From the Desk of Candidate for
County Council District 5 - Julianna Lufkin (D)

(2/2022) For those of you who haven’t met me, I’m Julianna Lufkin, I’m thirty years old, and this year, I’m running as a Democrat for Frederick County Council in District 5. District 5 stretches from Myersville, where I’ve lived for almost three years now, to Emmitsburg and Sabillasville, through Walkersville and Woodsboro, all the way down to Union Bridge and Libertytown. District 5 is the largest by area of Frederick County’s 5 districts, which means it’s more important than ever to have a strong, competent, and compassionate representative on the Council. I hope that you will elect me to be that representative.

I was born and raised here in Frederick County, and I think it’s the best place in the world. Our community is welcoming to new ideas and ways of living, while still holding true to our strong agricultural roots. I’ve worked for years in my family catering business, building relationships with our local producers and providers. As well as being a caterer, I’m a blacksmith, and I also teach enrichment classes to middle and high school aged kids, that focus on literature and history. In 2019, I was the first woman to graduate from the Virginia Institute of Blacksmithing, from which I hold a certificate in Artistic Blacksmithing.

While attending college in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I and two other students spearheaded a completely novel initiative. We negotiated with ViaRail (the Canadian equivalent of Amtrak) to incentivize our students to reduce their carbon emissions by taking the train instead of flying. Hours of negotiations and many emails and meetings later, the students, staff, and faculty of the University of King’s College had an on-going discount for train fare, as well as four designated trips each year to the most popular hometowns at King’s; Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa. On our inaugural trip, we filled a train car. Because of the efforts of myself and two other college students, we successfully reduced the carbon emissions caused by each student traveling to and from Halifax by 92%!

In future articles, I’ll be expanding on some of the planks in my platform, so keep your eyes peeled for information on my plans, one of which is to connect local farmers with our school system, so that funds stay in our communities while ensuring that our children have the wholesome food that they need to succeed. As a caterer who focuses on local and sustainable food, I have more than 15 years’ experience in this field, and I think that with my voice added to this movement, which is currently being undertaken by two nonprofits, we could create real change in the lives of our students.

Another plank in my platform involves extending the public transit in Frederick to reliably include our more rural towns, making sure that our ALICE population (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), our elderly, and those without driver’s licenses are able to work, shop, and live with greater ease. My life experiences, including growing up the child of a hardworking single mother, taught me how precarious it can be to have your income dependent on having a car. I will work to stabilize that for our community.

I have chosen the slogan “Lufkin Listens” so that every constituent of District 5 will know that they can find in me a representative who wants to hear the concerns and questions that matter to them.

For more information on Julianna, visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lufkin.listens