Happy Monday! We got you a good feeling or two…
GET INSPIRED: I want to share a little snapshot from our inboxes — one of our candidates running for an education-related office sent us this note via Twitter DM…
So I wanted to thank you — sort of directly — for endorsing me. When I decided to run, most of the party establishment laughed. I didn’t have the right last name, they said. I had to wait my turn. 6 months later, I’ve brought in the most raised ever by a candidate for my race, it’s all been such an incredible experience, but I wanted to share a quick story about what it means as a young person to jump into the arena, for me…
Two nights ago, I was at a Dem club meeting (in the basement of a bar bc of course). After I talk about how we’ve made our schools incredibly unaffordable, the waitress, we will call her Kelly, comes up to me as I’m leaving. She’s maybe 22, and you can tell she’s been working really hard. Fighting back tears, she says thank you. Nobody really speaks to what our generation deals with. I was working 40 hours a week and going to class and I had to drop out because I couldn’t afford it. Thank you for speaking up for me.
There’s a lot of crappy moments, but that moment alone makes it worthwhile. And you guys have been great. The emails, and the chats, and hearing it from other candidates that are endorsed by RFS makes the voice in my head that says “keep going” so much louder than the one that says “this sucks and is hard and you should quit.” You guys make a huge difference.
MORE INSPIRATION: Read this profile of Gayatri Agnew, who’s running in Arkansas. We love her campaign and her thoughts on leadership, specifically.
CHICAGO: On Tuesday night, nearly 100 folks joined us at Bruce & Vicki Heyman’s beautiful home to talk about our work. And on Wednesday night, nearly 100 new folks came out to Cards Against Humanity theatre for a comedy show and fundraiser — and heard from two of our great candidates, Ashley Selmon and Gail Eisenberg.
SOMETIMES ELECTIONS HAVE GREAT CONSEQUENCES: Virginia is about to expand Medicaid to 400,000 people because Democrats won 15 seats in the House of Delegates last year — including six Run for Something candidates. Yes, we’re building the bench, but we’re also making a direct impact on policy right-freaking-now. It rules.
Virginia is on the verge of expanding Medicaid to 400,000 people
Virginia is on the cusp of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which would extend health coverage to up…www.vox.com
PARTY FOR SOMETHING: We are so excited to have Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Senator Cory Booker joining us in D.C. on June 6th for our first big annual event. Get all the details: runforsomething.net/party-for-something
Keeping it short and sweet today. Thanks for doing all you do to make this work possible.
Miss last week’s feel-good note? Catch up!
Feel-good update: Candidates, cheese puns, and Chicago
Last week was particularly chaotic in the bad-news part of the world, so on this rainy Monday morning, let’s focus on…medium.com