By Ariel Kelley
Last weekend, when I arrived back home from the Democratic National Convention, my first stop was a visit to the Sonoma County Democratic Party’s “Blue Wave BBQ & Bluau.” Still buzzing with excitement from the prior few days in Chicago, it was a pleasant surprise to see that the energy had followed me home to Sonoma County.
Local volunteers were organizing postcard parties, phone banks and trips to talk to voters in the key swing state of Nevada. Community activists were plotting how to best support our excellent Democratic nominees in key red-to-blue congressional seats across California. And our local Democratic clubs were fired up—reporting higher membership and greater excitement than they’ve seen in years.
All of this is possible not because of the Harris-Walz campaign and the Democratic Convention—to me it’s actually about something so much bigger than a few days in Chicago. It’s more than days of speeches contrasting our agenda with the darkness of Donald Trump and the dangers of Project 2025. It’s even about more than the ticket itself, though we’re incredibly fortunate to have such excellent candidates representing our party up and down the ballot.
It’s about—as Pete Buttigieg put it—a better kind of politics.
The kind of politics that exists when we’re brought together by rhetoric that is visionary, not vindictive. The policy that exists when we run on an agenda focused on expanding freedoms, not stripping them away. And the people we engage when we unite our communities through joy, not blind them by hate.
That was the true throughline I saw in Chicago. That there is hope in that kind of politics; but there is also power in fighting for the future instead of stewing over the past.
Healdsburg may be deep blue, but flipping the House of Representatives will hinge on the work we do in swing states and also right here in California. Holding the Senate and the presidency is only possible if our volunteer efforts activate voters in key swing states nationwide.
And that better kind of politics is achievable if we all show up, have the tough conversations and do the hard work of being engaged.
After all, it’s not too bold to suggest that women should have the freedom to choose what they do with their own bodies. That kids are free from gun violence in schools and at home, and that you are free to marry who you love. That working families should have the freedom not to have to choose between putting food on the table or paying the rent.
That’s what the Democratic National Convention reminded us of. That’s what the Harris-Walz campaign is all about. A campaign for the people and for the future—because we’re not going back.
Ariel Kelley is a Healdsburg City Council member, and a delegate to the State Democratic Party.
