A Public Advocate for Working Virginians

Mike is officially launching his campaign for Lieutenant Governor with a press conference at Courthouse Plaza in Arlington on Monday, April 6 at 12:30 p.m.

The event kicks off a barnstorm tour to every Congressional district in Virginia throughout next week including Fairfax City, Williamsburg, Newport News, Norfolk, Franklin, Petersburg, Big Stone Gap, Bristol, Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Hot Springs, Covington, Martinsville, Fredericksburg, Stafford, Richmond, South Boston, Halifax, Charlottesville, Farmville, Campbell, and Lynchburg.  No stone will be left unturned.

At the launch, Mike will introduce his campaign staff, statewide advisory committee and will disclose his first quarter fundraising totals. He will also release his “Playbook to Defeat Bill Bolling,” an actual document that lays out his strategy for victory in November. 

Look forward to seeing you there!

Democratic bloggers from across the Commonwealth agreed this week that Mike had the strongest impact at the VAYD debate last Sunday and that he’s the candidate with the most momentum.

Aznew at The Virginia Democrat wrote after the debate:

Mike Signer, on the other hand, shined. … He remains the only LG candidate to articulate a unique and forceful vision of what he would do with the LG office beyond the statutory requirements.

By far, he also seemed to generate the most interest from audience members coming up to speak to him afterwards. He was still there, talking with voters, when I left. As I’ve said before, he is an interesting candidate.

Over at We will RockDem, Riley Murray agreed that Mike was the runaway winner:

Rockingham County's own UVa senior Sterling Elmore, was favorably impressed by Mike Signer's performance a the LG debate at the VAYD convo. … You have to give this campaign team credit, they know how to use Web 2.0 technology! Reminds me of aggressive use of social networking and new media in the Obama campaign. We all know how that played out.

This should give some Big Mo to Mike's campaign.

If you think he has momentum now, wait till next week ... Stay tuned for big news!

Mike was the resounding winner and fan favorite today at the Virginia Young Democrats debate in Charlottesville.  Students and young activists who attended the debate, which was the first of the campaign, agreed that Mike presented the most promising ideas for tackling Virginia's challenges, especially when it comes to jobs.  Many of the young Dems went in undecided but named Mike the clear winner.

Young Democrats Kristen Smith of Roanoke and Jeremy Caverly of Arlington shared their thoughts on the debate:

Mike delivered 13,354 hand-signed petitions to the State Board of Elections in Richmond today, more than enough to cover the 10,000 petitions required to secure a place on the ballot.  Mike was the second candidate for Lieutenant Governor to file his petitions.

The pictures below taken from a BlackBerry show Mike submitting the petiions.

Mike recently published a diary on Huffington Post, the most widely trafficked blog in the country.  In his diary, Mike wrote about the future of democracy in the Commonwealth.  Specifically, he addressed the disenfranchisement of felons after they have paid their debt to society.  These laws currently disenfranchise 25% of African American men in Virginia.  Mike handled a number of these cases when he served as Deputy Counselor to Mark Warner and feels very strongly that restrictive laws like this are a part of the "Old Virginny."  Visit Mike's diary and share your feedback!

"Taking Our Democracy to the Next Level" by Mike Signer.