February 2026 Committee Reports

Recap from February 12 Business Meeting

Courtney Bruder, CCDC Chair

Hello, Cherokee Democrats!

We have a few vacancies to fill

A chair for the Service Committee and the Activities Committee; if you’re interested, please contact me or Deb Kent
A chair for the Legislative Committee; if you’re interested, please contact me or Julie Glade
New leads for both Democrats Connect and Coffee & Conversations; if you’re interested, please contact me or Betsy Matteis
A Postholder position for District 1; please let me know if you’re interested in filling it!

We approved our Strategic Plan for 2026. Our top five goals for this year include:

Increase vote share in statewide races from 30% to 33%; since the plurality of Republican votes comes from Cherokee County, increasing our vote share by a few percentage points can devastate the Republican’s efforts and severely undercut their chances of winning Georgia
Ensure all 22 elected positions are contested; we heard our fellow Democratic voters’ disappointment from having so many uncontested races in 2024 and are striving to never let that happen again
Increase the average number of opened Cherokee County Democrats newsletters from 550 to 715 (up 30%); this is our primary method of communication with our community, and increasing how many people engage with it can benefit our overall visibility
Increase active volunteer count by 20% by year end; we aim to engage more volunteers in this cycle and keep them involved in future cycles, with a special emphasis on engaging them with our GOTV efforts because our odds of victory increase when we connect with more voters
Increase yearly fundraising from $39k to $51k (30%); our operations are continuing to expand, and an increase of fundraising will ensure that we can successfully continue the good work we’ve already done in the county

We are implementing a new initiative (rather, revamping a defunct initiative) called For the Good of the County. If you have any information you want to share regarding goings on in Cherokee, please contact an officer so we can get it on the agenda for the next meeting.

Lastly, we heard from Michael Hettig, candidate for SD 32 Michael is vying for a position that went uncontested in 2024, and we could not be happier to have someone with his skills step up to give the Republicans a run for their money! He is running on the following issues:

Affordable, accessible healthcare for all Georgians
A strong public education system, with an emphasis on ensuring schools have all necessary resources, teachers have better pay, and voucher programs do not bleed the public schools dry
Safe communities with proper infrastructure and a government free from corruption
An economy focused on small businesses rather than large, out-of-state corporations

Here’s a link to his website if you’d like to volunteer or offer other support: http://hettigforsenate.com

This is gonna be a great year

Michael Hettig, candidate for SD 32

Thoughts from the Environment Committee

Roy Taylor, Environment Committee Chair

Legislative Notebook: Developers love that dirty water
ABOVE THE WATERLINE | SALLY BETHEA

Last spring, at the end of the legislative session, a bill was filed on behalf of various real estate interests, purporting to address housing affordability.

Currently under consideration during the 2026 session, HB 812 (Dirty Water Bill) would change (read: weaken) how cities and counties regulate land disturbance permits. The result would be relaxed erosion control that would pollute our waterways under the guise of affordability.

The Environment Committee is working on a regular series of informational articles for the new Committee Reports Newsletter. We will be covering topics concerning legislation at state and national levels as well as local concerns of the environment where we are living. If you have information that you would like to share or topics you would like us to explore, please reach out to Roy Taylor – Chair of the Environmental Committee at environment@cherokeedemocrats.com.

CCDVets Committee

Ryan Nellums, Veterans Affairs Committee Chair

Thank you to everyone who joined the CCDVETS Wednesday, January 21 for such a successful and meaningful dinner meeting. We truly appreciate your time, engagement, and continued support.

A special thank you to our guest speakers, Dumont Walker, candidate for Georgia House District 46, and Barry Wolfert, candidate for U.S. Congress, Georgia’s 11th District. We’re grateful for your insight, thoughtful discussion, and willingness to engage with our community.

We’re also incredibly thankful to everyone who contributed to our food drive. Your generosity will make a real difference for individuals and families in Cherokee county.

CCDCVets January Dinner | Dumont Walker, candidate for HD 46

The CCDVets Committee had an overwhelming response to the March 7th community service project “Sleep in Heavenly Peace”. If you have registered through mobilize you MUST also register through their website. It is required. There is a release form that you must acknowledge, before showing up to help build beds.

PLEASE NOTE that you will have to select the correct time slot that we are volunteering for (11am-1pm).

Here is the LINK to register on their website, it takes only seconds to do.

Find and Contact Your Reps

Julie Glade, Get Out The Vote (GOTV) Chair

Part of being effective in The Resistance is having easy and quick access to our legislators, both Federal and State. Huge numbers of calls apply pressure and make a big difference. Think ‘telephonic No Kings march’

The 5 CALLS APP will get you to your federal reps easily, along with issue-based scripts, very efficient way to contact them. Please download the app if you haven’t already.

The Georgia chapter of Indivisible is working with 5 Calls to supplement with state rep information, so stay tuned on that (early stages at the moment)

For now, we each need to determine who our state reps are, and include their contact information in our Contacts for easy access, being ready means we can easily make our calls, and do so at a moment’s notice if necessary.

