Here are a few pictures from the Special Election Primary Results Watching Party, which GBYD hosted with Drinking Liberally Boston/Cambridge and the Young Democrats of Massachusetts.  We were thrilled to be joined by the Governor as we awaited the results.

Thank you to all of the hundreds of Young Democrats who got involved during the primary and general election.  While the final result was not what we hoped for and many lessons were learned, it was inspiring to see Young Dems from Boston to the Pioneer Valley stepping up to work or volunteer for the Coakley campaign. 

Stay tuned as we look ahead to supporting some great candidates in the 2010 cycle.

This afternoon GBYD was pleased to support a Labor Day health care reform rally and march from the Boston Common to Copley Square.  The rally was sponsored by Organizing for America - Massachusetts and SEIU Local 615, as well as many other community groups. 

It was great to see GBYDers out in force, active in many aspects of local politics, like..

• organizing to make sure Massachusetts has two voices in the Senate
  
• representing Democratic Town Committees
• working and volunteering for local candidates like Sam Yoon (for Mayor of Boston) and Ayana Pressley (for Boston City Council), statewide candidates like Martha Coakley (for US Senate), and many others
  
• as well as running like Leland Cheung (candidate for Cambridge City Council)
  

And that's not to mention the Young Democrats who came out in force to show their support for health care reform!

Check out photos from the day below and this Boston Globe write-up 1,000 rally for health care reform on Boston Common.  You might also be interested in this commentary from Blue Mass Group:

• BMG Rallies for Health Care Reform
• Rally/March Video Montage With Exclusive LOLCAT Footage
• Boston Health Care Rally - Surprise!
  

As we get ready for a September full of municipal forums, I wanted to share this inspiring moment of history from our chapter's predecessors..


The Greater Boston Young Democrats proudly hosting one of the 1962 Senate Debates with Young Democrat, the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy

The Greater Boston Young Dems are pleased to be connecting with more and more of the amazing individuals responsible for organizing the foundations of our party - the Democratic Ward Committees.

Joel Watson, Co-Chair of the Ward 19 Committee, was kind enough to share some info about how you can get involved with the Ward Committee, and some news about the exciting things they're doing for Democrats in the 13 precincts they represent in Jamaica Plain and Roslindale.

For starters, the committee is actively seeking interested Democrats (residents of Ward 19) whoa re interested in being Associate and Elected members of their 35 elected member Ward Committee.  If you are interested in getting involved or attending the meetings, please contact Joel Watson at handlerwatson [AT] comcast [DOT] net.

This active committee has a lot going on and would be a great group for more Young Democrats to start getting involved, making a difference, and advancing their political involvement.

Check out what else they've been up to this year:

• Holding a day-long retreat and an Obama Inauguration Ball/Fundraiser in January
• Establishing of an Elections Committee to help manage the Ward Committee’s yearly election calendar
• Creating a ‘Speaker’s Committee’ which has arranged for briefings on the homeless/mortgage foreclosures by Boston’s homeless shelter director and Lt. Gov. Murray’s staff person on the State’s effort to coordinate programs dealing with the homeless - both speakers are elected members of our Ward Committee
• The Speaker’s Committee also arranged for the four Boston mayoral candidates to meet with the Ward Committee for a half hour at our monthly meetings (June – Mr. Flaherty; July – Mr. Yoon; and September with Mayor Menino @ 7PM and Mr. McCrea @ 8PM).
• We have also expanded our efforts to coordinate with other organizations by co-sponsoring 3 Mayoral and At-Large Candidate forums for Boston’s 9/22 primary and 11/3 election with Wards 11 and 12 and MassVOTE
• The first one is August 31 for the 15 candidates vying for 4 At-Large City Councilor positions; it will be held at the Freedom House, 14 Crawford Street, Roxbury starting at 6PM with a ‘meet-the-candidate’ reception – the co-sponsoring Ward Committees are 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 19 and RoxVote.
• Our outreach programs continued with voter registration booths at several events including the JP Wake Up The Earth Festival and the Boston Gay Pride March

Contact Joel Watson if you are interested in getting involved or just checking out a few meetings - and be sure to add the September Ward 19 Committee Meeting to your calendar so you can hear from Mayor Menino and Mr. McCrea.  You can also keep an eye on our Events Calendar for other ways to get involved.

If you're looking to add something meaningful to your resume, this is an excellent opportunity to get involved in a hyper-local campaign with national exposure. Leland Cheung, a GBYD-er and Candidate for Cambridge City Council is looking for full-time and part-time campaign managers, media directors, legislative assistants, outreach coordinators, and volunteers for paid and unpaid positions through the November election. Opportunities are available to contribute for shorter periods and to work on specific projects or deliverables. 

To learn more about Leland Cheung, please check out his message to Greater Boston Young Democrats.

...tell us what it would be! (and you can even ask more than one)

You can tell GBYD what questions you want the Boston Mayoral Candidates and vote on the other good questions at http://gbyd.uservoice.com.  We're crowdsourcing the development of our candidate questionnaire to make sure that we ask the questions that matter to you and other Young Democrats living in Boston.

After you've told us what questions you want the chapter to ask, be sure to RSVP for the live candidate forums we're supporting with MassVOTE.

GBYD is proud to support the MassVOTE Candidate Forums.  Come see the candidates live as they answer questions on the issues that matter most to Boston residents.  RSVP to attend today!

• Boston Mayoral Candidate Forum - Thurs., Sept. 3, 6:30-8:00 PM
• Boston Mayoral Candidate Forum - Thurs., Sept. 17, 6:30-8:00 PM
• City Council At-Large Forum - Tues., Oct. 10, 6:30-8:00 PM
• Boston Mayoral Candidate Forum - Tues., Oct. 27, 6:30-8:00 PM

Make sure you get future event invites by joining the GBYD Facebook Group.