Dear Friends,

Newcastle’s Frances Perkins is a national treasure. Her framework for Social Security was but one of a host of innovative programs she helped realize during her work as FDR’s Secretary of Labor. Her credo was:

The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.”

The Frances Perkins Club of Lincoln County Democrats seeks to help that very spirit of Frances Perkins lives on through its grassroots efforts to promote Democratic ideals and elect good people to represent Lincoln County at the local, regional, state, and federal level.

For a generation now (since 1994), the Frances Perkins Club has provided the fuel for Democratic ascendance in Lincoln County. At its inception, Democrats could claim only a tiny percentage of Lincoln County’s voting population. As of July 2020, Democrats had become the majority party with a margin of more than 1,000 over our nearest competitor, the Republican Party. It would be naïve to assume that margin will hold without continued work on our part. But with your assistance, the Lincoln County Democratic Committee (LCDC) will continue to hold up progressive values and be a voice for positive change in our county, state, and nation.

LCDC efforts helped achieve important victories in 2020 – Chloe Maxmin’s rise to the State Senate, first-term Representatives Holly Stover and Alison Hepler’s return to the State House, Lydia Crafts’s successful campaign in State House District 90, Chellie Pingree’s return to the U.S. House, and President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s election – were all historic and critical steps toward a positive future for our state and country.

President Biden, addressing the nation, said,

It’s time for boldness, for there is so much to do,” and added “This is certain, I promise you: We will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era.”

Our president’s call to action and the need to heal the decades of widening inequality and injustices mean that with these wins our work to help our elected officials has only just begun.

Locally, the pandemic threw the shortcomings of our healthcare system into stark relief. Changes in our environment are wreaking havoc with our weather and impacting our fisheries. Our Democratic legislators are already working to realize a progressive vision for Maine by introducing legislation that will address shortcomings in mental health care, amend provisions aimed at defining sexual assault, improve rules governing in-home personal assistance programs, and enshrine a right to a healthy environment in our Maine Constitution. Democrats are working with colleagues to support education, better broadband, create good paying jobs, and better enable families to weather this pandemic together.

Because people like you had been generous in their support of the Frances Perkins Club, we were ready last spring when the financial uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic struck. We pivoted and mounted an efficient and effective campaign in the most dire of circumstances, encouraging record numbers of voters to choose Democratic candidates when they completed their ballots. Memberships and activities of the Frances Perkins Club account for almost 40 percent of the LCDC funding. Please consider joining fellow Democrats in support of this important initiative by downloading this form to print or send its equivalent with your check to make your generous contribution today. You may also donate securely online here. Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

/s/Betsy Wooster
Frances Perkins Club chair

/s/Christopher Johnson
Lincoln County Democratic Committee chair

Frances Perkins Photo Courtesy of the Frances Perkins Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, educational organization based in Newcastle, Maine. The Frances Perkins Center, founded in 2009, is not affiliated with the Frances Perkins Club of Lincoln County Democrats which was founded in 1996 as a way to recognize donors who make an investment in the Committee’s grassroots organizing efforts with an annual gift of $150 or more.