Feel-good update: 3 (!!) new winners & VA elections on Tuesday
Three more amazing young progressives are in office because of YOU. How do you feel? You should feel great. Feel great.
Good news: We had 5 candidates in elections last week (4 on Tuesday, 1 on Saturday) and 3 of them won!
Congrats to new Denver city councilwomen, Candi CdeBaca, who beat an incumbent with 52.4% and Amanda Sawyer, who beat a two-term incumbent with 58.2% of the vote. FYI: Unseating a city council incumbent is extremely rare in Denver — before last week, it had only happened twice in the last 32 years. And double congrats to Adam Bazaldua, who won a seat on the Dallas City Council by fewer than 100 votes — Adam’s a teacher at a local high school; he’s replacing an incumbent who (ahem) didn’t even make the run-off.
TOMORROW are the Virginia primaries, where we’ll have more than two dozen candidates on the ballot for offices ranging from VA House and Senate to sheriffs to boards of supervisors. (Plus, we have a candidate running for school committee in Massachusetts!)
Two who’ve made the news in the last week:
Yasmine Taeb is taking on a party leader, giving him his first contested-primary since 1979. No matter what happens tomorrow, she’s forced a conversation about who our leaders are beholden to — corporations (and utility companies!) who fund them or the people they serve.
“Are moms who run for office held to a different standard?” Larysa Kautz, candidate for Fairfax County board of supervisors, points to her editorial board interview as proof.
Meet some of the amazing young women running in Northern VA — including Yasmine and Nicole Merlene.
For the first time ever, the Democratic primary in the 87th district (in Loudon County) does not include a single white candidate. All four folks are first-generation Americans, including our very own Suhas Subramanya.
This headline!!
In RFS alumni updates…
NC Rep. Sydney Batch had to take a leave of absence from the state House after being diagnosed from breast cancer and undergoing a mastectomy. The GOP tried to capitalize on her absence to push thru an anti-abortion bill — she refused to back down, and showed up all 10 times they scheduled the vote. Iconic.
Rep. Jennifer O’Mara in PA is making a splash on student debt because it’s personal to her — she was the first from her family to graduate from college, worked her way thru school, and graduated with $36k in debt. She wrote another powerful op-ed on how student debt is delaying progress for a generation.
Rhonda Hart may have lost her race for school board, but she’s not done fighting to reduce gun violence in schools. She’s joining other relatives of victims of the Santa Fe school shooting to call for an independent third-party investigation.
In Nevada, Rep. Selena Torres is one of the incredible women who make up the majority of the NV state legislature, and who are proving what can happen when women have a meaningful seat at the table.
In Chicago, Alderpeople Daniel La Spata and Matt Martin are tackling sustainable transportation projects.
Some events to put on your radar:
We’re co-hosting a meet-up with the New Mexico Young Democrats in Albuquerque on June 19th — it’s a free get-together for candidates, activists, wanna-be candidates, and folks who want to make a difference. Send it to your friends in the area!
On June 20th in New York City, I’m sitting down with Kate Childs Graham, author of “Why I Run,” for a conversation on, well, why people run. Come on out.
We’ll be in Boston on June 25th for cocktails, snacks, and conversation. RSVP here.
Last thing: Take 30 seconds and vote for us to win $50,000 from Onward Together.
Thanks for doing your part. As they say: team work makes the dream work.