2017 General Election Elected 53 – 47
Another Virginian for November. November is closer than you think
Hala Alaya https://ayalafordelegate.com/is from Virginia. She he is not a descendant of the First Families of Virginia. She is part Hispanic, part Lebanese and entirely a risk taker. She is a candidate for Virginia’s House of Delegates District 51.Moved by her experience in the Women’s March on Washington, still distressed with the election of Donald Trump as president, she took a risk. She considered a political campaign for herself. Shortly before the March deadline for the June primary, Hala Ayala resigned from her federal job and submitted papers as a candidate for District 51 of the Virginia House of Delegates. When she won the primary, she demonstrated her political skills as well as capacity for risk taking.
The election is on November 7, 2017 because Virginia has its state elections in odd years. This year it is state offices and the House of Delegates that are up for election. If Democrats carry the seventeen districts with Republican Delegates that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, they would gain a Democratic majority in the House of Delegates. It would be a risk to suggest that Democrats will gain majority. It is not as much of a risk as quitting your job to run for office. Hala Alaya quit her job to run for Delegate. A serious risk for her.
Hala Alaya has a story. A local. A native of minority-majority eastern Prince William County. She still lives there. Her father had both Salvadorian and North-African roots. Her mother was Irish and Lebanese. She says she is “a little like Ragu. It’s all in there.”
Hala Ayala began her working life as a single mother — in gas stations and other service jobs; living without health insurance. She was 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,” She is angry [that] state lawmakers have not expanded Medicaid. “[Expansion is] a humanitarian thing. [The legislative failure to expand is] an attack on humanity. 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 was to join the Coast Guard. She joined in 2008. 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 became a cyber specialist program analyst with the Department of Homeland Security. She quit that job to run for Delegate.
Hala Ayala‘s commitment to improving the status of women is not just personal. She 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 and is a member of the Governor’s Council on Women. She also serves on several Prince William County community boards, one of which is the Literacy Foundation. She is a graduate of Emerge Virginia and the Virginia Progressive Leadership Project. She is exactly the kind of candidate that Emily’s List likes to endorse. They have endorsed her.
You can help Hala Alaya https://ayalafordelegate.com/take this step successfully. She needs resources to defeat an incumbent seeking his third term. She needs resources now. November is closer than you think.
