Members of the Chatham County Democratic Committee and Members of the Democratic Party of Chatham County,
Today, I present myself to you as a Vice Chair candidate for our Committee. I will reach out to each of you individually to answer any questions, but I respectfully ask for your vote to continue to serve our Committee, but now in an elected position.
My Story.
I declared myself a member of the Democratic Party of Chatham County in December 2016. My call-to-action was the then Presidential election. It was the first time that I realized I could no longer remain an armchair Democrat.
Now, four years later, I have no regret about joining the Party and serving our Committee to the best of my ability.
In 2018, I was elected to the Committee to represent District 2. In this same year, I was asked to serve as Chair for our Communications and Education Sub-Committee. This role is an appointment, and I was thrilled to have been asked to take on such a vital position to serve our Committee. To date, while some days are better than others, I can only hope that I have answered the call over the last two years in a meaningful way to bring us together and better informed Democrats.
Should I be elected, I will desire to keep up with communications and education in an effort to continually make it better for us as a Committee and within the public perception. While we have a crucial vote in a few weeks, that is one vote, the next one is right around the corner. That leads me to my second personal priority that I want to see realized within our Committee. We will have less than two years to seek, train, and encourage qualified candidates to run for public office. This is one of our duties! This year, as many, many races were unopposed. This has to stop.
Fellow Democrats, I have other ideas, too, and I’m happy to share, but in short, ever better communication and candidate recruiting are my top priorities for 2021 and beyond.
More About Me
Patrick A. Kelsey is a Professor of Business at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He has worked as Managing Director and Development Director for Off-Broadway’s Irish Repertory Theatre, General Manager of Broadway’s Lyric Theatre, and Director of Operations for Broadway Across America. Patrick has served as a grant panelist for the Nancy Quinn Grant for ART/NY, Georgia Council for the Arts, South Arts, and the City of Savannah. He holds a BS in Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management and Technical Theatre from Ball State University, an MFA in Theatre Management & Producing from Columbia University, and an MBA from Nyack College. Patrick is an avid arts and culture advocate and leads both the Arts and Culture Alliance of Chatham County and Georgians for the Arts. He currently serves as Georgia’s state captain for American for the Arts’ National Arts Action Summit and is the City of Savannah Cultural Affairs Commissioner Chair-Elect. He lives in Savannah with his wife, Tara, his artistically-talented daughter, Eliza, and a cat named Harley.