Potluck and Monthly Meeting Tomorrow

Our next Monthly Meeting will be tomorrow night at 7 PM.

The potluck dinner begins at 6 PM.

POTLUCK AT 6PM

Bring a dish to share - whether homemade or store bought - and enjoy some quality time with your fellow Dems before we settle down to business at 7. And don’t worry, if you’re not a good cook and don’t have time to shop, we’d still love for you to stop in and enjoy some food and conversation.

MONTHLY MEETING AT 7PM

You do not need to be a member to attend our monthly meetings, and we would welcome your attendance. Monthly meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month unless otherwise communicated.

IN PERSON: The meeting will be held in-person at the Super 8 Motel in Houghton.

REMOTE ATTENDANCE: Remote attendance is via Zoom. Email readers can click the button below at 7 PM on Wednesday to be connected to the Zoom session.

An Important Voting Reminder

We're very happy if you vote the straight Democratic ticket. If you do, please -

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE THE NONPARTISAN SECTION! 

We're endorsing good strong candidates for Michigan Supreme Court - Thomas and Bolden - and for Houghton City Council: Cole, Irizarry, and Leddy.  We have signs for both races, so if you put one up next to your Democratic candidate signs, that will help your neighbors know about their progressive bona fides.

Office Hours

Monday: 5:30 to 7:30 PM

Tuesday: 4 to 8 PM

Wednesday: 5 to 7 PM

Thursday: 3 to 6 PM

Friday: 5:30 to 7:30 PM

Saturday: 10 AM to 8 PM

 323 Quincy Street, Hancock 

Yard Signs

DO SOMETHING - Dook Knocking Opportunities

DOOR KNOCKING: Join us to support Democratic candidates by knocking on doors in Houghton. Two opportunities again this week: Thursday at 5:30 PM and Saturday at 5:30 PM. Volunteers will gather this week at Cyberia Cafe on Sheldon Ave in Houghton to start door knocking. To RSVP email [email protected] or fill out the volunteer form on Mobilize.us.

POSTCARDS and stamps are available, along with desired address lists - email [email protected] if you’d like to write and mail postcards. When you email we can arrange a time for you to pick up a target list and enough cards and stamps.

PHONE BANKING FROM HOME: We encourage you to join the Harris-Walz Voter Protection Phone Bank. This phone banking effort reaches out to Democratic voters in states like Georgia where Republicans are “cleaning” the voter rolls and thereby inactivating eligible voters. These inactivated voters are never informed they’ve been removed from the rolls. So, as part of this effort you’ll let them know they have been inactivated, and share with them how they can re-register so that they are once again eligible voters before they go to the polls. These Democratic voters will generally be very appreciative of your outreach. This phone banking effort is a great way to counter a sneaky but legal voter suppression tactic. Multiple opportunities are available daily through November. Click here to see the schedule and volunteer.

BE A NONPARTISAN ELECTION CHALLENGER OR POLL MONITOR WITH PTV: The group Promote the Vote (PTV) is offering training and credentialing for individuals interested in being a nonpartisan election challenger or poll monitor.

From their website: “As our eyes and ears on the ground, nonpartisan challengers and poll monitors are stationed at polling places, early voting sites, and absentee counting boards across Michigan to monitor the election process. Our pro-voter volunteers make sure eligible voters can cast their ballots, free from interference and voter intimidation. In the past, PTV’s volunteers have corrected improper election procedures at early voting sites and made sure polling places were accessible to voters of all mobilities.”

Learn more and sign up for one of the many available remote training sessions on the PTV event web page.

Kim Corcoran Appears in Candidate Forum from LWV - CC

If you missed the League of Women Voters of the Copper Country's (LWV-CC) Candidate Forum in Houghton last Friday there's good news! The LWV-CC recorded the event and the recordings are available.

Click here for the Forum video featuring Portage Township candidates.

Click here for the Forum video featuring candidates for the MI House 110th District (Democratic candidate Kim Corcoran, Mayor of Ironwood and incumbent Greg Markkanen).

