Feel-good update: We survived (and crushed) the primaries!
It was touch & go there for a while, but we made it!
Congrats! We survived the primaries! (It was touch & go there for a while.)
Last week, we had two Election Days, and some incredible winner.
In New Hampshire: Gray Chynoweth (NH, Executive Council, District 4), Iz Piedra (NH House District HIllsborough 9), Willis Griffith (NH House District HIllsborough 18), Allison Nutting-Wong (NH House Hillsborough District 32), Dr. Jacqueline Chretien (NH House Hillsborough 42), and Matt Wilhelm (NH House Hillsborough 42).
In New York: Alessandra Biaggi (State Senate 34), Jessica Ramos, (State Senate 13), Andrew Gounardes (State Senate 22), and Zellnor Myrie (State Senate 20).
New York heroes.
I want to spotlight New York in particular… Quick background: For years, eight Democratic state senators had caucused with Republicans as part of the “Independent Democratic Conference” (IDC). Because of the IDC, the GOP controlled the NY state senate, and refused to pass critical progressive legislation.
On Tuesday night, six of the eight IDC members lost their primaries — and three of those primaries were against our candidates. Especially exciting: Alessandra took down the head of the IDC, Jeff Klein, who spent $2 million (!!) against her and still came up short.
And I love Kelly O’Donnell’s story of how she ended up working for Andrew Gounardes…
As it turns out, there is no better way to end the primary season than by dramatically changing the future of politics in New York for the better. Now time to do it again in November!
In other news…
Make sure you read Frank Bruni’s NYT column from over the weekend on the secret sauce behind Democratic victories: Good candidates running good campaigns. (Sound familiar?)
This year’s victorious candidates, like so many winners before them, aren’t prevailing simply or even mainly because of the labels they’re wearing or the precise points on the political spectrum to which they can be affixed.
They’re powered by their personalities, their organizations or both. They communicate effectively. They have backgrounds that make sense to voters or temperaments that feel right to them. And they’ve devised ways to reach voters that their rivals haven’t.
Time Magazine has two great stories about how teachers are dramatically underpaid and undervalued and how because of that, and because of the teacher walk-outs of the last year, education will be a driving issue in the midterms. We’re so proud to be working with so many educators running for office — including people like Aimy Steele in North Carolina, who was the star of last week’s “Why We Run” story.
Why We Run: Aimy Steele
Aimy Steele has been advocating for students in North Carolina for a decade as a teacher and school principal. After…medium.com
Related: Did you see this story about how the Texas Board of Education took Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller out of the state curriculum? So glad that we’re working with Dr. Eliz Markowitz, an educator running for a seat on that board this year.
If you’re looking for listening material this week, chapter 14 of Jon Favreau’s “The Wilderness” includes a spotlight on Anna Eskamani, one of our incredible candidates in Florida. She’s the best.
Finally, we’ve got a ton of events coming up over the next two months, including in NYC, DC, Madison, Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco. Check ’em out and please join us.
Thanks for making all this possible. We couldn’t have crushed the primaries or made it this far without you.