Feel-good update: A record number of candidates in Virginia!!
Are you ready to win state legislatures in 2019 & 2020 and change the trajectory of American politics forever? Us too!
Congrats on surviving a 3-hour Democratic debate — only a few weeks to go until we do it again. In the meantime, there are more important races to focus on…
Our very own Kyonzte Toombs beat an incumbent in a run-off to take a seat on the Nashville Metro Council. (And check this out: Nashville also elected their first Muslim and first Latina ever to city government.)
We had seven candidates on the ballot in primaries last week — five are moving on! Congrats to Victoria Watlington (Charlotte City Council — NC), Etel Haxhiaj (Worcester City Council — MA), Sam Melden (Toledo City Council — Ohio), Carrie Hartman (Maumee City Council — Ohio) and Dimple Rana (Revere City Council — MA)!
Must-read in HuffPost: Tami Sawyer is battling racist caricatures and some utter institutional bullshit to become Memphis’ first female mayor. She’s exactly the kind of candidate we’re SO proud to support. (She also notes: She was inspired to run by Stacey Abrams. More validation for the idea that you can’t be what you can’t see.)
RFS alum (and staffer!) MD Delegate Lesley Lopez is leading a call for Betsy DeVos to answer questions about the public service loan forgiveness program, in which anywhere from 70 to 98.7% of applications are denied.
The East Lansing City Council officially banned conversion therapy, thanks to the leadership of RFS alum Aaron Stephens.
The Virginia elections this fall are anything but sleepy, in no small part because of the record number of candidates on the ballot: 36/40 state Senate districts and 92/100 House districts. There are fewer uncontested elections this year than there were in 2017, a gubernatorial year!!!
Speaking of Virginia: Read this op-ed by Jennifer Kitchen, who’s running for House of Delegates, district 25, because of her personal struggle with an opioid addiction. She’s been clean 8 years and she’s ready to fight to ensure not a single one of her neighbors dies from the epidemic.
Also in Virginia (and also named Jennifer!): Jennifer Woofter is running in HD-22, is taking on an incumbent who’s been in the legislature since 1998, and who refuses to lead on the fight to bring broadband internet to the rural district. Jennifer is pissed off & sick of waiting.
Anytime someone talks about “turning Texas blue,” assume I’m screaming back “by flipping 9 seats in the Texas state house and forever changing the trajectory of American politics (and the filing deadline for candidates is December 9th, FYI.)”
Good news: Senator Bernie Sanders signed the Down Ballot Pledge! The only candidate who debated last week who’s failed to sign on: Andrew Yang.
Glad he’s signed on, because the current situation is bullshit. Did you know that more than 59 million Americans — NC, MI, WI, VA, OH, and PA — live under minority rule, in which a party that won fewer votes in the 2018 election still controls a majority of seats in the state legislature? Read this from Arnold Schwarzenegger and David Daley.
Bonus scary story: If 2020 redistricting started right this very minute, Republicans would dominate by drawing 3–4 times as many districts as Democrats and would make the House lean red.
Finally, two tweets that made my day:
Travel note: Ross and I are both in San Francisco this week for overlapping trips. We’ll be at a free get-together tomorrow night — come say hi! (Or let us know if you have time for coffee. We love coffee.)
Thanks for being on our team. We’re so grateful for you!