In barely one year, Johnny took the Pinellas County Young Democrats (P.C.Y.D.) from a defunct group to a unified force in the Pinellas County Democratic Party. He took on the daunting task of keeping our members organized and motivated during a historically heated midterm election. While it was an uphill climb, I do not believe there is a single young Democrat who regrets the work we did on our state and local campaigns.
Johnny’s pragmatic approach to running the club always brought the focus of our work back home to real issues facing the people of this county. We knocked on countless doors, made phone calls and texts and reached out to minority groups in our community to engage them in the democratic process. We talked with residents about expanding health care, criminal justice reform, recognizing climate change, public education and more local issues like affordable housing, transportation, food security, gun reforms and engaging new and younger voters. You may have also seen us at our Blue Wave Fundraiser at Enigma St. Pete. We raised money for our club and promoted our local candidates. The money raised will go to help our club grow and increase outreach. An example of this is the recently announced formation of the Foresight 2020 youth voter coalition (foresight2020.org). While it is still in its early stages, we hope that this nonpartisan coalition will build a platform of communication for student and community groups who seek to improve youth civic engagement, develop the next generation of candidates and increase youth voter participation leading up to the 2020 election.
Our efforts worked! In 2016, Donald Trump won Pinellas by one percent and in 2018, Mayor Andrew Gillum won by three percent. The P.C.Y.D. played no small part in flipping Pinellas blue. We were even able to help bring the Rainbow Wave to Pinellas County: St. Petersburg elected the first lesbian (and current P.C.Y.D. member) Jennifer Webb to the Florida State house in District 69!
It has become increasingly clear that the only way to move this country forward, while protecting the rights of citizens, is for a new generation of leaders to emerge within our system. Under Johnny’s leadership, the P.C.Y.D. has developed into a strong group of passionate, young, diverse and energized Americans.
The hard work is not over. I cannot wait to see what Johnny and the P.C.Y.D. can accomplish going forward into 2020. We welcome you to join us.
