Hillary Clinton will headline the Democratic Party of Virginia’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner at George Mason University’s Patriot Center in Fairfax this coming Friday, June 26. This will be her first campaign stop in the state since announcing her presidential campaign.
The event, usually hosted in Richmond, will instead take place in the highly populated and diverse Northern Virginia. President Obama and the former Secretary of State both spoke at the dinner in 2008, days before Virginia Democrats sided with Obama for the February primary.
Clinton is moving into Virginia with momentum. According to a recent Wall Street Journal and NBC national poll, Clinton has a 60 point margin ahead of her closest Democratic opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders, and substantial leads against her Republican counterparts. The poll also showed that 92% of Democratic primary voters see themselves supporting her.
Virginia is an historically swing state. In both the 2008 and 2012 presidential general elections, however, the state voted blue for President Obama, while Virginia Democrats have not lost a statewide election since 2009.
George Mason University and its Patriot Center have hosted presidential hopefuls in the past. Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee recently announced that he would seek the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination at George Mason University’s Arlington campus on June 3, 2015. In 2012, Former Governor and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney held a rally at the Patriot Center on the eve of the presidential general election. President Obama also chose the venue for a last chance rally before the controversial health care reform vote in 2010.
To purchase tickets, visit virginiademshrc.tumblr.com. For any questions or inquiries, email events@vademocrats.org. All funds will benefit the Democratic Party of Virginia.