Good Trouble Lives On: Outside Manassas Park City Hall, Thursday, July 17, 6-8 PM
Good Trouble Lives On is a national day of nonviolent action to respond to the attacks posed on our civil and human rights by the Trump administration and to remind them that in America, the power lies with the people.
On July 17, the anniversary of Congressman John Lewis’s passing, we’re taking action across the country to defend our democracy and carry forward his legacy of Good Trouble.
From voter suppression bills like the SAVE Act to the criminalization of protest, the Trump administration is launching a full-scale attack on our civil and human rights. But we know the truth: in America, the power lies with the people, and we’re rising to prove it.
This is more than a protest; it’s a moral reckoning. A continuation of the movement Lewis helped lead, and a new front in the struggle for freedom.
This local event is being organized by volunteers with the Manassas & Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee for THURSDAY, JULY 17, from 6-8 PM, on the plaza outside Manassas Park City Hall (Manassas Dr at Park Center Ct) and along the NORTH sidewalk of Manassas Drive between Bank St and the railroad tracks.
We will stand along that Manassas Drive sidewalk with protest signs and small American flags to be seen and heard by those in passing vehicles.
Ample free parking will be available in the surface parking lots on either side of the City Hall/public library building and in the nearby VRE parking lot on the other side of the railroad tracks. Public restrooms will be open inside the City Hall/library building.
Our event headquarters will be beneath a blue popup canopy tent on the City Hall plaza. Visit our headquarters to learn about various local political activities and to create a handmade protest sign if you need one.
If you have one, please bring a small handheld American flag and a protest sign that speaks to your issue(s). Patriotic attire is welcome but optional. In addition, bring a water bottle, dress for the weather, and reach out if you have any questions. And please spread the word!
IMPORTANT: We have received a public gathering permit from the City of Manassas Park to conduct this event. Participants must obey all pedestrian and traffic laws and may not interfere with the movements of vehicles or pedestrians. Our event marshals, wearing orange vests, will act to de-escalate any potential incidents of harassment, vandalism, or violence. If you see something, say something. If the City requires us to modify our plans, we will notify event registrants in advance via email.
Please note: A core principle behind our Good Trouble Lives On actions is a commitment to nonviolence in all we do. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.
In addition, two separate but related events are scheduled for the coming week:
1) This SUNDAY, July 13, from 2-4 pm, we’re hosting a Good Trouble Lives On Sign-Making Party at the Bull Run Public Library on Ashton Ave to create protest signs for the July 17 event. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP HERE, so we’ll bring enough poster board and markers.
2) On Thursday, July 17, from 5-6 pm, convening on the plaza outside Manassas Park City Hall, Delegate Michelle Maldonado (HD-20) will host a ‘Good Trouble Social Hour’ immediately before our ‘Good Trouble Lives On’ event for light fare, drinks, and community building. Please RSVP at https://forms.gle/W64ycybth3Lrii3Q7 so staff can get headcount for food and drinks.
We hope you can help make Good Trouble with us next Thursday.
Support Our 2025 Democratic Candidates for a More Just, Fair, Prosperous, and Affordable Virginia
Kevin Moreau for City CouncilLucy Pullen for Commissioner of the Revenue
Our 2025 Voter Outreach Booths
Our booth at Manassas Park’s National Night Out event, August 6, 2024
The Manassas & Manassas Park Democrats will staff tables at major community events this spring, summer, and fall, to spread the word about our local Committee and Democratic candidates and to promote voter registration and early voting for the November 4th General Election. Look for our booth at the following events. Better yet, sign up for a volunteer shift at those events, to help us with this vital voter outreach.
The Manassas & Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee typically holds monthly membership meetings on the third Wednesday of each month, from 7-8:30 pm. All Democrats are welcome at all of our meetings.
After meeting only virtually via Zoom during the height of the COVID pandemic, MMPCDC resumed meeting in-person in mid-2021 on the third Wednesday of each month from 7:00-8:30 pm, at the “Social Soiree” event center, 8270 Shoppers Square, Manassas, VA 20111 . Our in-person meetings now offer a Zoom attendance option.
Our scheduled meeting dates in 2024 are as follows: January 15, February 19, March 19, April 16 (online only), May 21, June 18 (one day after the June 17 primary), July 16, August 20, September 17, October 15, and November 19.
For December, we typically have a potluck holiday party in lieu of a business meeting. However, we have decided not to hold any holiday party or business meeting in December 2024.
Any changes to these scheduled meetings will be announced in the scrolling banner above.
Manassas & Manassas Park Democrats Reorganized for 2024-2025
The in-person attendees at our January 17, 2024 reorganization meeting
The Manassas & Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee held its biennial reorganization meeting on Wednesday, January 17, 2024. The hybrid-format meeting allowed participation either in person or remotely via the Zoom platform. Sixty-three members were elected to the Committee at that initial meeting.
Congratulations to the following individuals who were elected as Committee officers for the 2024-2025 biennium:
Co-Chairs: Cheryl Macias and Gretchen Almstead
Vice Chair: Yesy Amaya
Secretary: Vacant
Treasurer: Patt Fields
We extend our sincere appreciation to Donald Shuemaker, our outgoing vice chair who has served us in that capacity for more than a decade, and to Michael Laverty, who has served as our secretary for more than four years.
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Virginia Supreme Court Approves New State and Federal Legislative Districts
On December 28, 2021, the Supreme Court of Virginia unanimously approved three sets of final legislative district maps in the aftermath of the 2020 US Census.
