If you’ve been to a local parade in the past few years, chances are that you have seen the handiwork of Stephanie Delzell, a Democrat with enough energy to volunteer for TWO counties—Henderson and Transylvania.
Stephanie, who creates many of HCDP’s eye-catching signs, lives in Brevard but became involved with HCDP through her good friend, Chris Walters. “I moved to North Carolina from Minnesota in 2015, and after I met Chris I started hanging around HCDP more often. In 2018 I made a banner for Gayle Kemp, who was part of the wave of women who ran in the midterms to protest Trump. I’m so proud of Gayle for running in that race!”
This summer, Stephanie has taken on a new and ambitious project of doing a daily vlog that chronicles her ongoing sign-holding efforts throughout the area.
“The current vlog requires me to go out on the street to exercise our First Amendment rights and for me personally to spend the privilege that I didn't earn,” she said. “I can do things some people cannot do. Many people must work too many hours or have too many obligations or don't have reliable transportation, so they cannot hold signs every day. But I can do this. And I think it is important since ultimately—via Project 2025 & the Convention of States—Republicans are absolutely trying to take away our First Amendment rights.”
Stephanie shares her experiences—and her exuberance for the project—through a playlist of videos on YouTube.
“Each day I try to encourage people to align with the values of the Democratic Party and build the Democratic Party brand so that each subsequent election we can build on our party's values and commitments. The daily vlogs are not about current political events, because there are tons of channels doing those types of videos and commentary better than I ever could. My videos are more about politics in general, basic civics, encouraging Democrats, and building the Democratic brand. I would love to have company, so please let me know if you’d like to join me for a day or more!”
To maximize the message, Stephanie created a sign-holder backpack she calls the SCOFAH (Self-Clasping Overhead First Amendment Holder) that allows a person to use their hands while displaying three distinct messages. Instructions are on the website https://www.scofah.com. She is also learning to build robots to make even more signs more easily.
Stephanie is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and worked in software development for most of her career. Besides helping HCDP, she volunteers for the Transylvania County Democrats, helping administer the website and other tasks.
While she’s been a Democrat all her life, Stephanie says she wasn’t overly involved until Clinton lost in 2016. “I naively thought there were other ways to make an impact in the world, but the truth is that politics is our real power. If we (the Democrats) don't wield the levers of governmental power by winning elections, then all our lives are marginalized and negatively impacted by the unfair policies of the Republicans.”
If you’re interested in joining Stephanie, you can get in touch with her by emailing at sufiness@gmail.com.
“Don't be afraid to look bad,” she says. “No one will remember anyway. And this is really important to save our Democracy. I'm so pleased and grateful to all the people who have worn a SCOFAH in the parades and out on the street holding signs with me.”
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