Happy Halloween!

We hope you enjoyed this weekend’s various festivities throughout the county, and got some good candy loot as a result!

November is shaping up to be a busy month. The Redistricting Board has decided on which map to bring forward for public comment. There are five different opportunities for you to give your feedback, at locations throughout the county. You can view the full list here .

We strongly encourage you to show up to one of these meetings and offer your comments about this map. At a minimum, the Redistricting Board should consider keeping communities together--something they have not accomplished with this map. In fact, two members of the Redistricting Board voted against this map for those very reasons. Use our sign up sheet to let us know you’re coming! 

Read on for more local developments involving St. Mary’s County Democrats!

Democratic Central Committee

We’re excited to announce the first Democratic candidate to file for county office this election cycle! Steve Tuttle is running for County Commissioner, District 4. You can check out his Facebook page for more information. 

We’re talking to various folks about their interest in running for office. If you’ve considered running and wondered how to do it--let us help! Email us at [email protected] for more information. We look forward to speaking with you!

We’ll be participating in the Veteran’s Day Parade in Leonardtown on November 11th, and we need your help to do it! Sign up here to lend a hand: St. Mary's County Democrats: Veterans Day Parade (signupgenius.com)  

Join us on November 5th from 4-6PM at Brudergarten Beer Garden in Leonardtown for our rescheduled Election Year Kickoff event! This is a social event to reconnect, discuss state and local candidates, and get fired up and ready to go for 2022’s election!

We need your help more than ever! Have you joined our recurring donor program, Skipjack Circle? Perks received at each of the four levels are explained in the above photo. Your small dollar monthly donations--no matter the amount--help us grow our party and support Democratic candidates. ANY AMOUNT HELPS!

The Democratic Central Committee is currently looking to fill a vacancy. This is a great way to get involved with the local Democratic Party and have a direct hand in building for our success in next year’s election! Interested parties can read more information here.

Facebook recently changed how you interact with Pages, primarily by eliminating page "Likes" and turning them into "Followers." We want to make sure we haven't lost you as a follower! Making sure you receive our updates is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Click "Follow" or "Following" where you see the number 1. Then, to make sure we're reaching everyone, click the three dots where you see the blue number 2 and click "Invite to Follow" to invite your friends to follow our page as well!

Want to help build the next generation of Democrats!? If you are interested in helping form the Young Democrats of St. Mary’s County, make sure you fill out the interest form HERE.

Ashwani Jain, candidate for Governor, will hold a meet & greet on November 8th at Olde Town Pub, in Leonardtown. We hope to see you there!

Upcoming Events:

• November 5th: Election Kickoff at Brudergaten in Leonardtown!
  
  
  

• November 8th: Ashwani Jain, candidate for for Governor, will hold several meet & greets in St. Mary’s. He will be at Chaptico Park (26600 Budds Creek Rd.) from 10-11AM, and at John G. Lancaster Park (21550 Willows Rd.) from 3-4PM. At 5PM, he will host a meet and greet at Olde Town Pub in Leonardtown.
• November 11th: Veterans Day Parade! 
• November 17th at 6pm is our next meeting. If interested in attending, please email [email protected] or message us on social media for the link. We’re planning to have John King, candidate for Governor.

Democratic Club

• November 15 - Candidate for Governor, Mike Rosenbaum will speak to the group
• At our January meeting we will welcome gubernatorial candidate John King
• Nominations open for Dem Club positions - President, Treasurer and one of the VP slots to fill a vacancy

You may now pay your dues online. Annual dues are $25 for an individual and $35 for a family. To join, renew, or make a donation to the club online please visit St. Mary’s Democratic Club Paypal.

When paying, please include your email address and indicate whether you are a new or renewing member.

You can also mail a check to:

St. Mary’s County Democratic Club

PO BOX 631

Leonardtown, MD 20650

I Am St. Mary's - Democratic Women of St. Mary's

YMCA Presentation to CSMC—On November 16, at the County Commissioners’ weekly meeting, Robbie Gill, CEO YMCA of the Chesapeake, will present the Task Force’s recommendations regarding location, cost, and concept plan for a YMCA in Lexington Park on 1 of 2 locations: Nicolette Park or Great Mills Pool vicinity. Although the Commissioners appear to have supported a YMCA  in Lexington Park, questions remain about the timeline and their financial commitment to the project, which has been a 6 year community effort.

YMCA Support Call to Action for ALL: Please show up for the presentation at the Commissioners Meeting Room the morning of November 16, 9:00 AM, or outside 8:30-8:50.  Please let Marcia Greenberg [email protected] know you’ll be there. Future YMCA shirts (in purple) are available from her too.

Redistricting Public Hearings—Show up. Speak out. We are respectfully asking and encouraging #IAMSTMARYS members, as well as concerned citizens, to attend the upcoming public hearings and provide feedback to the Redistricting Board on their proposed map for Commissioner and Board of Education districts. See the list of 5 Public Hearings for dates and locations in this newsletter. If you would like information on the proposed redistricted map and process to use in your feedback to the Redistricting Board, contact [email protected]t.

Miriam Klapka gave a presentation at our October 27 meeting about the proposed Redistricting Map. The presentation includes all of the maps created, as well as the final proposed map, which was selected by a 3/2 vote. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MvdpGgp9SaQ2wCQ6ulzuCjfZTI2N1qMZ/view?usp=sharing).

Here is the Redistricting Board Public Hearing schedule and all begin at 6pm:

Monday, November 8 —Valley Lee Fire Department, 45245 Drayden Rd., Valley Lee 20692

Wednesday, November 10 – Commissioners meeting room, Chesapeake building, 41770 Baldridge St., Leonardtown 20650

Tuesday, November 16 –Charlotte Hall Library, 37600 New Market Turner Rd., Charlotte Hall 20622 

Thursday, November 18 – Lexington Park Library, 21677 FDR Blvd., Lexington Park 20653

Tuesday, November 23 —Commissioners meeting room, Chesapeake building, 41770 Baldridge St., Leonardtown 20650

Background: The five members of the Redistricting Board met numerous times to create a redistricting map for St. Mary’s County for the County Commissioner and Board of Education Districts1-4. They were charged to have no greater than a 10% difference in each district’s population, equaling 5% under or 5% over. 

Simply put, it is about the math. All the board had to do was move less than 5,000 voters out of district 4, but instead the district was cracked and extended up through Hollywood to Oakville in a gerrymandered move. Lexington Park, the County’s most populous area, has a large minority population. 

Next meeting 26 Jan—The next general meeting of IAMSTMARYS, Democratic Women of St. Mary’s is Wednesday, January 26, 2022, at 6:00 pm. We’ll be in the Lexington Park Library meeting room and via Zoom. Topics include local issues and GOTV activities in our county for upcoming 2022 elections.

Local Issues on-line survey coming in Nov—An on-line survey will be sent out to #IAMSTMARYS members in mid-November. The purpose is to get ideas and feedback about local issues. The results will serve as pre-work to ultimately develop action plans which we’ll start at our January 26 general meeting.  

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