Feel-good update: Our ad against the NRA, our new endorsements, and Fund for Something!!
It’s been an insane week for our team. A few things to update you on.
It’s been an insane week for our team. A few things to update you on:
First: Our recruitment campaign in Florida
Our ad ran again on Wednesday in the Sun Sentinel — and we got even more press out of it, getting our message far and wide. We even sat down with Fox News on Friday to talk about it. (Our mentions on Friday = not great, but worth it!)
CBSNews: “Progressive group targets unopposed NRA-supported candidates in Florida” [VIDEO]
AlterNet: “These Florida Democrats Have a Bold Strategy for Fighting Back Against the NRA — They’re forgoing the usual anti-gun lobbying for something more powerful.”
ShareBlue: “Run For Something takes out full-page ad putting the NRA on notice”
We have so much more planned for this recruitment campaign — stay tuned, and if you’d like to fund it, please chip in.
Second: Our new class of endorsements!
On Tuesday, we rolled out a new class of endorsed candidates — a group of 40 progressive millennials & gen-Zers that includes a woman running against a member of the New York IDC who’s been accused of sexual assault, a 17th-generation New Mexican, a Native woman and barrel racer running in Montana, a world renowned outrigger canoe paddling coach and competitor, a cattle farmer, a documentary filmmaker, and a talk show host — plus way more.
Meet them all!
Announcing February endorsements
Big news! We’re endorsing another 41 progressive millennials and gen-Z’ers running for local office.medium.com
We love this gif our incredible social team put together.
We did a call on Thursday with a few of our candidates specifically running against NRA-backed incumbents in communities with strong traditions of gun ownership. Our candidates prove there is no topic off-limits if you approach it from a perspective authentically rooted in the community you’re running in.
Third: Fund for Something!
We rolled out Fund for Something on Thursday — our effort to raise money for candidates in 14 states. There is no precedent for this kind of mass direct-to-candidate effort on the local level — we’re breaking new ground by connecting grassroots donors to previously under-funded races.
We’ll be asking folks to give to candidates in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
Learn more about why we picked those states and how this whole thing works.
Introducing: “Fund for Something”
TL;DR: Run for Something will be raising money for candidates in 14 states.medium.com
You can also read more in Politico.
Finally, some feel-good miscellany!
— We were proud to have worked closely with the team in North Carolina to help recruit for all 170 state legislative seats this cycle — it’s never been more important to run folks in every single race, no matter how long of a shot it might seem.
— We loved this note from one of our volunteers on why he loves candidate screening:
“First, I talk to a veteran who’s still actively defending the country and I walk away convinced that THIS is the type of person that we need to elevate to office. Then I spend 30 minutes with a licensed social worker who’s helping low-income children navigate the public school system and I say now THIS is who we need. Then I talk to a policy nerd with a degree in public administration who has detailed position papers on urban development issues and I think that THIS is who we really need. Then I talk to a single mom who dropped her career to challenge a Tea Party candidate… then a personal injury attorney who’s leveraging all of his connections… and so on. The punch line of course is that we need all of these people with all of their diverse skills and once I realize that they’re all in, yeah, I get optimistic about our future.”
— We had a blast in San Francisco this week, where more than 100 folks joined us and Governor Howard Dean for a fun night.
Thanks for doing what you to do make this whole thing possible. We’re running full-steam ahead because of the incredible team on our side.
Event notes: On Thursday, we’re hosting an incredible fundraiser to talk about representation in art & politics here in New York City. Come!
Amanda will be speaking at SXSW in Austin on Monday at 12:30, doing a book signing later that afternoon, and then a fundraiser Monday evening. If you’re in town, let us know and we can get tacos! (Or if there’s anyone you think we should meet, please introduce us. We’re perpetually looking for more taco-buddies.)
Catch up on last week’s update
Feel-good update: Our ad against the NRA
Over the last week, we’ve been asking supporters to chip in to help fund a recruitment campaign in Florida…medium.com