The goal for Congress Day is to give the Mason community and Northern Virginia residents an opportunity:

• To learn more about the policies and legislative proposals of Virginia’s U.S. Senators and NoVA US House members for the 118th Congress and 
• To tell their representatives and their staff what issues are most important them and how they might be best addressed

Congress Day 2023 will occur on April 24th between 8:45am and noon at the Hub Ballroom on the Fairfax Campus.

Activities in the front and rear of the Hub ballroom will include:

• 50 minute town halls with current and former congressional representatives discussing proposed bills for the 118th Congress;
• Special panel session on “Women in Politics”;
• Speed Roundtable discussions about legislation on key issues such as climate change, human rights, public safety, college affordability, and democracy.
• Opportunities to learn about the representatives, university programs, policy-focused research centers, and student groups

Students onAir @GMU, coordinators for this event, plans to have a Congress Day at a Mason campus every year and to facilitate Congress Days throughout the US.  All sponsor donations will go to these future events. To learn more about Mason students and alumni supporting democracy, go to this post.

For more information, contact Camila Anderson, Students onAir Outreach Manager at cander9@gmu.edu or Dulguun Gantumur, Students onAir Logistics Manager at dgantumu@gmu.edu.

YouTube Livestream – starts at 8:45 am

Meet Your Candidates night will feature Fairfax County state Senate and House of Delegate candidates up for election on November 7, 2023. This event will occur on Tuesday October 24 between 4pm and 8pm on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University at Dewberry South and Lobby in Johnson Center.

• Each candidate will participate in a town hall giving a short speech followed by a 20 minute Q&A with the audience. Most of the candidates will have tables in the Dewberry Lobby where you can talk with their volunteers and pick up their literature. The town halls are intended to be a conversation with the candidates to educate voters on their policy positions and relevant experience.
• Democratic and Republican Party leaders will close the night with town halls at 7:00 and 7:30 with a short speech about the candidates and how the audience can volunteer, intern, and donate money to support their party organizations and candidates, after which they will take questions from the audience.
• Additional table hosts in the Dewberry Lobby will focus on voting, university programs and student groups, and party affiliated organizations.

Democracy onAir, a nonpartisan 501c3 nonprofit managed by GMU alumni, is coordinating Meet Your Candidates night. Democracy onAir will be coordinating a similar event at GMU on October 22, 2024 for the 2024 congressional and presidential races.
The Fairfax County Republican Committee and the Fairfax County Democratic Committee have assisted with organizing the candidates for this event..

For more information about the town halls, contact our student coordinator Sophie Wagner at sophie.wagner@onair.cc.
For more information about the tables in the Dewberry Lobby and Democracy onAir, contact Scott Joy at scott.joy@onair.cc.

This MTC Day has been changed to a Meet Your Candidates Night. Information on this new post can be found here.

Meet the Changemakers day will occur on Tuesday October 24, 2023 between 12pm and 8pm at the Johnson Center Dewberry Hall on the Fairfax Campus (Google map). If you are unable to attend in person, you can watch our livestream of the town halls and presentations (and chat with fellow viewers). See flyer below for schedule of events and participants.

Meet the Changemakers  activities will include:

• Presentations by Mason research faculty –  Approximately 4-6 minutes about their research center and a research-based policy goal followed by a short Q&A session with the audience.
• Town Halls with 2023 General Assembly candidates – 25 minute discussions with candidates for Virginia Senate and House of Delegates and their policy proposals that address grand challenges being discussed at Meet the Changemakers day.
• 50 minute Town Halls – Similar to research center presentations as described above followed by federal, state, and local policymakers discussing their views on policy and what legislation they are proposing to address their policies followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
• Opportunities to learn about Mason research centers and discuss their policy goals based on their research at Roundtables in Dewberry South. Other stakeholders in the policy discussions will also have tables in the lobby in addition to Mason students displaying their research posters.

For more information, contact Sophie.Wagner@onair.cc