This past weekend, Brian was honored as ‘Child Advocate of the Year’ by the Virginia PTA at their annual banquet on in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Over the past several months, Chairman Moran has been traveling the Commonwealth and speaking about the importance of Early Childhood Education for our children’s lifetime success.

“There is no more important measure of the success of a society then how we treat those at the dawn of their life. That’s why we provide protections for and make investments in Virginia’s children. I’ve been proud to partner with the Virginia PTA on important issues effecting Virginia’s children and am deeply honored that to receive this distinguished award,” said Delegate Moran. “We have great challenges ahead of us as a Commonwealth but I’m confident we can meet those challenges if we continue to put our kids first.”

The Virginian-Pilot has the story:

Moran, D-Alexandria, was given the award because he was a leading supporter of investing more into K-12 education, according to a news release. He also fought to make drunken driving a felony and has lobbied for expanding health care to every child in Virginia. Moran is the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

“Delegate Moran’s legislative record shows his devotion to the children of the commonwealth, leading the way on issues that have had a true, positive impact on their health, education and welfare,” said Dianne Florence, president of the Virginia PTA.

Brian joins Senator John Chichester, State Board of Education Chairman and former Delegate Thomas M. Jackson, Jr., former Governor Mark Warner, Delegate Jim Dillard and Delegate Panny Rhodes as a recipient of the award.

Brian joined the legislative panel at the 72nd Annual NAACP State Convention in Richmond on Friday. He spoke along with Delegate Dwight Jones, Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, and Secretary of the Commonwealth Viola Baskerville. Brian talked about expanding opportunity to every Virginian by providing early childhood education to give children an early head start. He raised his concern about our Juvenile Justice system where 65% of inmates are minority youths. Brian closed by talking about Oliver Hill and the challenges of equality and civil rights that continue to this day.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch caught up with Brian and fellow Democrats recently as they were unveiling their proposal for promoting alternative energy.

Dels. Ward L. Armstrong, D-Henry, the House Democratic leader, and Brian J. Moran, D-Alexandria, the caucus chairman, said at a news conference that their plan would help Gov. Timothy M. Kaine achieve his goal of reducing the rate of growth in energy use in the state by 40 percent.

The proposal would provide a tax credit for the purchase of renewable energy products and exempt alternative energy sources in homes and businesses from local property taxes.

It also would expand the Weatherization Assistance Program so more low-income people could weatherize their homes and save on utility bills.

This fall, I’ve traveled across the Commonwealth on a ‘Change the Assembly tour’ highlighting Seven Reasons to change the General Assembly. We are tired of the Republican leadership who:

• Opposed raising the minimum wage
• Fought life-saving stem cell research
• Brought us the abusive driver fee
• Scuttled efforts to raise teacher pay
• Blocked efforts to preserve our AAA bond rating
• Obstruct increases in long-term care for seniors
• Opposed the largest investment in education in Virginia history

The Daily Press caught up with us and wrote that,

“Moran, D-Alexandria, is perhaps the most visible Democratic face in a House of Delegates that is controlled by Republicans. During the past week and a half, he’s put 2,500 miles on his car driving around the state in support of Democratic candidates”

People are excited because we’ve got a strong slate of great Democratic leaders, and we’re promoting a positive, meaningful agenda for the future that we’ve been working to enact. So far we’ve unveiled our Veterans Bill of Rights, our commitment to early childhood education, our Protect Our Seniors Act, our bill to provide new protections for open government, and our 21st Century Alternative Energy Plan. And we developed these plans by working together with you. We held roundtable discussions with parents in Virginia Beach, and with our seniors in Danville.

Our tour took us from a Roanoke fundraiser with Mark Warner to the Third Annual Elephant Roast in Virginia Beach, to the Montgomery County Democratic banquet with Peggy Frank, to the Petersburg Democratic Committee Fall Banquet.

We attended the 10th District Annual Picnic at Morvan State Park, and met with the Keynote University Democrats and the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia. We attended a reception for Delegate Paula Miller, broke bread with fellow Democrats at the 8th District Kennedy-King Dinner, and celebrated Chris Brown at his 51st Birthday Bash. At each stop on our tour, we found a tremendous amount of energy and excitement about our great field of Democratic candidates.

We’re excited about the elections in 10 short days and we look forward to making more progress in the future. We will elect more Democrats and bring more common sense solutions to the challenges facing Virginia. We will expand economic opportunity to benefit all Virginians!

We recently announced our Virginia Leaders contest, and we asked you to decide who should get a $2,500 contribution. Your response was so tremendous that we decided to up the stakes, and offered a $5,000 to the candidate with the most votes, and a $2,500 contribution to the first runner up. We received thousands of votes from all across the Commonwealth. Today, we’re pleased to announce the winners of the Virginia Leaders contest.

First runner up is a Virginia leader who has a strong record of public service in Virginia. Beginning her career as one of Virginia’s first nurse-practitioners, she soon found herself running for the Nelson County School Board, then becoming the first woman ever to be elected to serve on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors. She was elected to represent Nelson and six other counties on the Virginia Association of Counties Board of Directors, and serve as Chair of that organization’s Health and Human Services Committee, and was a founding member of the Rural Caucus.

