Feel-good update: 44 new candidates to fall in love with
Plus: Two videos you need to watch ASAP.
Last week I promised some ~big news~ — on Thursday, we endorsed 44 amazing diverse progressives running for local office across the country.
44 new July endorsements, 44 names you need to know
There’s a lot of focus these days on taking back Congress this fall, which is a great and important goal, but it leaves…medium.com
I struggled to pick out just a few highlights because, honestly, they’re all badass, so consider this the tip of the incredible iceberg:
Amanda Septimo, a community activist in the Bronx running for NY State Assembly
Laura Marie Davis, an environmental scientist & AmeriCorps member who’s running for Durham Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor
Abraham Aiyash, who founded an organization that mentors refugee kids in Lansing, is running for MI State Senate
Matt Cescenzo, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, is running for MA State legislature
Amaad Rivera, challenging an incumbent with an A rating from the NRA in the MA State Senate
Tammy Garcia, a Girl Scout leader and professional mediator running for FL State House
Jake Rybczyk, an 18 year old running for San Clemente City Council
Alma Hernandez, who would be the first Mexican-American Jewish lawmaker if she wins her race for Arizona state house
Browse through our entire roster of candidates and find one to invest time, talent, and funds into. You’ll feel better.
A few other things you might enjoy:
Myya D. Jones is running for MI state legislature. Watch her new video. You won’t regret it.
President Obama recorded a video for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee laying out the importance of combatting gerrymandering. Your regular reminder: The solution to fixing the power imbalance is to elect Democrats to state legislatures (and to governors’ mansions.) If we don’t flip state governments in 2018 and 2020, winning back the House in 2018 will be a temporary & meaningless fix to a decades-long problem.
In case you needed another reason to elect progressives locally: City and county governments across the country are taking steps to end their contracts with ICE.
Women are running for office and winning by bucking conventional wisdom and, uh, being themselves. Just like we coach our candidates: Authenticity above everything else.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/us/politics/women-candidates-midterms.html
Thanks for making all this possible. We’re lucky to get to do the work, and lucky to do it with such a wonderful team by our side.
P.S. Last call: This Saturday, we’re in the Hamptons. Join us for dinner!
Last week’s update:
https://medium.com/@runforsomething/feel-good-update-no-breaks-from-campaigning-7350d2a77e32