Feel-good update: Election Day!!
There are 155 Run for Something candidates on the ballot on 11/5.
TOMORROW IS ELECTION DAY for 155 Run for Something candidates! Some topline stats about our slate of candidates:
50% identify as women or non-binary
38% identify as people of color
18% identify as LGBTQIA
We have candidates running in 25 states — our top states are Indiana (28), Virginia (26), Pennsylvania (19), New York (12), Massachusetts (12), and Colorado (8).
120 candidates are running for municipal office, including law enforcement roles, school board seats, and city/county council.
We have chances to flip the entire VA state legislature, flip a seat in the Texas state house, and make huge progress on winning municipal offices in red states.
A reminder: Run for Something helps candidates with campaign strategy, operations, volunteer recruitment, amplification, mentorship, and community-building. While we don’t donate directly to candidates, our support for local races that nearly all other parts of the Democratic party ecosystem overlook has given candidates the confidence and resources they need to run strong, grassroots-focused campaigns that increase Democratic turnout by at least 1% and further the party brand.
In 2017–2018, we elected 208 people across 43 states; our winners were 55% women and 50% people of color. Get this: In 2019, Run for Something has already elected another 24 people to local office in special or municipal elections — including new members of the city councils in Chicago, Phoenix, Denver, Raleigh, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Dallas, Lincoln (NE), Madison, and Nashville.
If you scroll all the way down, I’ve included some of the races we’re playing close attention to, a few that we’re really excited about, an a badass list of some of the 25-and-younger candidates who are the future of this party.
You’ll notice we’re paying a ton of attention to Virginia. A few reasons why:
- Four years ago, only 56 Democrats ran for VA House of Delegates. This time around, 96 Democrats are on the ballot (and more than half of them are women.)
- That’s because if we take back the majority, we could make progress on the environment, raising the minimum wage, reducing carbon emissions, protecting unions, expanding voting rights, and more. VA’s abortion restrictions are aggressive, Democrats could fix that. We could also take huge steps to reduce gun violence — that’s why the NRA is spending big-time in their home state
- Beyond that: Virginia’s elections are the first big “enthusiasm test” ahead of 2020. Good news though: Young people are being mobilized in a big way, especially around candidates who reflect them
Tomorrow is going to be huge. Not only could we make big steps forward in electing progressives to office across the country, but we know that groundbreaking victories can inspire more young people to run, too. (And on that note: MTV published our op-ed on why young people shouldn’t let Rep. Katie Hill’s revenge porn scandal scare them out of running. Hope you’ll read it and pass it along to a young person who might be frightened.)
We wouldn’t be here without you. Thanks for making this possible.
- Amanda
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Things to watch tomorrow…
Democrats have the ability to flip Virginia by winning two seats in the House and two seats in the Senate. There are 26 Run for Something candidates on the ballot — 16 for the House of Delegates, 4 for the Senate, and the remaining 6 for municipal, education, or law enforcement positions.
In 2017, Virginia was the canary-in-the-coal-mine of the blue wave to come in 2018–5 Run for Something candidates were a third of the 15 Democrats who won an unprecedented number of seats in the House, coming this-close to a majority.
TOP RACES TO WATCH — pick-up opportunities:
SENATE-11: Amanda Pohl (D) vs Amanda Chase (R, Incumbent)
Amanda Pohl is a social worker & hospital chaplain running to expand health care, fund public schools, and address problems around rural infrastructure, especially broadband. Her opponent, Amanda Chase, is an incumbent state senator who brings her gun to the state capitol, claimed rape victims were “naive and unprepared” and cursed out a state capitol police officer who wouldn’t let her park in a secure area — she also opposes Medicaid expansion. This is a long-shot race; Gillespie won this district with 53.3%.
SENATE-28: Qasim Rahid (D) vs Richard Stuart (R, Incumbent)
Qasim is a human rights attorney running to increase education funding, expand health care access, ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and reform the criminal justice system. Throughout his campaign, he’s received death threats; his opponent tried to tie him to terrorism. Stuart has run unopposed the last two cycles. This is a long-shot race; Gillespie won this district with 54% in 2017.
HOUSE-28: Joshua Cole (D) v Paul Milde (R)
Joshua is a pastor and chief of staff to Delegate Kelly Fowler. He ran for this seat in 2017 — Run for Something endorsed him in that cycle as well. He fell short by 73 votes, when 143 people in his district received the wrong ballots; he was challenging for an open seat previously held by the Republican Speaker of the House. This is a toss-up election.
HOUSE-100: Phil Hernandez (D) vs Rob Bloxom (R)
Phil was raised by a single mom, was the first in his family to graduate from college, worked in the Obama White House on domestic policy, then became an attorney with a non-profit. His campaign is focused on teacher pay, renewable energy, and ratifying the ERA. The incumbent has been in office since 2014, and is the son of the previous incumbent who’d been in office since 1983. Phil has substantially outraised his opponent — as of mid-October, he had 3x the money. Obama, Hillary, and Northam all won his district. This race is a toss-up.
