Category: Meetings

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Campaigns Meetings

Meet our statewide candidates

Candidates for statewide office will bring their campaigns to the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club on May 8.

Three candidates for lieutenant governor and two for attorney general will participate in the meeting in Classroom II of the LOW Community Center. The meeting begins at 1 p.m. with socializing and the program starts at 1:30.

Virginia’s Democratic Primary Election will be held on June 17, and successful candidates will face statewide voters in the General Election on November 4. Early voting at the Orange County Registrar’s Office is already in progress.

Scheduled for the May 8 meeting are the following candidates for lieutenant governor:

  • Ghazala Hashmi of Richmond represents the 15th district in the Senate of Virginia. She worked as an educator and academic administrator for 25 years before running for office. 
  • Babur Lateef of Woodbridge is a physician, parent, and a product of public schools. He has served the Commonwealth as chairman of the Prince William County School Board and chairman of the University of Virginia Health System Board where he has focused on improving education and health care across Virginia.  
  • Victor Salgado of Arlington County served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, specializing in complex prosecutions involving corruption and related misconduct at all levels of government — including senior government and elected officials — and crimes involving financial institutions.

Two candidates for state attorney general are scheduled to participate., though Shannon Taylor will speak via an online connection rather than in person:

  • Jay Jones of Norfolk is an attorney who focuses his practice on state attorneys general work as well as regulatory and policy matters, including environmental, social, and corporate governance issues. He previously served as an assistant attorney general for the District of Columbia, where he was a member of the Office of Consumer Protection.
  • Shannon Taylor of Richmond was first elected Henrico County commonwealth’s attorney in 2011 after years of service as a professional prosecutor at the local, state, and federal levels. She was honored by her peers throughout the state when she was chosen as president of the Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association, an organization that advocates for effective law enforcement reforms in the Virginia General Assembly and conducts important training across the state. 

Other Democratic candidates in the 2025 election cycle include Abigail Spanberger for governor; and Aaron Rouse, Levar Stoney and Alex Bastani for lieutenant governor. In addition all candidates in the Virginia House of Delegates will be up for election, including Forrest Miller in the 63rd House District.

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Meetings

Supervisor to address impacts of development

Orange County Supervisor J. Bryan Nicol will speak to the LOW Democratic Club on March 13 about issues facing Lake of the Woods as a result of the proposed Wilderness Crossing development on Route 3, which is expected to include data centers as well as other commercial and residential enterprises.

The club’s meeting will take place in Classroom 2 of the LOW Community Center. A gathering period will begin at 1 p.m. and the program will commence at 1:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend, regardless of political affiliation.

Nicol, who has represented District 5, which includes Lake of the Woods, since 2023, has been an outspoken critic of the Wilderness Crossing project, saying it poses significant water and utility, traffic, noise and other issues that would affect the community.

Nicol is a former deputy attorney general of the State of Indiana and served as commissioner and deputy commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation. He is currently chief strategy officer for an architecture, engineering and consulting firm. He and his family have lived in Lake of the Woods for 15 years.

The LOW Democratic Club regularly meets at the community center at 1 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month as well as on social hours at 5 p.m. at the LOW Clubhouse four times a year. The next social hour will be Thursday, March 27.

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Meetings

Battlefield Coalition representative to speak on development

Shannon Doherty, education manager for Historic Germanna, will represent the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition at the LOW Democratic Club on Feb. 13, speaking about issues facing Orange County as a result of the planned Wilderness Crossing development on Route 3.

The 2,600-acre development is expected to include data centers as well as other commercial and residential enterprises.

The club’s meeting will take place in Classroom 2 of the LOW Community Center. A gathering period will begin at 1 p.m. and the program will commence at 1:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend, regardless of political affiliation.

The Wilderness Battlefield Coalition (whose partners include the American Battlefield Trust, Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, Cedar Mountain Battlefield Foundation, Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, Historic Germanna, Journey Through Hallowed Ground, National Parks Conservation Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Piedmont Environmental Council and Preservation Virginia) formed to build legal and public pressure on officials to reconsider allowing the project to move forward and to educate the public about the proposed development and its impact on the battlefield.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition announced that the Wilderness Battlefield was named one of the nation’s 11 most endangered historic places due to the threat of a massive 2,600-acre development that is proposed for neighboring land in Orange County.

The American Battlefield Trust, the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, and neighboring landowners have filed a lawsuit challenging the rezoning.

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Meetings

Election expert to speak

Dave Leichtman, director of global elections for Microsoft Corp., will be guest speaker at the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club’s January 9 meeting.

The meeting will begin with a gathering period at 1 p.m. in Classroom I at the LOW Community Center. The program will start at 1:30 p.m.

Leichtman’s experience has given him a informed perspective on the state of democracy throughout the the world and expertise on the accuracy and security of elections in the United States.

As part of Microsoft’s Democracy Forward program, Leichtman leads nonpartisan civic engagement efforts and works with election officials and those upholding democracy worldwide to address tech, security, and AI needs. He also leads the company’s internal U.S. and international election strategy.

According to its website, the goal of the Democracy Forward program is “to preserve, protect, and advance the fundamentals of democracy by safeguarding open and secure democratic processes, promoting a healthy information ecosystem, and advocating for corporate civic responsibility.”

Leichtman has held this and similar roles for 10 years at Microsoft. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at several U.S. political technology firms. He also served as state leadership of Virginia Democrats for over a decade. Dave holds a B.S. degree in physics and computer science from the College of William and Mary and an M.S. degree in particle physics from the University of Washington. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.


Microsoft’s Democracy Forward Program

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Meetings

What is Project 2025?

The LOW Democratic Club will meet on Thursday, August 8, in Classroom 1 of the LOW Community Center. A meet-and-greet session starts at 1 p.m., and the program starts at 1:30 p.m.

A video about Project 2025 and other threats from MAGA Republicans will be shown. It’s important that we all understand what is at risk in the November election so that we are prepared to defend American freedoms and elect Kamala Harris president.

Please plan to attend.