Vote for Hope!

It's been a while since I last wrote about Patrick Hope's run for congress. My first blog post detailed my transition to his campaign and reasons for choosing him as the 8th district's next congressman. Now, after several weeks of campaigning, I can offer you a more comprehensive argument as to why you should vote for Patrick. Allow me to break my argument down into four parts: experience, personality, audacity, and organization. The latter two were not mentioned in my first post about Patrick. Here we go:

1. Experience- 

(a) Patrick has been a health care attorney for over a decade, which means that he has extensive work under his belt advocating for Medicaid and other important health programs. In fact, legislators down in Richmond regard Patrick as the "expert on Obamacare".

(b) (quoting from hopeforcongress.com) Before being elected to the House of Delegates, Patrick served as chair of the Arlington Community Service Board, which serves those in our community with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as those in need of mental health services.

(c) Patrick also founded the reorganized Buckingham Community Civic Association, co-chaired the Arlington Implementation Task Force to End Homelessness, and served on the Arlington County Commission on Aging. 

(d) Patrick has sponsored 31 bills in the House of Delegates. Let me provide you with some more specifics-  Firstly, he fought hard to end the practice of shackling pregnant women when in labor and worked to lower the number of inmates in solitary confinement in Virginia prisons, reducing it by more than 70%. Secondly, Patrick has introduced a bill to ban gay "conversion therapy" for minors in Virginia. Thirdly, Patrick passed a bill that enhances mental health resources across Virginia state universities. These are just three examples of his legislative capacity in Richmond.

2. Personality- 

I talked a lot about Patrick's personality in my previous blog post. In short, Patrick is very attentive and treats you like an equal. He's always open to listening and does not advocate his stance in an overly aggressive manner. Please read my previous blog post on why Patrick's personality trumps the often disingenuous nature of politicians!

3. Audacity-

I personally think that Patrick's audacity towards political issues is what makes him stand out among all of the 8th district's candidates. At first glance you'd think that a radio personality like Mark Levine who calls himself the "aggressive progressive" would be the most audacious. Levine has certainly proved that he has a loud voice and a strong will to bring about change. But what have Levine and other candidates done to stand up for values they believe in, even when it means going against a conventional Democratic narrative? Patrick is the only candidate who has publicly denounced policies even if it meant going against traditional Democratic thought. For example, Patrick denounced Governor Terry McAuliffe's support for a Richmond Democratic Committee president-elect. The candidate opposes same-sex marriage. Patrick was the first contestant in the 8th congressional district race to voice his concerns over this issue.

(Side note- I have nothing against Mark Levine, I met him today and he seems like a great person.)

4. Organization- 

Patrick's team is phonebanking 4 days a week, canvassing on weekends and weeknights, and sporting bright yellow teeshirts to campaign meetings and events. I don't see any other campaign matching our apparatus. Granted, substance trumps style, but I can't help but notice how our yellow and blue colors are taking over the 8th district.

Conclusion: Patrick's campaign efforts and legislative capability have resulted in his team winning 6 out of 7 straw polls (correct me if I'm wrong- I'm going off of memory here) and receiving endorsements from nationwide political organizations such as Blue America. So please, vote for Hope!