The new district maps apply for legislative elections through the year 2031, starting in 2022 with elections for the entire US House of Representatives. The entire Virginia General Assembly was elected under the new districts in 2023.
The Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park are now united within the new 20th House of Delegates District, the new 30th Virginia Senate District, and a reconfigured 10th Congressional District.
The new legislative district maps for Manassas and Manassas Park are displayed below.
Read the full court order and view all three sets of district maps here.
The new 20th House of Delegates District
The new 30th Virginia Senate District
Virginia’s new 10th Congressional District
New Voting Precinct, Precinct Boundary Changes, and Optical Scanner Voting Machines for City of Manassas in Effect, Beginning in 2017
Beginning in 2017, the City of Manassas has a sixth voting precinct, with its polling place at George C Round Elementary School at 10100 Hastings Drive. At the same time, the boundaries of the City’s five other voting precincts have been adjusted, to better balance the number of registered voters within each precinct. These changes were prompted by continued residential development and population growth within the City and the requirement under the Code of Virginia that no precinct have more than 5,000 registered voters or 4,000 votes cast in a presidential election.
On February 13, 2017, the Manassas City Council adopted a new City of Manassas voting precinct ordinance that sets the boundaries and designates the polling places for all voting precincts (including the central absentee voting precinct in the Old Town Hall building at 9025 Center St).
Below is a map of the new voting precinct boundaries. In Spring 2017, the Manassas Voter Registrar’s Office mailed a voter registration letter to all voters registered in the City to inform them of their polling location.
New City of Manassas Voting Precincts, Starting in 2017 (click to enlarge)
Also in 2017, the City of Manassas has begun using the OpenElect Voting System from Unisyn Voting Solutions to scan and record votes made on paper ballots. Voters now mark their votes on a paper ballot and then insert the ballot into an optical scanner that reads the selections and takes a digital image of the ballot. After the polls close, poll workers run a tally report on the scanner to obtain the precinct results.
Thanks to the Manassas Voter Registration Office, one of the new voting machines was demonstrated at our March 6, 2017 Manassas & Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee meeting.
Has Your Voter Registration Been Purged?
Every two years, the Virginia Department of Elections removes inactive voters from the voter registration rolls of every Virginia locality.
Reportedly, a voter’s registration is purged only after an inactive voter fails to respond to repeated mailers from the Virginia Department of Elections requesting an address verification and then fails to vote at all during two Federal Election Cycles following the initial mailer.
You might want to check if your name is on one of the four lists linked above.
These lists of purged voters are organized by numbered voting precincts, and for the City of Manassas those numbers reflect the new (starting in 2017) voting precinct boundaries, not the precinct boundaries from prior years. The precinct codes for each city are as follows:
PCT Manassas Polling Location 0001 Dean Elementary School 0002 Weems Elementary School 0003 Metz Middle School 0004 Haydon Elementary School 0005 Baldwin Elementary School 0006 Round Elementary School
PCT Manassas Park Polling Location 0001 Manassas Park High School 0002 Costello Park Community Center 0003 Manassas Park City Hall
The best and easiest way to verify that your voter registration is still valid is to review your voter record at the Virginia Department of Elections voter portal, after entering your name, date of birth, locality, and last four digits of your social security number.
Paul J. Reid, April 13, 1951 – February 23, 2017
Paul Reid, a stalwart member of our Committee and a good friend to many of us, passed away on Thursday, February 23, following a bout with cancer. He died at home in his wife’s arms.
Paul was born April 13, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of the late William F. and Marcella M. Reid. He retired from the Central Intelligence Agency, then worked for General Dynamics and Geospatial Solution Inc., finally retiring in 2015.
After leaving federal service, Paul became an active volunteer for the Manassas & Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee.
EJ Scott, MMPCDC’s Immediate Past Chair, summarizes Paul’s service to our Democratic community as follows:
Paul Reid was the true embodiment of Democratic values. He believed in equality and justice and was dedicated to making this country live up to its ideals. He was a quiet man, except when talking about the craziness exhibited by the other side. No one worked harder and longer than Paul. He knocked doors, made phone calls, worked the polls and was always the first one onsite to help set up for events. He was given MMPCDC’s second Blue Victory Chair’s Award for his service and commitment to getting Democrats elected.
Paul spoke fluent Spanish and loved to dance the salsa with his wife Betsy. At our festival booths, it was reassuring to have him there to converse with our Spanish-speaking visitors.
After the House of Delegate Districts were redrawn, and we could not find anyone to run against Jackson Miller, Paul even agreed to be our write-in candidate for the 50th District Delegate. We called and handed out write-in ballots, and he received a good vote showing.
Paul was generous. He often offered to assist with financing events, and he sponsored tickets to our events, so the less fortunate could attend. He gave to Democratic candidates and then continued to give his time and energy to getting them elected.
Paul Reid was a participant. Paul was a soldier in the fight to turn Virginia Blue. And recent past elections have shown the rewards of that battle.
When his widow was asked what can we do, she responded simply, “Take back Congress.” Nothing would please him more.
Paul also volunteered as the Vice President of in-line hockey for the Prince William Hockey Club from 1998 to 2006, where he also coached two of his sons, Andrew and John. In 2006, he purchased a second home in Capon Bridge, West Virginia, where he spent the weekends experimenting with home brewing recipes, reading, kayaking, fishing, biking.
Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Elizabeth F. (Betsy) Reid, three sons, Peter Reid of Falls Church, VA, Andrew Reid of Manassas, VA, and John Reid of Austin, Texas; one granddaughter, Mia A. Reid, and one grandson Luke M. Reid; daughter in-laws Alix Reid and Elizabeth Gonzales.
