Feel-good update: The only choice
There isn’t a silver lining to the last few weeks. The only choice is to keep moving forward.
I don’t want to pretend there’s a silver lining of the last few weeks. There isn’t. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court was devastating to begin with — now that he’s taken his seat, he will continue to hurt people for decades.
And: Our only choice is to keep moving forward. The systematic way we both mitigate the damage and get the fight back onto our terms is to elect progressives to state & local office in as many places as possible — and to flood the field with as many incredible candidates as we can find, especially women and people of color. After the hearings, we had 20x the usual number of volunteers and 4x the number of candidates signing up — watch a quick video about what we were hearing — and compiled some of our favorite notes from new volunteers and candidates. We also talked with Elle and the Wall Street Journal.
Other odds and ends…
Last Tuesday, I sat down with Seth Meyers to talk about our work. It was both very scary and very fun.
Meet Denise Gray, one of our teachers running in Kentucky in an unprecedented wave of educators taking on a government that has refused to fight for them.
Caroline Walker, a NC state senate candidate, was on the front page of the Charlotte Observer this weekend bravely sharing her story of why she didn’t report her rape.
In Connecticut, Caitlin Clarkson Pereira continues the valiant fight to get the state ethics commission to approve the use of campaign funds for childcare. With the help of an RFS volunteer, she got an op-ed placed in Fast Company, and then Motherly picked up the story.
Also in Connecticut: ABC News profiled Will Haskell, our 22-year old candidate for state legislature.
In Harper’s Bazaar, Jill Filipovic takes a look at how the future — and more importantly, the present — is female.
We are so appreciative to be included in Chris Sacca’s recommendations for which groups to get engaged with this cycle.
Don’t miss our latest update to “Why We Run,” a profile of Andrea Romero, a 17th generation New Mexican running for state legislature.
Finally: We had truly uplifting events last week in DC, New York, and Madison, WI. This week, we’ll be doing a meet-up in DC on Wednesday, 10/10. I promise: It’ll be a breath of fresh positive air.
Thanks for making all this possible. We’re so glad to be able to focus on this critical work in the midst of these utterly garbage times, and even more glad to do it with you on our team.