Members of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee gathered August 13 for the annual summer fundraiser. The event featured remarks by a special guest: New York’s Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado; and from Assemblywoman Anna Kelles and State Senator Lea Webb.
Delgado quoted the late Dr. Martin Luther King: “We need leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.” He used his own improbable 2018 election to Congress as a young African American and Latino man— who’d just released a rap album—in a rural, upstate New York district, as evidence that Democrats can win despite formidable demographics. Delgado talked about the need for candidates to project a positive message, to listen more than they speak to their constituents, and to reach out to all parts of the electorate regardless of their political affiliation.
Kelles spoke about the partnership among Democratic officials at the local, state, and federal level in proposing and enacting needed legislation. She cited the acceleration of her efforts in the Assembly with Webb’s election to the State Senate.
Webb echoed Kelles’s thoughts, and emphasized the importance of working to elect Democrats at all levels, statewide and nationally. She warned attendees against being comfortable or complacent because they live and vote in an overwhelmingly Democratic county.