On the Campaign Trail

UPDATES FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS

ON THE ROAD WITH HARRIS WALZ

Last Wednesday VP Harris delivered a speech on her economic agenda in Pittsburgh. She followed that Wednesday evening with an interview on MSNBC discussing her ideas for the economy. On Friday the Vice President visited Douglas, AZ where she gave a speech on immigration after a stop at the southern border. The trip highlighted her tough-on-border-security stance, building on her role as the tough prosecutor who took on international gangs and organized crime as the top law enforcement officer of California. These speeches showed that VP Harris is not afraid to take on the Republican candidate on any issue, even (or perhaps especially) ones that are perceived to play to his strengths. On Sunday night the VP held a rally in Las Vegas.

Tim Walz had a busy week. He attended a fundraiser in Brooklyn NY on Monday, was interviewed by Victor Martinez midweek, and released a video conversation with Anthony Ramos (the original Hamilton on Broadway) on Friday. On Saturday he attended the Minnesota - Michigan game in Ann Arbor with family and friends. Michigan won.

Also last week the VP received the endorsement of Emgage Action, one of the nation’s largest Muslim political groups, and of former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who also endorsed Joe Biden in 2020.

This week: As Election Day gets ever closer, voting has already begun in several states, including here in Michigan. The campaigns are keeping the scheduling commitments close to the vest, as they try to maintain flexibility to rally voters down to the wire. We do know that after tonight’s VP debate Gov. Walz will make an appearance in JD Vance’s hometown of Cincinnati on Friday, while Kamala Harris is expected to make a campaign stop in Flint the same day.

TRUMP CONTINUES BEING TRUMP

JD Vance and Donald Trump’s repeated lies about Haitian legal immigrants in Springfield Ohio have gone on for so long that they’ve finally led to the pair of them, and their associates, being sued by a Haitian group in Ohio for defamation, inciting violence, and conspiracy to violate their human rights.

Donald Trump ended last week and began this week by repeatedly calling VP Harris “mentally impaired” and “stupid” at rallies.

JD Vance held a rally in Bucks County, PA over the weekend where he said nonsensical things like “when Donald Trump is president, we are going to drill, baby, drill and bring back the great American energy economy,” despite the fact that US oil production reached record levels this August under the Biden / Harris administration.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday Forbes contributor and economist Richard McGahey came out with an article detailing why Trump’s economic plans don’t add up and are almost impossible to analyze (because, as they say, there’s no there there.) He concludes by saying that what we do know about Trump is that “he advocates for deeply regressive tax cuts tilted towards the wealthiest households; tariffs that would raise prices for Americans and possibly start a trade war; likely skyrocketing federal deficits; and deportations and immigration policies that would cut our labor force and shake our legal system.” To quote Tim Walz - Nobody’s asking for that!

AND YET…

Polls in swing states like ours are teetering back and forth. For example, here’s a Newsweek headline from Friday: “Kamala Harris Leads Donald Trump in Six Swing States: New Poll”. Two days later on Sunday, here’s another Newsweek headline: “Donald Trump Leading Kamala Harris in Five of Seven Swing States: Poll”. What are we to believe?

Well, believe Governor Whitmer, who said on CNN two Sundays ago that, “this election is going to be close… in a state like Michigan or Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, we know that this is going to be a close race.”

Here’s the thing. We can worry, or we can turn our worries into actions. So, get out there and volunteer! We have to keep our focus on electing Kamala Harris. She is keeping her focus on the things that matter to Americans. As Coach Walz says, WE HAVE TO LEAVE IT ALL ON THE FIELD. Let’s get back to work!

VP Debate Watch Party Tonight!

Join us to watch the Vice Presidential Debate tonight, Tuesday, October 1 at 8:30PM at our HCDP headquarters at 323 Quincy Street in Hancock. We’ll be taking donations to support our local candidates. Suggested donation - $10.

Coffee and snacks provided. BYOB. RSVP here. This is going to be a historic night and we can't wait to see you there!

Our Next Monthly Meeting

HCDP Monthly Meetings: Unless otherwise communicated our monthly meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month. Potluck at 6 PM, Meeting at 7 PM. In the conference room at the Houghton Super 8, and by Zoom (starting at 7 PM).

NEXT MEETING: October 2nd

Governmental & Community Meetings

THU OCT 03

The South Range Village Council meets Thursday at 6 PM in the South Range Community Building. For more information contact the Village at [email protected] or (906) 482-8833