th CD Caucus turned out to be the largest in the state, and apparently the largest in our state's history! Go democracy!
I had some no-shows, and was worried about one other candidate who seemed to have brought a lot of loyal supporters. We were able to start our caucus before the Obama caucus and had difficulty with our PA, which we immediately abandoned. Candidates had to use their "big voice" to make their pitch, at times competing with the large Obama caucus next door, which had to keep its doors open as their 750-person room was packed and as hot as an oven.
On the male side, it turned out it was down to two candidates, Andrew Feiler and Miguel Gallegos, as the other male candidates did not show. Andrew was the running mate of my biggest competitor, Kathy Harris, and Miguel I knew from the campaign, as he was another hard-worker for Hillary. On the female side, I was running against three other volunteers from the campaign, Angela Walton (a fellow 5th District Captain), Cynthia Williams, and Tene' Davis, as well as against donor Kathy Harris, and party member Anne Wofford McKenzie. I knew Ms. Williams was withdrawing to endorse me, but her speech (which was last) left me stunned and got me teared up as she spoke about endorsing me, etc.
We finished pretty quickly and it seemed like the wait for the results lasted longer than our speeches! My friends hung out just in case there was a run-off. While we waited, we started getting excited, as we got phone calls from other fellow CD Captains that had won their caucuses. Fellow CD Captain Franklin D. Williams from the 10th edged out by 2 votes; next we heard that 11th CD Captain Will Fowlkes had won, and then that the 9th CD Captain Beth Stone Hand had won! Finally CD Chair Will Curry arrived in the tent to announce the winners.
Needless to say, I was pretty excited! And Miguel Gallegos, who unfortunately could not be there to hear the announcement, was the male winner! Cool note: the reason Miguel could not be there? He had to catch a flight back to PA to campaign for Hillary! Turns out he'd flown down just for the caucus!! How cool is that?
I think, from looking at who won around the state, that if a Hillary CD Captain ran, they won, which I think is interesting. I think it says alot about the network we had built up for the Georgia primary, as we recruited County Leaders and Precinct Captains, etc., and had worked out rapid ways to communicate with them.
In closing, I want to again thank all the people who came out and voted for me and helped make it happen! I couldn't have done it without you!
Denver, here we come! And beware of the Georgia delegation-- we know how to Raise Hill!
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