Video: Del. Lopez, Sen. Petersen, Sen. Puller Speak at Scott Surovell for State Senate Kickoff

I just got back from the kickoff for Scott Surovell for State Senate in Woodbridge. I'd say there were at least 100 people there, including a large number of Democratic candidates (e.g., Joana Garcia and Paul Krizek for House of Delegates; Atif Qarni for State Senate; Justin Wilk for Prince William County School Board, Earnie Porta and Rick Smith for Prince William County Board of Supervisors, etc.) and elected officials (e.g., Senators Dave Marsden, Chap Petersen Toddy Puller and Jennifer Wexton; Delegates Patrick Hope, David Bulova, Marcus Simon, Alfonso Lopez). I shot video of the speeches, which I'll post here and in the comments section of this post as soon as they're uploaded to YouTube. Enjoy!P.S. Photo of Sen. Toddy Puller and Del. Scott Surovell by Steve Bunn. P.P.S. In his speech, Surovell thanked Sen. Puller for her great work over the years, including for veterans and for the Route 1 corridor. Surovell stressed several main things he'll fight hard for in the State Senate: 1) revitalizing and redeveloping the Route 1 corridor, also extending both the Yellow and Blue Metro lines; 2) strengthening and investing in public education; 3) promoting economic fairness and social justice; 4) expanding Medicaid ("there are 32,000 people in the 36th district...currently getting their healthcare from Medicaid"); 5) putting "predatory" payday and car title lenders out of business; and 6) promoting clean energy and environmental protection (e.g., storm water management) in general. Finally, Surovell stressed the importance of helping other good Democrats get elected through a "broad, coordinated campaign," as well as continuing to build the party and the grassroots through the district. Video: Del Alfonso Lopez speaks at Scott Surovell for State Senate kickoff (3/14/15) (0.00 / 0) [delete comment] Alfonso Lopez said he's known Scott Surovell for nearly three decades, and Scott is "about as strong a fighter for the issues that we care about as anybody in Richmond...He is exactly the kind of candidate we need to represent this district in the Senate in Richmond." Lopez added that Surovell has stood "shoulder-to-shoulder with me on fighting anti-immigrant bills...on making sure that our social safety net is not frittered by the Tea Party element...This State Senate district is 46% minority...This community is forgotten far too often...You know who doesn't forget this community? Scott Surovell...I don't care where your head is, where's your heart? Noone's got a bigger heart and will fight more for us than Scott Surovell in the State Senate..." Follow me on Twitter. Follow Blue Virginia on Facebook and Twitter. by: lowkell @ Sat Mar 14, 2015 at 16:52:47 PM EDT [ Reply ] Video: Sen. Toddy Puller speaks at Scott Surovell for Senate kickoff (0.00 / 0) [delete comment] Sen. Toddy Puller, who is retiring, strongly endorses Scott Surovell to succeed her. Puller says she's known Surovell a long time, has worked with him over the years, that he did a great job as Chairman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. "Scott really is a product of Mt. Vernon...he grew up there." "I'm very happy to be here on behalf of Scott...he will be a very good Senator; I may have to take him out to lunch a few times" (Scott asks if that's still allowed, Sen. Puller says she'll let him pay). Puller says "we're all going to be proud" of Scott Surovell as the new State Senator from the 36th district. Follow me on Twitter. Follow Blue Virginia on Facebook and Twitter.