Orange County Democrats rally against GOP as they look ahead to general elections

ABOVE: (L-R) OCDEC chairman Wes Hodge, DNC Secretary Jason Rae and FDP Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo at the OCDEC Masquerade Ball in Orlando. (Photo by Jeremy Williams)

ORLANDO | It was an evening of magic and masks as the Orange County Democratic Executive Committee (OCDEC) hosted its 2019 masquerade ball at The Mezz in Orlando Nov. 16.

While the atmosphere was one of celebration, the evening’s message was one of focus and readiness as the democratic speakers spoke of the dangers of the current administration.

“This is not the Republican Party of your father, not the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan and certainly not the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln. This is the Republican Party of Donald J. Trump,” said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo.

The event featured a collection of democratic speakers including U.S. Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Darren Soto, OCDEC chairman Wes Hodge and special guest, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Secretary Jason Rae.

Rae, who is the youngest person elected to the DNC executive leadership and is the committee’s highest LGBTQ member, spoke about how he got his start in the Democratic Party while still a teenager.

“My roots in the Democratic Party run deep,” Rae said. “I organized for progressive candidates up in my hometown in rural northern Wisconsin before I could even drive. I biked to county party meetings before I could vote and I was elected to the DNC before I was even out of high school.”

Rae, who was first elected to the DNC when he was 17 years old, became secretary in Feb. 2017.

“Now at 32, I’m the youngest officer of our party and the first openly LGBTQ secretary that our party has ever had,” he said. “I’m not only honored to have that role but to get to fight alongside Democrats across this country everyday as we work to take back our democracy.”

Rae told the crowd that he was proud how Democrats responded after the 2016 election and that was one of the reasons he ran for secretary in 2017.

“We didn’t quit, we didn’t give up, we didn’t think all hope was lost. Instead we organized,” he said. “The DNC recommitted to the grassroots through historic changes in our nominating process because we knew that the future depended on what we did in this moment. That what we did was a matter of American history. Because of all that work and all that organizing we’ve seen success.”

Some of the successes the DNC have seen since Trump became president, Rae points out, include Doug Jones of Alabama being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2017 and the Democrats taking back the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, but said the recent elections show that the “work of the DNC is paying off.”

“The results from earlier this month should send shivers down the spines of Donald Trump and every Republican running in 2020,” Rae said. “This is a categorical rejection of Trump and the GOP’s agenda and Mitch McConnell should be shaking right now.”

Rae highlighted key election victories including Democrats taking control of councils in several Pennsylvania counties, flipping the Virginia state House and Senate and taking the governor’s mansion in Kentucky.

“Democrats are energized and our party revitalized. We are competing in every election and every state. We’re running on our values and we’re channeling unprecedented energy in that voting booth. That’s how we won races across the country in 2018, how we won races two weeks ago and how we’re going to beat Donald Trump in one year,” Rae said. “But we can’t do it without you.”

To obtain information on how to volunteer with the Orange County Democratic Party, visit OrangeFLDemocrats.com. Florida’s democratic primary is March 17, 2020.

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