RFS feel-good update (10/31): Happy Halloween!
Spooky scary updates on democracy - but also, some good stuff!
Hi all -
One week until Election Day! Next week, I’ll give you a full report on all the races we’re watching, our stats ahead of Election Day, and what you’ve helped make possible.
Until then, let’s start with some unfortunately spooky Clerk Work related stories:
This headline from AP sums it up pretty succinctly: “Conspiracy pushers target races for local election posts.”
Anderson Cooper sat down with RFS alum Jefferson County Recorder George Stern to walk through how the county runs safe and secure mail-in elections. (Fun fact: RFS candidate Amanda Gonzalez is running to follow in George’s footsteps!)
At the direction of locally elected county commissioners, one rural county in Nevada is doing a hand-count of mail-in ballots and it’s going incredibly poorly. Every single office touches democracy in some way.
Our political director, Quentin Savoir, who’s leading the Clerk Work program, talked with The Root about why this work matters.
Clerk Work doesn’t end after November 8th — we’re already aggressively recruiting for the key election administration races in 2023. (The filing deadline for a ton of offices in in Wisconsin is January 3rd!)
Learn more and help supercharge this work.
In other RFS community updates:
Ashley Esposito’s campaign for Baltimore City School Board has been prioritizing students with disabilities — this is personal for Ashley, who identifies as neurodivergent.
FL state Rep. Michele Rayner spoke with MTV News about the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law and the dangers it presents to students.
Cambridge City Councilmember Burhan Azeem led his city to become the first in Massachusetts to remove parking minimums, which will directly help address housing affordability.
RI Sen. Tiara Mack’s authentic and joyful style of leadership is making waves in Rhode Island and inspiring countless young people to step up, too.
In a critical competitive state senate race in NC that will help determine the future of abortion rights in the state, you couldn’t ask for a better candidate and leader than Sen. Sydney Batch.
In WV, Charleston City Council candidate Joe Solomon is part of a bipartisan group of candidates committed to tackling the region’s drug crisis by decriminalizing cannabis and supporting harm-reduction programs.
RFS alum FL Rep. Anna Eskamani, Atlanta City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari, and Phoenix City Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari joined together with other Iranian American leaders and candidates to speak up for the women protesting in Iran.
San Antonio City Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez is working to change the city’s non-discrimination ordinance — this is personal for him; the way it’s currently written wasn’t able to protect him when he was discriminated against.
The Telegraph Herald has endorsed RFS alum IA Rep. Lindsay James for a third term, noting how she’s been “dedicated as a voice for those most vulnerable in our communities.”
Changing the tone of politics and fixing the “crisis of accountability” is part of what inspired Minnesota state legislative candidates like María Isa Pérez-Hedges and Ashton Ramsammy to run themselves.
One of my favorite parts of Election Day/Week/Month: Pics of candidates voting for themselves!
RFS alum Taylor Sappington’s leadership tackling corruption as Nelsonville city auditor has directly prepared him to take on the role of state auditor.
Georgia state senate candidate Nabilah Islam is part of a wave of young Muslim leaders running for office - she says “I refuse to constantly be at the menu and not have our communities have decision-making power over their own lives.”
Nebraska state senate candidate John Fredrickson’s race is a critical part of the state’s fight for abortion access.
Utah state senate candidate Nate Blouin makes the case for electing leaders who share values like clean healthy air and water, affordable food, gas, health care and housing, and childcare and schools.
In related reading:
This is a fascinating Q&A with an expert on how the GOP has spent millions on training and supporting young leaders… I’ll call this out to you:
Almost every powerful conservative came through the Republican establishment’s training program, the Leadership Institute: Tucker Carlson. Dinesh D’Souza, Laura Ingram. Mitch McConnell calls the man who founded the Leadership Institute “my professor.” Now, the training academy for the Leadership Institute is encouraging people to run for their school boards. Turning Point’s political arm is telling young people to become candidates for local office. The job is always to infiltrate and get ultraconservative representatives in every corner of government. Mitch McConnell is not the master strategist by mistake—he was taught. It happened because it was laid out. It was set up. It was coordinated. It was funded.Mother Jones goes deep on how Republicans in Wisconsin built long-term sustainable power - a state where Democrats can win statewide but hold only 36% of the seats in the state assembly. Through decades of focused investment, they’ve built perpetual minority rule, and they’re taking this model across the country.
CIRCLE at Tufts released more info about youth representation in government, noting many of the barriers to entry for young candidates (that RFS exists to break down!)
Scott Galloway’s “Chart of the Week” breaks down the increasing age of our elected leaders.
Some related personal-ish news: I’m thrilled to share that Emerson Collective has named me one of their Dial Fellows for 2022/2023. As part of the fellowship, I gave a quick 5 minute talk on the imperative to bring more young people into public service in order to break down the gerontocracy; you might like it!
Thanks for making all this work possible. The end is in sight. We can do this.
- Amanda