Currently viewing the tag: "Connie Brennan"
Saturday’s 23rd Annual Albemarle County Democratic BBQ was a huge success. Over 300 Democrats turned out to hear from our candidates in this year’s election, including Edd Houck, Creigh Deeds, Cynthia Neff, Christopher Dumler, Connie Brennan, Ned Gallaway and others.
Former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffee and former Congressman Tom Perriello also fired up the crowd for this year’s critical elections – especially holding the Democratic majority in the State Senate and winning a majority for the county Board of Supervisors.
Attendees were entertained by the BBQ Band, comprised of Democrats Marcia Joseph, Maynard Sipe, and Ray Varona.
At the BBQ, the Albemarle Democratic Party presented the Enie Nash Award to former Chair Will Harvey, who has served ably for many years as the chair of the Butler Scholarship committee and as the Democratic appointee on the Albemarle County Electoral Board. He is stepping down from both responsibilities this year. The 2011 Butler Scholarship winners were also announced.
The Democratic Party also presented a special award to retiring Supervisor from the Scottsville District, Lindsay Dorrier, recognizing him for his thirty years of public service.
A special thanks to Paige McGrath, owner of Lower Sherwood Farm, who graciously hosted the BBQ this year.
And as always, the committee is grateful to our amazing BBQ chefs, who cooked our chicken, pulled pork and beef brisket to perfection: Jeff Sobel, John Loehr, Peter McIntosh, Steve Rose and Elton Oliver.
Check out coverage of the event from NBC 29.
Nelson County Supervisor and Virginia 59th House of Delegates Candidate Connie Brennan
Albemarle County Democrats are happy to announce that Connie Brennan accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party in Virginia’s 59th House of Delegates District yesterday, following Jasper Hendricks’ announcement that he would withdraw from the race. She told her supporters on facebook about the development last night:
Tonight, I am excited to tell you that I accepted the Democratic nomination for the 59th House of Delegates seat being vacated by the retirement of Watkins Abbitt. Carter Elliott, the chair of the 59th House of Delegates, attended a campaign event, Conversations with Connie, which had been previously scheduled in Rustburg, and made the announcement that Jasper Hendricks III had withdrawn from the race for the Democratic nomination. The Democratic caucus for August 9th has been cancelled.
Jasper is a fine young man who has represented our party and his community with enthusiasm, integrity and commitment. I want to thank him and wish him every success in his future endeavors.
Now, we begin our general election campaign to win this seat for the hard-working members of the 59th. I promise you that I will represent you and support the issues important to our community. Currently, government is working very well for the powerful and privileged, but I want to ensure that it works for all of us.
I will be a strong advocate for jobs and for the return of economic prosperity to the members of our community. I will champion our students and our schools to ensure that all children receive an excellent education. I will fight to protect our seniors from the attacks on their livelihoods.
In order to successfully represent you, I need your support, your ideas, and your input. So I ask you to join me in an effort to return prosperity to all Virginians, by volunteering, by hosting a neighbor-to-neighbor event in your home, or by donating to my campaign.
Success will be ours, together!
Connie
We hope you will join our nominee for a Conversation in Albemarle County this Friday in Esmont, Virginia, as she lays the groundwork to turn the 59th blue in November!
Nelson County Supervisor and Virginia 59th House of Delegats Candidate Connie Brennan
Connie Brennan is a Nelson County Supervisor, retired nurse practitioner and long-time community leader. She is serving her third term on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors. She was the first woman elected to the Board and has served as chair twice in her ten years of service.
As a member of the Board, Connie has worked to advance growing existing businesses and bringing new ones to the county, establishing a broadband network, enhancing emergency services, and is a strong advocate for seniors, schools and health care providers. She has served Nelson County as a member of the Planning Commission, the Seniors’ Issues and Ag-Forestal District Committees, and the Dental Advisory Board. She represents Nelson on the Planning District 10 Workforce Council, the Community Criminal Justice Board, the Jefferson Area Board of Aging, and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors for the Sexual Assault Resource Agency and the Nelson Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Connie moved to Nelson County in 1974 because of her love of rural Virginia, and her desire to raise her children here. With a passion for public service, Connie has served in many community organizations, including the Rescue Squad; PTA, PTO and other school committees; MACAA, the regional poverty agency; and the Nelson County Child Care Center Board. She helped create an historical map of the County and was a founding member of the Nelson Historical Society. In 1997, she was elected to the Nelson County School Board, living her dream of making a difference in the school system, for our children and our teachers.
At the state level, Connie was elected to represent Nelson and six other counties on the Board of the Virginia Association of Counties, adding to the strong voices for matters that affect us here at home. She has served as Chair of that organization’s Health and Human Services Committee and is a founding member of the Rural Caucus. She is particularly interested in ensuring rural issues are recognized and appreciated across the Commonwealth. She was invited by Governor Tim Kaine to be on his Transition Team, and was appointed by Governor Mark Warner to the Virginia Geographic Information Network Advisory Board, on which she currently serves.
Connie Brennan with Congressman Scott (file)
She retired from a career as a nurse-practitioner after 28 years at the University of Virginia. During this time she co-founded the Women’s Health Center in Charlottesville, a non-profit health center that provided affordable and accessible health care to women and their families throughout the region.
