Sussex Democrats kickoff summer of resistance

Sussex County Democrats kicked off their Resistance Summer Program with a day-long phone banking event July 25 that culminated with a visit by Jesse Chadderdon, the party’s newly selected statewide executive director.

Chadderdon was announced as executive director July 17. His first day in the office is Tuesday, Aug. 1. He spoke briefly at the Sussex County Democratic headquarters in Georgetown, telling fellow Democrats that he was going to be a face they see often.

“You’re going to be seeing a lot of me,” he said. “I’m going to be traveling the state.”

He made no calls at this event, but he estimated he’s made thousands of phone calls on behalf of the Democratic Party.

Chadderdon said response to the phones calls being made was encouraging. He said callers were saying they were getting four, five and six people per page to respond positively.

“That’s a hall of fame batting average for phone calling,” he said.

Organizing the phone banking event was Cynthia Gooch Copley, Democratic Party summer fellow. She said the point is to involve recently-registered Democrats. There are new Democrats moving to Sussex County all the time, but it’s the party’s job to engage them, she said.

Summer fellow Sam Willard said he had been on the job for about two weeks, but he has been participating in phone-banking events since he was 17. He said in the past, the party has done a good job getting the word out during an election year, but the purpose of the program is to continue momentum through this off year and then into 2018.

This is a pretty good turnout, Willard said of the nearly two dozen people who participated.

Phone-banker Sabrina Isler made the half-hour drive from Laurel to make calls. She said it was her first time for calls, but she’s been doing door knocking for several years.

It’s important to be involved, and to let other people know and understand what their rights are, she said.

Despite being a rookie, Isler was feeling pretty good about her phone calls – she had made 16 and four people had said they’d volunteer in some fashion.

Mohammad Akhter, of Fenwick Island, said he came to hear what Chadderdon had to say about how the party was going to move forward. He said he wants to know how the Democratic Party is going to take this energy and improve the quality of life for people in Sussex County.