Published originally on Blue Virginia
Karen Keys-Gamarra is a Democrat running in a Special Election (coming right up on August 29th) for an at-large seat on the Fairfax County (VA) School Board. She's got a great background for the job: she specializes in family law and works as court-appointed Guardian ad Litem for children in Northern Virginia. Her years working with families in a legal setting makes her fully informed concerning the most serious problems that vulnerable children face.
UPDATE: Fairfax Republicans call this their “Scalia Seat” — they think they own it.
From Virginia's 8th District Republican Committee's webpage, quoting right-winger Elizabeth Schultz:
School Board Member Elizabeth Schultz has called this [newly vacated seat] our “Scalia seat”. The FCSB [Fairfax County School Board] has a 9-3 Democrat majority. From bloated budgets to raising their own pay to imposing transgender ideology on Fairfax County schoolchildren, they have acted recklessly. We took 2 seats in the 2015 elections, changing the dynamics on the school board. If we lose this special election, we will lose much of the ground we gained in the last 18 months. If we win, we will have a third responsible voice on the board and strengthen our chances of taking more seats in the 2019 regular elections.
Seen enough? We all know that this year all eyes will be on Virginia — the only Southern state to go blue. This race is more important to the health of Virginia Democrats than it may at first appear. Our three statewide candidates — Ralph Northam (Gov.), Justin Fairfax (Lt. Gov.), and Mark Herring (Att.-Gen.) can't win without it and we know that we're going to need every single vote in November in order to win. Yes, Virginia is getting bluer every year and we have won recent statewide races - but we have squeaked by. We would be fools to count on Republican disarray to tip the scales.
Karen Keys-Gamarra's race can serve as a wake-up call for Fairfax Democrats and as a springboard for creating new Democrats. Attention to the School Board race can remind all those very many Dems who sit out off-year elections that they need to get out and vote. Local Dems in Fairfax can use this race as an opportunity to register new voters, so that there'll be that many more Dems to come to the polls this November to support our three top candidates and in Novembers to come to keep Virginia in the blue column in presidential years.
And more than that: there are Democrats running for three flippable House of Delegate seats in Fairfax, all of whom will be bolstered by energy generated for Karen:
40 - Donte Tanner (WEBSITE)
42 - Kathy Tran (WEBSITE)
67 - Karrie Delaney (WEBSITE)
So, Kossacks — give us a hand here! Tell every Democrat and progressive you know in Fairfax to mark their calendars for August 29 (absentee voting has already begun)!
More than anything, thousands of children will be helped if Karen Keys-Gamarra wins, and who could be more important? Check out Karen's website and please consider a donation.
A big thank you!