So many people showed up on Tuesday afternoon that they temporarily filled the parking lot of the Silver Collection Hotel and had to move their cars across the street to Wegmans.
Inside, the crowd packed shoulder-to-shoulder, although Fredericksburg School Board chair Matt Rowe did find enough space to hold up a sign that was just a large cutout face of the political rock star-turned guest of the hour.
Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to Del. Joshua Cole’s office to root on volunteers for Cole, Spotsylvania School Board member Nicole Cole and Stacey Carroll, all Democratic nominees for the Virginia House of Delegates. Nicole Cole faces veteran Del. Bobby Orrock, a Republican, and Carroll, GOP Del. Paul Milde.
Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and presidential candidate, said those gathered in Fredericksburg were doing the “most important part of politics” by signing up to campaign door-to-door.
“It’s not a guy like me going on Fox News — I’m proud to do that where I can — but that’s not the most important politics,” he said. “The speeches aren’t the most important politics. [The] most important part of politics is reaching out to your neighbors.”
Buttigieg was among several speakers on Tuesday who mentioned the “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump that took place Saturday across the country, including in Fredericksburg. He said that people in communities around the nation would love to have an election next month in which they could express their views on the country’s direction.
“You have that opportunity,” he told the captive audience, alluding to the ongoing cycle, culminating Nov. 4, in which Virginia voters will select a governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 members of the House of Delegates. “The question is: Are you ready to use it?”
Buttigieg said Virginians have a rare opportunity this November to make their voices heard about the direction of the country. (Submitted photo)
Buttigieg said Republicans do a good job at “tricking us” into thinking that Democrats are in the minority of American public opinion when they are actually in the mainstream.
Now, he said, “We see masked federal agents going down the streets of American cities. That’s the sort of thing that conservatives and libertarians used to invoke as their greatest fear back when we were arguing over politics when I was a student.”
Rep. Eugene Vindman, a Democrat whose 7th District includes the Fredericksburg area, also rallied locals in his party at Tuesday’s event.
Vindman said when he thinks about why progressives are fighting politically, he thinks of Spotsylvania County parents who rely on Medicaid as a backup to private insurance for one of their children, who has a rare genetic disorder.
The boy’s mother “has told me repeatedly that if Medicaid is cut, her son Luka will not see his fifth birthday.”
Vindman spoke on the governor’s race, as well, in which his predecessor, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, faces GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
He used strong language in describing the current administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin as being led by “something between a possum and roadkill.”
“It’s true,” the congressman said. “When it comes to defending the interests of everyday Virginians, they roll over and do whatever the president tells them to do.”
Like Buttigieg, Joshua Cole, who is challenged this year by Republican Sean Steinway, told the Democratic crowd that their job of knocking on doors in the community is significant.
“I think it’s so important that one of the things that we’ve been praying for is for people in power to get some sense,” he said. “And we’ve also been wanting people with sense to get some power.”
Cole also used humor when mentioning Tuesday’s out-of-town speakers.
“Welcome to the 65th House District,” he said, “and I’m excited that we have some amazing guests in the room.”
But then, when it seemed like he was describing Buttigieg and Vindman, he instead turned to the crowd of volunteers:
“I’m talking about y’all.”
