Feel-good update: 38 new candidates to meet & love
Our April class of endorsements is 60% people of color, 55% women, and 24% LGBT.
Hope your holiday weekend was relaxing and full of bunnies, matzoh, and/or just really good breakfasts. A few updates from Run for Something-land…
We endorsed 38 new incredible local candidates running in 2019. Fun fact: Our April class of endorsements is 60% people of color, 55% women, and 24% LGBT. It includes a Navy Reserveman who’s working to provide adequate health benefits to veterans and a community organizer who is looking to give back to the same town that supported his family as refugees. We have folks running for school board in Oregon, city council in Dallas, and sheriff in Philadelphia, among other races & cities.
Look at those beautiful change-making faces!!
We couldn’t be more excited to keep sharing their stories over the next few months and to be working with them — along with the 100+ other candidates we’ve got in 2019 — who are making a difference right this very minute.
In RFS-related reading…
How “electability” and “viability” are problematic terms. This article discusses it in the frame of 2020 — but since day 1 of RFS, we’ve been talking about this as it relates to local candidate recruitment. Throwback to Ross’s op-ed in the Hill and mine in Buzzfeed.
Virginia state legislature candidates like RFS stars Danica Roem and challenger Yasmine Toeb are bringing in small dollar donations and making waves.
Protecting a woman’s right to choose isn’t a federal fight — it’s a local one. Read the NYT on how state legislatures are advancing extraordinarily conservative bans on abortion: “In the first three months of this year, heartbeat bills, which had been at the fringes of the anti-abortion movement for years, have passed in four states — Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia and Ohio. More are moving through the legislatures of 11 others.”
More on why state legislatures matter in this long-read from The Atlantic:
“Congress isn’t passing laws to restrict access to abortion. States such as Mississippi, Georgia, and Kentucky are. Congress isn’t taking major action on guns — either to tighten limits on their use or to loosen them. State governments are. Nor is Congress likely to raise the minimum wage, enact paid family leave, legalize recreational marijuana, or spend heavily on an infrastructure plan anytime soon. All of those progressive goals have advanced in various state legislatures and are within reach in several more.
And even when Congress has passed far-reaching legislation, it’s often modeled on bills enacted in the states. The Affordable Care Act has similarities to the health law that former Governor Mitt Romney signed in Massachusetts, and the bipartisan First Step Act, which passed Congress last year, was inspired by a collection of states that had tackled criminal-justice reform.”
Finally, last week we had a fantastic meet & greet in NYC, and were joined by NY state senator Andrew Gounardes.
Next up, we’re hosting Party for Something in D.C. on May 21st. Tickets are going fast — don’t miss out.
Thanks for making this all possible. We’ll have some more announcements over the next week or two — can’t wait to share what we’ve got cooking!