You can identify your state reps at Find My Legislators. Fill in your address and your Senator and House Rep will appear, click on their names to get their contact information. Add this info to your phone Contacts list!

To find your Senate, House, Bd of Commissioner and School Bd districts, go to the GA My Voter Page. Fill in your information and it will take you to your personal voter page. Scroll down until you get to your precinct card, this lists your various districts. You can have your precinct card emailed to you for future reference.

The GOTV Committee will be working hard this year, we know our efforts made a difference and Cherokee County Dems has been recognized throughout Georgia as being highly organized.

Thanks All, Let’s take it to ’em!

Orientation Committee

Sydney Gunter, Orientation Committee Chair

Orientation Committee is rocking and rolling! We are working hard to host and create workshops that cover a range of topics in government and politics. If you would like to get involved in future workshop development, please reach out to us. We would love to have you!

Recently, we hosted CCDC 101: Structure & Leadership for the sixth time. 101 is perfect for those new to Cherokee Dems or long-time members who want a refresher on how the Dems operate. We will host that again in the future, but are shifting focus to hosting 201, which we did for the first time at the end of January. CCDC 201: State/Local Governance Importance & Knowing Your Elected Officials focuses on dissecting each level of government from state to city, so you know what they do, the elected officials, and how you can get involved. The workshop also explains the voting process, including verifying registration, identifying your district, and finding your polling location. We will be hosting 201 again on March 14th, so mark your calendars!

We are also beginning to determine the topic for CCDC 301. If you have ideas or are begging to learn more about a particular topic within the political/government world, please email it to orientation@cherokeedemocrats.com!

We are excited to continue our work and look forward to all the opportunities to connect and learn together in 2026!

Membership Committee

Priscilla Nieves, Membership Committee Chair

The Membership Committee has started our annual Membership Drive. We are asking all new & current members to consider becoming monthly recurring donors. Monthly is the best way to support our work and focus on growth. Donating monthly helps us better plan and budget throughout the year.

The recommended minimum donation is $5/month; however any amount is gratefully accepted. Consider $26/month for 2026!

As a 100% volunteer organization your donation directly supports recruiting & incubating Democratic candidates, voter outreach, tracking legislation, hosting educational programming, supporting local liberal-owned businesses, expanding communications & outreach, fostering community service, and the goal of a permanent office. We now run full-time operations across 24 committees, made possible by YOU!

Become a contributing member HERE

Fundraising Committee

Julia Kang, Fundraising Committee Chair

The Fundraising Committee is starting to plan the annual spring fundraiser to be held in late April. We will need help with decorations, food, entertainment, getting sponsors and silent auction items. If you are interested in helping please complete our volunteer form and select Fundraising. Volunteer HERE

2025 Summer Picnic Fundraiser

Events Committee

Betsy Matteis, Committee Chair

Over 50 people came out for the February Coffee & Conversations to hear Beverly Jackson from DPG discuss DEI and how our organization can be more inclusive in areas we may not have thought of. We also heard from the Cherokee Democrats Latino Outreach Committee who discussed what is happening within the Cherokee Latino community and how we can help them during this difficult time and beyond.

Beverly Jackson, DPG

Ludi, Cherokee County Latino Outreach

Communications Committee

Stephanie Bolton, Communications Committee Chair

Website Updates:

Look for recent and upcoming updates to the Cherokee County Democrats website. Our Voter & Election Info page now includes a list of key date for each of the statewide elections in 2026.

Coming in March, after candidate qualifying ends, we will have a link on the Voter & Election Info page to a page with all the Cherokee County candidates. This will include links to their website and/or social media.

We have added two sections to the Resources page. The first is 2026 GA General Assembly Activities with links to the nightly updates from Progress Georgia on bills moving through the GA legislature. These updates cover a wide variety of bills with key information about each and where Democrats stand on the issue. The second new section is Contact Your Representatives, which contains the phone numbers for all the representatives for Cherokee County.

The News page is now running weekly updates on bills of interest moving through the GA General Assembly. Julie Glade, GOTV Chair, gives a short summary of each bill with link to the full bill and where it is in the process.

Social Media Updates:

👍Like, Comment On, and Share our posts, this helps us spread the message farther.

The Jon Ossoff Fighting for You updates are back and on our SubStack. Volunteer, Ken Keller is summarizing the Ossoff press releases each week to keep us informed on all things Ossoff. Use these to stay informed and as talking point when talking to others about why they should vote for Ossoff. You can also find the 2026 GA General Assembly Activities by Julie Glade on our SubStack.

SM NOTE: All our official social media channels are open to the public. This means anyone, including Republicans, can see and comment on our posts. If you choose to engage with negative comments please remain respectful. Or, don’t feed the trolls.

Newsletter Updates:

The Communications Committee is looking for a volunteer to help put this newsletter together monthly. This will entail getting a short summary and photos from each committee covering recent events, accomplishments, and announcements. Experience using MailChimp helpful. If interested please complete our volunteer form and select Communications. Volunteer HERE