Approximately 300 supporters showed up to the Mark Ridley-Thomas for Supervisor campaign headquarters on Saturday for a major Get Out The Vote (GOTV) rally. Video from the event follows below…

Dr. Cornel West helped get the party started by joining 72-year-old volunteer Joe Stringer on an improvised dance floor!

Later, Dr. Cornel West pumped up the large standing room only crowd as only he can:

“When [Senator Ridley-Thomas] decided to run, I said I’m coming back again. Why? Because every election he’s had for 30 years I’ve been standing right by his side. Oh yes! Oh yes!

That’s why the folks call me up on the radio and TV and say, ‘Brother West, we want your endorsement’. No, endorsement is too weak. This is a wholesale, unequivocal, affirmation of who he is as a human being committed to unconditional truth and unconditional love and politics is just the vehicle for it.

That’s the kind of states-person we need. And that’s what you got here in L.A. County.”

Senator Ridley-Thomas followed Dr. Cornel West with a rousing speech of his own where he implored supporters to keep working “wall to wall until 7:59 p.m. [Tuesday] and then I’m going to squeeze the death out of that last minute”.

Earlier in the program, State Controller and Ridley-Thomas supporter, John Chiang, spoke about the sweeping change coming on election day:

“On Tuesday when we elect Barack Obama as President of the United States of America, when we elect Mark Ridley-Thomas as our next great county supervisor, we’re going to send a signal from the eastern shores to the midwest cornfields to the Rocky Mountains to our home here in Los Angeles, California that our hopes and dreams are alive.”

Prior to Chiang’s remarks, State Board of Equalization Chair, Judy Chu, enthusiastically endorsed Senator Ridley-Thomas:

“I’m so excited. I’ve known Mark Ridley-Thomas for 25 years now — ever since he was Director of SCLC. And ever since I’ve known him, he’s always been committed to equality, to justice and to the people. And that’s the type of person we need at the Board of Supervisors.”

Many other community leaders - including Inglewood City Councilman Daniel Tabor, L.A. County Young Democrats President Becca Doten, LAUSD Board of Education President Monica Garcia, and Cerritos Councilmember Joseph Cho, Ph.D - spoke about the importance of electing Mark Ridley-Thomas to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.