➡️ 11 days until the Virginia Black Business Expo on Aug. 2
➡️ 28 days until the DNC in Chicago on Aug. 19
➡️ 42 days until the Bobby Scott Labor Day Cookout on Sept. 2
🚩 60 days until early voting in Virginia: Sept. 20
🚩 106 days until Election Day Nov. 5
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40,000 on a Zoom Call: VP Harris Ignites Dem Base, Raises $67 Million
$70 MILLION RAISED AND 40,000+ ON A ZOOM. As the unexpected news hit at 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, July 21 that President Joe Biden was stepping out of the 2024 race for The White House, the first question became: Who will Biden support?
Biden quickly answered: His Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Within hours, the Vice President received the support of Biden and former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and all of the Democrats in the Virginia congressional delegation.
Respect for Biden was followed by a building enthusiasm for Harris — particularly from the base of the Democratic Party.
“The only person best situated to build on Biden’s record and defeat Trump is our Vice President Kamala Harris. She is ready to serve and will make a great president. Let's get to work!” wrote Congressman Bobby Scott in the hours after Biden withdrew from the race.
“I believe Vice President Harris has the experience, energy, and resolve to lead our nation and defeat Donald Trump and his backwards agenda,” wrote Virginia’s Senior Senator Mark Warner in a fundraising e-mail for Vice President Harris.
”I hope you’ll consider splitting a contribution of anything you can between me and Vice President Harris so Democrats can move forward together and beat Donald Trump in November,” Warner concluded.
BIG NEWS, QUICK PIVOT TO VP HARRIS. What then followed was evidence that Democrats may be at the start of one of the most dramatic turnarounds in political history. The party had been in a tailspin of negative messaging against their own presidential nominee. The bleak spiral lasted 25 days and began with the June 27 presidential debate in Atlanta between Biden and Donald Trump.
Questions of Biden’s mental acuity followed and despite the July 4th holiday and an assassination attempt on former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, questions on Biden's energy and fitness to lead the Democratic Party would not end — The New York Times was particularly relentless. The self entitled “paper of record” was also incremental in questionable reporting during the 2016 campaign related to Hillary Clinton’s e-mail account. Clinton lost to Trump though she earned over 3 million votes.
As reported by ActBlue throughout the evening of July 21, Vice President Harris raised $60 million in less than ten hours after the news hit that Biden was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. The Biden-Harris campaign reported $96 million cash on hand at the end of June.
Led by businesswoman Jotaka Eaddy, Sisters Lead Sisters Vote President Holli Holliday and attorney and TV personality Star Jones, Win with Black Women announced a raise of over one million dollars in less than three hours on zoom.
VP KAMALA HARRIS AND VIRGINIA
Win with Black Women is a collective of Black women business leaders, political strategists, community activists, faith leaders, tech leaders, and pioneers in sports, music, and entertainment that unite in their personal capacities in support of Black women. Their Zoom call began at 8:45 p.m. on the evening of July 21, but the Zoom crashed after thousands attempted to login at that time. Leaders at Zoom quickly adjusted their technology and eventually hosted over 40,000 people over four hours.
At almost exactly 1 a.m. this morning, it was announced that over $1 million was raised during the call.
Join the educators from Bluebird Gap Farm as we learn about this working farm experience located in the heart of Hampton. We will learn about the many domestic and wild animals that call it home and meet some too including a tortoise and a snake. Coming to Willow Oaks tomorrow, July 18th at 11am!
EVENTS / ANNOUNCEMENTS
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