Connie lives in Faber, Virginia. She is married to John Hesselbart. Her children, Vanessa, Jeremy, and Luke, were all raised in Nelson and attended Nelson public schools, as does her grandson, Oliver. Vanessa and Jeremy have returned to Nelson to raise their families in our community. For her children and yours, Brennan will always be trying to make a difference.
Connie is a candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates, 59th District seat. The 59th District includes 3 precincts in Albemarle County (Red Hill, Porter’s and Country Green), half of Nelson County, all of Buckingham and Appomattox counties, and half of Campbell County.
For more information about Connie and her race, visit her at her website, brennanfordelegate.com. You can also like her on facebook to get updates from her campaign.
Editorial Note: The Democratic Caucus for the 59th House of Delegates District will be held on August 9th in Farmville, Virginia. See the Call to Caucus here. Jasper Hendricks, a community activist, is contesting Supervisor Brennan for the nomination. Read his candidate profile here.
UPDATE: Jasper Hendricks withdrew from the race on Monday, August 1st. The Caucus in August 9th has been cancelled.
As a lifelong resident of the 59th District, Jasper attended Appomattox and Prince Edward County Public Schools before studying political science at Norfolk State University. Jasper began his public service career by serving as the National Director of Youth and College Voter Empowerment at the NAACP and later as an outreach advisor to two Democratic Presidential Campaigns and as an aide to three Members of Congress before accepting the position as National Director of Field and Political Programs at the National Black Justice Coalition.
Although he is most known as an advocate and community organizer, having served in various leadership roles including as the President of the Virginia NAACP Youth and College Division, Vice President of the Virginia Young Democrats, co-organizer of the Virginia Student Leadership Alliance and as a Board Member of the Norfolk State National Alumni Association, the mission in Jasper’s professional and public life is, and has been, focused on bringing everyone together to tackle the many universal issues facing us all.
Jasper’s experience makes him uniquely qualified to represent Virginia’s 59th District. Jasper major asset has been his ability to successfully build coalitions across diverse communities in order to foster a better understanding of the crucial roles and decisions within our government and how we can work together to increase access to employment, create opportunities for at risk youth, and bring people into the political movement by registering voters and organizing candidate and educational forums in communities all over the country. Jasper done this by building political and community strength through working relationships with local, state and national civil rights groups, labor organizations, and other community leaders as well as corporations and advocacy groups.
Family has also played an instrumental role in getting Jasper to where he is today. Virginia’s 59th District, like many other localities across the country, faces record unemployment, a stagnant job market, and few opportunities for children in the district to grow and prosper. Having a mother who retired in 2007 from Thomasville Furniture after 32 years of service in their Appomattox plant and a father who had been employed at Griffin Pipe Industries in Lynchburg for 30 years, Jasper has seen the impact of jobs leaving the district up close and personal.
This people powered campaign is our moment, our chance to stand up for the principles and values that we share; to bring new ideas, energy, and leadership to a uniquely challenging time in order create access and opportunities to jobs, invest in lifelong education, and to work on responsible economic development throughout the district – A New Day, A Better Way for Virginia’s 59th District.
Editorial Note: The Democratic Caucus for the 59th House of Delegates District will be held on August 9th in Farmville, Virginia. See the Call to Caucus here. Jasper is running against Connie Brennan, a Nelson County Supervisor and Community Leader for the nomination. Read Supervisor Brennan’s candidate profile here.
UPDATE: Jasper Hendricks withdrew from the race on Monday, August 1st. The Caucus in August 9th has been cancelled.
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General Assembly
All three Democratic nominees for General Assembly have significant cash on hand advantages and impressively outraised their opponents during this reporting period:
Albemarle’s new State Senator, Edd Houck, from the 17th District raised over $160,000 this quarter, leaving him with over $475,000 cash on hand heading into his race against Republican Bryce Reeves, known for being endorsed by right-wing radical Mike Huckabee’s Huck PAC. Reeves barely raised $70,000 in a race that is expected to come down to the wire in November.
And Sen. Creigh Deeds, who has served Albemarle County in the State Senate since 2001, raised over $53,000 this quarter, finishing with nearly $120,000 on hand creating an imposing lead as he faces opposition for the first time in the form of T.J. Aldous, a local lawyer, who raised $10,000 and spent more than $3000 of that.
Delegate David Toscano, Charlottesville and Albemarle’s Democratic Delegate from the 58th State House District is sitting on around $130,000 cash on hand going into this election cycle. So far, Del. Toscano has scared away the competition and no Republican has stepped forward to take him on.
Board of Supervisors
Our candidates on the county level haven’t done shabbily in the cash race either. The Democratic challenger in the Rivanna District, Cynthia Neff, raised more than any other supervisor candidate in the county, raising over $16,000 for her race against “Friend of Developers” Ken Boyd, more than double what he raised.
Meanwhile, Christopher J. Dumler, the Democratic candidate running for retiring Democrat Lindsay Dorrier’s seat in the Scottsville District had the most individual donors among the supervisor candidates. He raised over $10,000 from nearly 100 individual donors, out-raising his opponent, Jim Norwood, by a margin of over 10:1.
County Board of Supervisors Chairperson, Ann Mallek, is facing no Republican opposition this year. Despite that, she has raised over $6,000 in her uncontested race as she hears from constituents while preparing for another four years on the Board.
Despite the significant advantages these figures show, our candidates need to continue to raise funds at an even more rapid pace in order to remain competitive as right-wing special interests flood these races with cash to help their favored candidates win.
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