Congratulations to our first runner up! District 59, Connie Brennan is a true Virginia leader.

The winner of the Virginia leader contest is a great candidate with a long and prestigious record in her community. A Virginia business owner for 25 years, she has been Treasurer of her church for almost 20 years. She is a respected accountant and a member of the Galax School Board.

Our heartiest congratulations go to the winner of the Virginia Leaders contest – District 5, and their next Delegate, Susie Dixon Garner.

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Brian went to Blacksburg last weekend to support Peggy Frank for Delegate and the local candidates for office in Montgomery County. While in Blacksburg, Chairman Moran gave the keynote speech at the annual Montgomery County Democratic Committee fall banquet. With over 150 Democrats in attendance, Brian spoke about the reasons to change the General Assembly this fall, as well as Peggy Frank’s outstanding record of public service, including her record as a local prosecutor for 16 years. Brian was also there to support local candidates like Bill Brown, former Blacksburg Police Chief, for the Board of Supervisors.

With Brown’s victory, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will turn to Democratic control.

The morning after the banquet, Brian was the special guest at a lunch fundraiser for Peggy Frank’s campaign at a local law office. Brian spoke about why Peggy’s service is needed in Richmond, and how she will bring a record on public safety as well as make improvements and investments in education. They were joined by local Board of Supervisor members and constitutional officers including Sheriff Tommy Witt.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian J. Moran keynoted the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Elephant Roast this weekend in support of our Virginia Beach Democratic candidates and changing the General Assembly. You can view photos of the event at VBDems.org

Brian Moran and former Gov. Mark Warner recently visited Roanoke to raise funds for 11 Democratic candidates for the House of Delegates. The Roanoke Times has the story today,

Moran said that while he considers none of the races to be “low-hanging fruit,” there is a good environment for Democrats in Virginia this year. He said that the unpopularity of the Iraq war, President Bush and congressional Republicans has contributed to that, but gave credit also to Warner and Gov. Tim Kaine for helping revitalize a party that had until the past decade dominated state politics.

“We really have a great environment: It began with Mark and is being continued by Tim Kaine, but we also have individuals who are able to take advantage of it,” Moran said.

Yesterday morning, Brian Moran joined the folks at The Shad Plank blog to answer questions about the 2007 races as well as local issues such as transportation, health care, and ensuring economic opportunity for all Virginians. As Brian explained, Democratic success in the 2007 elections will be a boon for all Virginians.

Having a Democratic Senate and more moderate House of Delegates will provide three significant changes in Virginia(1) it will ensure reliable partners for Governor Kaine in his agenda for the remainder of his term; (2) it protects Virginia from hyper partisan one-sided redistricting in 2011 (like the process in 2001) where voters are driven into heavily Republican or heavily Democratic districts to maximize party advantage; (3) it will give life to some initiatives that may build momentum in a new Democratic Senate and have the momentum to carry forward in the House.

Moran, D-Alexandria, is perhaps the most visible Democratic face in a House of Delegates that is controlled by Republicans.
During the past week and a half, he’s put 2,500 miles on his car driving around the state in support of Democratic candidates.

The Alexandria Gazette has an in-depth write up about Chairman Moran and the Change the Assembly campaign. Here are some key excerpts:

As the leader of Virginia’s House Democratic Caucus, Del. Brian Moran (D-46) has emerged in the last few years as one of the state’s most prominent political faces. He is in charge of a statewide campaign to elect Democrats to the General Assembly, a potential candidate in the next gubernatorial election and the brother of a well-known congressman. He has no direct challengers, yet he has taken all House Republicans on as head of a Democratic-led initiative to retake control of Virginia.

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Brian’s tour of the state, working with Democratic candidates to clear the Republican Roadblocks and Fix What’s Wrong in Richmond garnered some coverage from WTOP Radio:

In just 34 days, Virginia voters will be making a choice that could shift the balance of power in the state and possibly even the country. Voters will be choosing the entire General Assembly, which has been in control of the Republicans for a decade.

That could change on Nov. 6 says Delegate Brian Moran (D-Alexandria) who has spent the last week traveling the state with other Democratic candidates. He says he’s “very confident the Senate will turn” and there will be “substantial” progress in the House.

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VA House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran was recognized today for his proposal of a ‘Military Veterans Bill of Rights’ by the Democratic Leadership Council.

Today the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) named VA House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian J. Moran as the ‘New Democrat of the Week’ citing his proposal of a ‘Military Veterans Bill of Rights’. Each week, the DLC selects a New Democrat from across the nation who is making a difference in the lives of his or her fellow Americans using modern, innovative means to promote the traditional values of opportunity, responsibility, and community.

“I’m proud and honored that the DLC chose to recognize my work for Virginia veterans and for our results-oriented model of government here in Virginia. As the son of a veteran from the greatest generation, there is no more important compact then the one we have with the men and women who bravely defend our nations freedom,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran.

Moran continued, “In a time of war, when the federal government has all too often failed to provide adequate services for our veterans, Virginia must step up to this moral obligation to care for those who put themselves in harms way to defend us.”