In the main room of the Senior Recreation Center, the air resembled that of a miniature State of the Union address Tuesday evening.
“It’s our State of the Union,” said Cynthia Chestnut, chair of Alachua County Democratic Party. “It’s like a report card back to the people. You’re taking that information back to them.”
County Democrats hosted their third annual State of the Party and Awards Ceremony at the senior center, located at 5701 NW 34th Blvd., at 5:30 p.m. The event cost about $1,000.
More than 50 Democrats gathered to hear how their party advanced over the past year and honored five members who the 96-member executive committee voted for.
Among those awarded — including Hawthorne Mayor Matthew Surrency for his post-hurricane relief work and Alachua County resident Casey Willits for his volunteer work in voter outreach — was UF political science freshman Stephon Adams.
Adams, 19, who works as an intern for Chestnut and ran for an Impact Party seat in the Tolbert Area in September, won the Young Democrats award for his work engaging youth in politics. Adams said to encourage bipartisanship, he tries to make everyone feel welcome to the voting process.
“When I’m going out (to) work elections, I always make sure that we’re working as if there’s a completely equal playing field — that no one that is completely blue, no one is completely red,” Adams said. “Everyone gets their equal playing field.”
From left: Alachua County resident Casey Willits, who won the Sally Guthrie Award for volunteer work with voter outreach; UF political science freshman Stephon Adams, who won the Young Democrats Jeffrey Wershow Award; supervisor of elections Kim Barton, who won the Eleanor Roosevelt Award; and Hawthorne Mayor Matthew Surrency, who won the Harry S. Truman “The Buck Stops Here” Award, pose with their plaques.
