How Can I Help?

This year West Virginia Democrats have recruited some of the best candidates for state and local offices. We are motivated, focused, organized, and ready to improve our government.  You see how dysfunctional the current Republican supermajority is.  Help us change that.

What can you do?

Volunteer!

Everyone can do something.  Your skills are needed.  Do you know what you want to do?  Here are some ideas:

Contact a candidate and offer to help them!

• Door knocking – going door to door with a friend and talking to people one on one is one of the most effective ways to convince uncertain voters.
• Door hanging – too shy to knock on a stranger’s door yourself?  Volunteer to go from door to door and leave door knockers (3”x8.5” fliers with candidate information on them) without actually talking to anyone.
• Drive a candidate – voters love to hear from the candidates themselves, but often houses are too far apart to walk from door to door, and some places are not great to visit alone.  Driving your candidate from house to house and waiting within sight of them, makes it possible for the candidate to visit more potential voters.
• Put up yard signs.  Yard signs may not have much information on them, but name recognition is key.  Placing a yard sign in your own yard or by a nearby intersection gets the candidate’s name out there.

Write articles!  Tell the rest of the county what’s happening and how to fix it.

• Write for BlueJefferson.Org
• Write Letters to the Editor and OpEds (they can be reposted on bluejefferson.org)
• Interview candidates
• Post articles on your own social media
• Help financially

Spend some money, if you have any to spare!

• You can give one-time donations or recurring donations.  Most candidates have ActBlue on their websites, so you can donate online.  Checks and cash are welcome too.
• Buy swag!  Most candidates have yard signs, pins, pens, t-shirts, and hats.  Buying these helps fund the campaign.  Wearing your swag and talking about it is a great way to start conversations and encourage people to vote the way you want them to.

Not sure which candidate to support?  Or wanting to support several?

• Visit their Facebook.  Almost all candidates have Facebook.  The more people click on their pages, the more the algorithm decides they are worthwhile and shares their links.  Follow all the candidates that you care about and “like” and/or comment as often as possible.  Repost the good stuff.  This may feel like chill time when you’re on the couch relaxing, but it is a great way to support your party.  Make it part of your routine.
• Visit their other social media.  Facebook is the most popular, but Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube are also important ways for the candidates to share information.  The more you visit their sites, the more likely they are to go viral.  Reaching more people through social media is critical in this age when many people get their news this way.
• Visit their web pages.  Lots of clicks helps here too.  And you can learn what you do and don’t like about your favorite candidates.

Calling information geeks!

• Like to do research?  Upset with current affairs?  Search the web and give us lists of what our opponents have done that is bad.
  • Go to wvlegislature.gov and look up what bills they sponsored
  • Figure out which ones are good, bad, or neutral.
  • Make lists of what is bad and why and give the candidates sound bites they can use on social media, while door knocking, or in debates.
  • Make lists of what is not so bad.  Candidates don’t want to be caught flatfooted if a potential voter asks them about something good their opponent did either.
• Find solutions!  Tired of focusing on the bad?
  • Pick your favorite cause and research!
  • Determine what has been and what has not been done on that subject
  • Find out who favors and who fights against your cause and why
  • Figure out what can and cannot be done to fix it
• Tell the candidates so they can form sound bites and write legislation

Calling Social Media Stars!

• Teach us! Do you know your way around social media?  Most of our candidates are still learning how to share their messages.  If you have time to sit down with your favorite up and coming Democrat and show them how to link their Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, website, TikTok and other accounts that would be great.
• Tell us how and when to repost things.
• Let us know what’s effective.
•  Edit for us!  Make our posts!  If you have the time to help us by improving and posting our photos and videos, please do.