Chairman’s Corner
Courtney Bruder, Chairman
Here’s a recap of our Thursday, July 9, 2026, meeting!
Committee Chair Updates:
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We have an opening for Events Chair! If you’re interested in learning more about that role, please reach out to Sydney Gunter.
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The Fourth of July parade was a huge success! We certainly increased our visibility in the county. I want to thank Dee Graff for managing our presence:
40-45 walkers, our largest ever group, was a 100% increase over the 2025 parade!
An outstanding blue wave float thanks to the efforts of Roy Taylor and Stephanie Bolton and all our incredibly creative volunteers.
45 booth visitors signed up to connect with CCD.
If you walked, helped with the float, volunteered at the booth, or lended your efforts in any way to this event, thank you all so much.
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Our Juneteenth event booth had 30 visitors sign up to connect with CCD.
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Thanks in advance to our Membership Committee who follows up with booth visitors from all our events.
- We are also continuing our school supply drive! If you’d like to donate materials, please reach out to Connie Malhiot or check out our Amazon Wishlist.
Guest Speakers HD47 Candidate Lindsay DeFranco and The Jon Ossoff Coordinated Campaign:
Lindsay and her husband have run an independent media company for nearly 20 years. She became more of an activist in the past several years and is running for office to ensure the system – including investing in healthcare and building strong communities – works for the people who fund it. She also strives to bring accountability and transparency into politics. Check out her website to learn more.
Nate Rich and Anna Purcell Doll shared how The Jon Ossoff Coordinated Campaign will partner with CCD’s Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Committee to reach as many voters as efficiently as possible. CCD is also partnering with The Coordinated Campaign to open an office in Cherokee County again, which includes Michael Gerini working as Field Organizer.
Legislative Updates:
Georgia Legislature was in Special Session June 17-23, 2026, and it ended with no racial gerrymandering!
While the Republicans may try again at a later date, they declined picking up this cause. We must keep the pressure up to ensure they remain too frightened of energizing the Democratic base to ever attempt to strip representation from our neighbors.
They changed course in the effort to remove QR codes from voting ballots and have punted that debacle to 2028. For now, we will still see them on our voting ballots.
Democratic Party Georgia (DPG) Delegation Election:
We held another round of delegate elections for the state convention. Cody Vernimo will be joining us in Savannah as a delegate! The convention begins August 1. We still have some openings, so if you’re interested in learning more, reach out to Jimmy Bruder.
Get Out the Vote Committee
Julie Glade, Chair
Our Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) program is a relational organizing tool that helps us reach like-minded neighbors to let them know fellow Democrats are in their midst while engaging them to support our policies and most importantly, the voting process.
Several volunteers have neighborhood lists and are using a beautiful, informative walking card Stephanie Bolton designed to present to neighbors.
Hats off and thank you to Randy Stukes and Kim Floyd, who provided election information to their neighbors, and to Deb Kent, Ginny Lennox and Sharon Coltrane for going door to door in BridgeMill with our walking card. This group reported a very positive response from their neighbors, too.
Thanks to Marie Weissman and Stephanie Rogers for working with me in the background to set up private neighborhood Facebook groups to help with messaging, reminders and announcements.
I recently attended a DPG training where they spoke of a N2N-type arrangement, and I see we are WAY ahead of them and on the right track. We are very excited about this effort. Want to join us? Contact me.
Platform Committee
Jimmy Bruder, Chair
We have published a revamped County Committee platform to better reflect local, state, and federal issues that matter today.
Our core policies and priorities are:
- Creating an Economy in Which Working Families Can Thrive
- Protect Healthcare and Reproductive Freedom
- Ensure Energy and Climate Security
- Defend Democracy
- Fight for Safe Communities
- Ensure Fairness and Opportunity for All
You may read our full platform here.
Each policy priority is expandable to give an overview with related policy suggestions and also features a deeper dive.
Send any questions or feedback to secretary@cherokeedemocrats.com.
Communications Committee
Stephanie Bolton, Chair
The Communications Committee is gaining momentum with fresh energy and fresh voices. Meet the team and check out exciting updates that make it easier to connect with Cherokee Democrats.
Meet the team & new roles
Deanna Mills will now be putting together the monthly Committee Recap newsletter. She joins:
Jaime Roberts, who posts all our events on social media;
Dee Graff, who keeps the events section of the Cherokee Democrats website up-to-date; and
Ken Keller, who has been putting together the weekly Senator Jon Ossoff Fighting for You Substack linked HERE.
Fresh website and content updates
We’ve updated the Platform page on our website and refreshed the Meet Your Candidates page. Now you’ll find not only each candidate’s website links, but also links to their upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. Check out the updated page HERE.
How you can amplify our message from home
Please engage our social media posts with a like, comment, and share, a simple way you can help spread the word without stepping outside or talking to strangers.
Engagement teaches the algorithms that people want to see Cherokee Democrats content, helping our posts reach more neighbors. It also signals that you’re interested in our updates, so you’ll see more of us in your feed.
