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Political Note #396 Terry McAuliff VA Governor, Political Note #380 Seven Vulnerable Virginia Delegates, Political Note #395 Four More Vulnerable Virginia Delegates, Political Note #401 Hala Ayala Virginia Lt. Governor, Political Note #360 Aaron Ford Nevada Attorney General, Political Note #367 Josh Kaul Wisconsin Attorney General,
July 28, 2021 Political Note #401 Hala Ayala Virginia Lt. Governor
2021 General Election
On November 2, 2021, Virginia will be electing:
A new Governor
A new Lt. Governor
An Attorney General, the current one, I hope
A new House of Delegates – with the same Democratic majority, I hope
Hala Ayala https://www.halaforvirginia.com is the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor. Start with this. Hala Ayala is an American. She was born in Alexandria, Virginia. She graduated from Woodbridge High School in Virginia. Her father, who was murdered when she was two, was an immigrant from El Salvador. Some reports suggest he also had North African roots. Her mother was Lebanese. And Irish.
Go south from Alexandria on Route 495 to Route 95 to Woodbridge. Look west. North of Woodbridge, south of Manassas. That’s District 41 – the district that Hala Alala has represented since she was elected in 2017, in the Blue Wave that put the Virginia House of Delegates on the verge of a Democratic majority. The Democrats finished the job in 2019.
Born in 1973, Hala Ayala joined the Coast Guard in 1999. Between graduating from high school and joining the Coast Guard, her daughter, Amber Pointer-Ayala was born and, three years later, her son Chedrick Proshe IV was born.
Hala Ayala began her working life as a single mother. She worked in gas stations and other service jobs and lived without health insurance. She was, however, eligible for Medicaid. “Medicaid saved my son’s life. I was able to get the things that he needed, the services and medication. You don’t feel proud to be on Medicaid, you feel grateful. You feel that there’s something out there that will help you get a foot up, that you will have an opportunity …. I could’ve lost my son. And there were times that I thought I would have. I was very lucky.”
Hala Ayala’s way out of poverty was to join the Coast Guard. In the Coast Guard, she was on a trajectory. She enrolled in an online program at the University of Phoenix and completed the requirements in two years. She earned promotions to become an INFORSEC Specialist (IT Security). She persisted and was able to leave the Coast Guard in 2017 and become a cyber specialist program analyst with the US Department of Homeland Security.
As a civilian Hala Ayala founded and was president of the Prince William County chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW). She served as vice president of Virginia NOW. Then Governor Terry McAuliff appointed her as a member of the Governor’s Council on Women. She served on several Prince William County community boards, including the Literacy Foundation. As she thought about running for office she enrolled in and graduated from Emerge Virginia and the Virginia Progressive Leadership Project.
Hala Ayala left her Homeland Security job to run for Virginia’s House of Delegates. As a Delegate, she made her mark in 2019. She was the Chief Co-Sponsor of four bills focused on issues that include the foster care system, veterans benefits, public education zoning, and access to the School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program. She also has drawn on her experience in cybersecurity for legislative proposals. She sought to create a cybersecurity task force for Virginia that might ultimately lead to requirements that business dispose of consumer records and undertake other security practices. She also proposed requirements for security training for state employees and to permit the removal of content posted by minors. If she is elected Lt. Governor, the Commonwealth of Virginia can expect to see these proposals again.
Hala Ayala is a formidable campaigner. She demonstrated her abilities as she campaigned throughout Virginia to get the nomination, winning the primary by 13 points over the second-place candidate. Now, help her get elected as Virginia’s Lt. Governor.
She will need to be formidable. Hala Ayala’s Republican opponent is an African-American Marine veteran. She has been the Vice-Chair of Virginia’s State Board of Education and begins the issue section of her campaign web page explaining that she is pro-life and anti-abortion.
Hala Ayala https://www.halaforvirginia.com is an appealing candidate in a state where the governor cannot have a second consecutive term. We need her to win this election. Extend her trajectory. She’ll be a support for a Governor Terry McAuliffe and will be on a trajectory to higher office. The Lt. Governor race will not be as expensive as the Governor’s race. It will be expensive enough so that your donation could make a difference.
One Endangered Democratic Governor Needs Your Help Right Now.
Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, is facing a recall vote on September 24, 2021. Make donations to Stop the Republican Recall https://stoptherepublicanrecall.com
Of all the states with potentially competitive Gubernatorial elections, only in Arkansas is the Lt. Governor elected separately from the Governor. There are no Lt. Governor candidates in Arkansas to write about at this point. Some Lt. Governors are running for higher office. The most recent is the Wisconsin Lt. Governor, Mandela Barnes, who has just announced he was running for the US Senate.
Organizations to support
Democratic Governors Association (DGA) https://democraticgovernors.org Organizes to elect Democratic governors.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC). https://democrats.org The official organization of the Democratic Party.
Fair Fight https://fairfight.com Promotes fair elections around the country
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