Incumbent protection — races to watch:
HOUSE-72: Schuyler VanValkenburg (D, Incumbent) v GayDonna Vandergriff (R)
HOUSE-21: Kelly Fowler (D, Incumbent) v Shannon Kane (R)
HOUSE-13: Danica Roem (D, Incumbent) v Kelly McGinn (R)
Other VA candidates
Senate — 19: Flourette Ketner — an Indivisible member who was raised by a disabled grandma while her mom battled & lost a fight against drug abuse
Senate — 27: Ronnie Ross — an English teacher running against an incumbent who won’t take action on guns
House — 2: Jennifer Carroll Foy — an incumbent & RFS alum
House — 12: Chris Hurst — an incumbent & RFS alum
House — 14: Eric Stamps — his opponent has gone uncontested 5 of the last 9 cycles
House — 20: Jennifer Lewis — running for an open seat; Jennifer previously ran for Congress & lost
House — 22: Jennifer Woofter — challenging an incumbent who’s been in office since 1997 and hasn’t had an opponent since 2013
House — 25: Jennifer Kitchen — has personal experience with opioids; running against a 20 year incumbent
House — 55: Morgan Goodman — her opponent led the charge against ratifying the ERA
House — 88: Jess Foster — running to ratify the ERA
Municipal elections in Virginia
Ian Serotkin — Loudon County School Board
Tia Walbridge — Loudon Board of Supervisors
Justin Hannah — Loudon County Sheriff — will be the first African American to hold the position
Abrar Omeish — Fairfax County School Board — 24 year old Muslim woman running
Kenny Boddye — Prince William County Board of Supervisors
Michael Payne — Charlottesville City Council — Michael Payne
Indiana
Trump won Indiana in 2016 (with the help of Gov. Mike Pence) — which then inspired a wave of young progressives to run and take back their home. The state organization, Indiana Young Democrats, has been trying to bolster support in GOP-leaning Indiana the past few years, growing from 50 members to 300 and from chapters in eight counties to 24. We have been a critical part of that process. We’ve partnered with Indiana Young Democrats to host events, speak at their convention, and support candidates together. We have 28 endorsed candidates on the ballot this fall.
A few highlights:
Tai Adkins is a real estate professional running for Gary Common Council, 4th District. She defeated 5 challengers in the primary for the open seat.
Keith Potts is running for Indianapolis City County Council, District 2. He’s an actor and musician who got his start in politics as an organizer. He identifies as LGBTQ.
Ali Brown is running for Indianapolis City County Council, District 5 (as seen on MSNBC) — a working mother, small business owner, and an openly LGBTQ candidate, her opponent is running ads against her using her identity as a wedge issue.
Abbie Smith, president of the United Way of Howard County, is running for mayor of Kokomo. If she wins, she will be the first woman mayor of Kokomo, endorsed by the incumbent she’d be replacing
Texas
Eliz Markowitz is running to flip a state house seat in Texas — one of only 9 Democrats need to turn the Texas State House blue. Run for Something has been working with Eliz for two years — we endorsed her and supported her campaign for state board of education in 2018, and were one of her first endorsers in 2019 as well. She’s become an amazing candidate and is making this race extremely competitive.
Another exciting trend in 2019: Gen Z is running. We have 22 candidates under the age of 25 on the ballot this fall. A few of the highlights:
Rachel Junck is currently still enrolled in Iowa State University; if elected, at age 20 Rachel will be the youngest woman elected to any office in the history of Iowa.
Tay Anderson is running again for Denver School Board; he’s 21 years old. He ran in 2017 (with RFS’s help) and since his loss, founded a non-profit to reduce student gun violence in CO.
Nathan Dominguez is a high school senior running for Harvey County Board of Education USD 273 in Kansas — he’ll be the first person of color to serve on the board in decades and the youngest ever
Burhan Azeem is running for Cambridge City Council in Massachusetts — he’s 22 years old and graduated from MIT this spring
Amani Johnson is 23 years old and will make history as the youngest elected official in Southfield, MI history and the first gay black man
Joash Ward is 24 years old, LGBTQ, and running for mayor of Poughkeepsie, NY
Austin Morgan is 22 years old and aiming to flip a NY state senate seat in a special election — he’d be the youngest senator in Albany.
Abrar Omeish is running for Fairfax County School Board in Virginia. She’s 24 years old; she’d be the first Muslim woman to hold the office
Nelsie Yang is 24 years old and a Hmong daughter of refugees. She’s taking on a 23 year incumbent on the St. Paul City Council, Ward 6
James Blanco is 24 years old and running for West Lafayette City Council in Indiana. His previous job was in a factory
Safiya Khalid is currently running for Lewiston City Council in Ward 1. She would be the first Muslim and the first Somali-American on Lewiston’s City Council. She’s 24 years old.
Eli Sabin is running for New Haven Board of Alders, Ward 1 — he’s 19 years old, born & raised in New Haven, is a student at Yale and is focusing on intergenerational poverty as part of his race
Gary E. Bradley-Lopez could be the first Hispanic member of the Kansas City Unified School Board; he’s 21 years old.