March 2026: A report on our past year

What is WIDC: In 1997, the indomitable and well-known progressive activist, Trudy Sundberg, launched the Oak Harbor Democratic Club, which eventually expanded to become the Whidbey Island Democratic Club (WIDC). Then, as now, the purpose of WIDC is, as Trudy put it, “to enlighten voters.” In 2003, WIDC was incorporated as a 527 non-profit. Membership in WIDC is open to those who are committed to progressive goals and who wish to join our events and be included on our membership list.

What we do: The past year has been a busy and rewarding year for WIDC. Among the highlights:

Promoting civic education through public forums has always been at the heart of WIDC with recent years featuring topics as diverse as Rural Health Care and Shame in American Politics. In 2025, we continued that tradition with What Happens When Climate Change Runs Into Insurance Risk?, featuring State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and presented in partnership with Whidbey Climate Action.
For nearly 20 years, Summerfest has been the event of the political season, an afternoon bringing together Democrats and progressives, state and local candidates and elected officials, friends, neighbors and newbies to talk and learn about the year’s ballot issues and candidates, all while enjoying summer refreshments. Summerfest 2025 was no exception and featured a presentation by the ACLU on protecting our civil rights.
New to WIDC this past year is Coffee and Conversations, informal gatherings focused on different topics – but the theme to date has been how our Whidbey community can show up, stand up and work together effectively to defend democracy.
WIDC celebrated its first annual “Serving Out Loud - Grethe Cammermeyer Building Community Award” at a memorable event honoring the lifetime achievements of (Ret.) Col Grethe Cammermeyer. Grethe, our friend and a longtime leader on WIDC’s Board, was honored by local leaders including Rep. Rick Larsen with video visits by Barbra Streisand and Glenn Close. Major General (Ret.) Trish Rose brought the audience to its feet with her stirring remarks ending with “We must all be like Grethe - we must all choose positive, choose powerful.”
Also new to WIDC this past year were Letters from the Island, a series of powerful, personal short essays by our Board members on varying topics – but all related to our theme of civic education and democracy.
Throughout the year many of us stood with hundreds of others at highway corners up and down the Island to visibly and loudly protest the erosion of civil rights and democracy in this country. Through our activism, we built powerful new alliances with Indivisible Whidbey, Whidbey League of Women Voters, Whidbey Climate Action, SOS Whidbey and others – all working toward our common goal of protecting and defending our civil rights, electoral integrity and our democratic institutions.

Other highpoints of the past year we’re pleased to report on:
- We grew our membership list to more than 600
- We continued our tradition as a proud sponsor of Sno-Isle Libraries Foundations’ annual Trudy Sundberg Lecture series.
- And importantly, we stayed in touch with our members with several informational messages each month.

Who we are: Current members of WIDC’s Board of Directors are:

•	Kim Drury, Chair, Langley                    	•	Helen Price Johnson, Clinton
•	Christina Elliott, Vice Chair, Oak Harbor	•	Jennifer Haase Morris, Coupeville
•	Margaret Andersen, Treasurer, Langley	•	Art Huffine, Oak Harbor
•	Ria Claassen, Secretary, Freeland	                •	Susi Prescott, Langley
	                                                                                •	Bob Wolters, Langley

Our financials at the close of 2025:

Donations: $3,200

Expenses: $2,950

Check out our website at https://www.whidbeyislanddemocrats.org By clicking on “Support us” you can join the mailing list and/or make a donation to help support our work!