August 10 Leg Act News
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TCDC’s Premier Event: The Annual Picnic and Pig Roast.
Mark your calendars for August 20 from 5 to 8 pm, Hickories Park, Owego. Tickets are available for purchase via TCDC members and ActBlue. For Ticket purchase and auction items, checks are preferred due to limits on how much can be collected in cash donations. Comptroller DiNapoli, Congressional candidate Aaron Gies, and New York State Assembly candidate Andy Fagan will speak.
Leg Act News Highlights
Grassroots campaigning, which is similar to grassroots advocacy, focuses on mobilizing a large group of constituents in a coordinated way to push for a particular policy or candidate. The goal of a grassroots campaign is to create broad public momentum to support and elect a preferred candidate or policy.
Grassroots campaigning is effective because it fosters genuine connections between voters and candidates. People value conversations with neighbors more than paid TV ads. Local volunteers focus on community concerns that truly matter to residents. This personal approach creates stronger voter loyalty than mass marketing (www.localvictory.com/grassroots/set-up-field operation.html).
One organization, Swing Left, has been actively organizing a program that pairs deep human conversations with AI-powered technology to help Democrats listen earlier and rebuild trust. Since November 2025, this organization has gone door-to-door talking with voters and keeping notes in voters’ own words. Next, it uses AI to share these insights across conversations and districts. AI also helps to analyze these insights and identifies recurring patterns of frustration, hope, and distrust that traditional polling and canvassing often miss. These trends are then shared with Democratic campaigns and state parties.
Effective grassroots efforts build trust within neighborhoods, develop and utilize personal networks, and translate broad concerns into tangible civic actions. In other words, we can use these strategies to reach Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who are not in agreement with the current administration and to work with them to get out the vote for our preferred candidate. We can do this simply by talking to people and then transmitting these efforts (often via minivan) to our group and to the congressional, state, and local campaigns.
Aaron Gies’ campaign started as a grassroots effort that resulted in over 70% of the Democratic vote in the District 23 primary. Now, he has a more traditional campaign. But that does not mean we should abandon our grassroots efforts. In Tioga County during the 2025 election campaign, we proved that in-person interaction can result in big wins. We paired that with a digital presence through our Facebook page and website, and finally, we wrote letters and postcards and called people up until election day.
Candidate campaigns will supply the talking points. What is important is engaging people by asking what matters to them. If they focus on differences, ask them about things that we have in common. Perhaps they agree with the war, but not about the gas and food prices we are experiencing. Local volunteers often tailor messages to resonate with neighbors, emphasizing practical concerns like school funding, public safety, transportation, and the economy.
Some grassroots efforts focus on protecting voters’ rights and ensuring fair access to the ballot. Activities include monitoring polling places and reporting long lines. Voter protection work emphasizes accuracy, nonpartisanship, and safety for volunteers (Thelegalguide.org Jan 1, 2026). Therefore, taking a poll worker course and working at the polls protects our vote. Also, people work at the Board of Elections after the election to confirm that all the tallies are accurate.
The Atlantic Journal-Constitution (July 27, 2026) reported that the Democratic Party of Georgia will have 30 field offices open by early August, along with 60 full-time field organizers and more than 100 coordinated campaign staffers, the biggest operation the party has ever had at this stage of a campaign. Georgia has had successful campaign strategies in the past that combined grassroots effort and traditional campaign efforts. Previous strategies that were successful in Georgia included mass door-knocking and phone banking; cultural and linguistic targeting, which increased engagement among underrepresented groups; statewide field infrastructure, which means there was a consistent approach statewide; and issue-based organizing that built voter loyalty beyond candidate name recognition (Forbes Tate Partners Feb 24, 2021).
Gies’ campaign is also hoping to have field offices in rural upstate NY, something that has been rare due to funding issues. If this effort is successful, volunteers will need to staff the offices to achieve campaign goals. Gies has also been very vocal about the issues, using words like “the common good” and “an affordable life”. He speaks about health care, education, and housing for everyone. He supports local farmers and local job creation and also believes in encouraging corporations to support workers. These are all issues that resonate with our population in Tioga County.
In January 2025, TCDC had a significant increase in supporters who attended our general meeting. The outrage was clear. None of us were happy with the Trump administration. The past year and a half have been grueling. We are tired, and some folks have tuned out. Heather Cox Richardson addressed this in a recent political chat (YouTube July 23, 2026). She states that many Democrats are planning for what is beyond Trump. There is changing momentum against billionaires who are cheating the American people. There is increasing recognition that we “must right the ship.” There are more and more new ideas coming out, such as Medikids, a Medicaid-like healthcare program for kids that starts from birth (Senator Andy Kim, D-NJ, www.Kim.Sen.gov ).
Richardson goes on to say that momentum is building for a new future and we can all be a part of it by supporting the people who can make a difference and by contributing to making a difference. Continue to call your legislators, stay involved with groups you share concerns about. Create the type of community where fascism can’t thrive. We cannot give in to fear. We now have hope that everyone’s efforts working against Trump and his minions will make a difference. She ends her podcast by saying that we are in many ways better today than we were a year ago because more and more people are participating, leading, and speaking up.
At the grassroots level, this community knows how to speak up and support the common good. We must continue to do so for all individuals, for our children and grandchildren, and for our community. After Labor Day, we must be ready to act!
Action Alerts/Events
TCDC’s Premier Event: The Annual Picnic and Pig Roast.
Mark your calendars for August 20 from 5 to 8 pm, Hickories Park, Owego. Tickets are available for purchase via TCDC members and ActBlue. For Ticket purchase and auction items, checks are preferred due to limits on how much can be collected in cash donations. Comptroller DiNapoli, Congressional candidate Aaron Gies, and New York State Assembly candidate Andy Fagan will speak.
The Tioga County Fair - Aug 12 - 15, 12 noon until 6 pm (11 am until 6 pm on Aug 15).
A volunteer is still needed for Friday Aug 14 from 3:30-6:00 and Sat Aug 15 from 11-1:30 and 2 to 4 pm. Contact Mary Schwarz at msp5@cornell.edu or TCDC at tioganydems@gmail.com.
Meet and Greet fund raiser for Candidate Andy Fagan on August 16th, 2-4 pm at the Newark Valley Noble Room at 9 Park St. Questions: Jim Tornatore 607-205-2616.
The next TCDC meeting will be on Tuesday September 22 (the 4th Tuesday of September!) We will have the required biennial election of TCDC officers and Town Chairs before the general meeting. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDERS TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT DATE.
Call Langworthy, 202-225-3161, Schumer, 202-224-6542 and Gillibrand, 202-224-4451.
Two bills have included the unpopular voter suppression piece called the SAVE America Act. First, there is the Funding for War and Save America Act, and second, there is the Combined Voter ID and Insider Trading Acts. Both have passed the House and are now in the Senate. Call to continue to oppose both bills.
If you are interested in joining the Leg Act Committee or want to submit something to our newsletter, send an email to TCDC at TIOGANYDEMS@GMAIL.COM or MARITA FLORINI at FNPMAF1@GMAIL.COM An educated citizenry is essential for a healthy democracy.
