Hi all -
As of 8am this morning, Run for Something has 205 winners in the 2020 elections, at least 4 candidates moving to run-offs, and 68 races still counting votes.
A few of more highlights, in addition to the ones I shared on Wednesday and Thursday…
Fady Qaddoura flipped a seat in Indiana, becoming the state’s first ever Muslim state senator. His story is so beautiful - of all the victories, this was the first one to make me cry.
Mark Brave became the first Black sheriff in the state of New Hampshire.
Jerica Richardson flipped a seat on the Cobb County Board of Commissioners — giving Democrats control of the entire board and run entirely by women.
Caprice Edmond won her seat on the Pinellas County School Board, ensuring the the board was not 100% white members.
Nicole Love Hendrickson handily won her race for Gwinnett County Board, becoming the first Black person to lead the county (and joining fellow Run for Something alum Ben Ku.)
In an election where the top three candidates win, both Reggie Carrillo and Jessica Bueno will be seated on the Phoenix Elementary School Board.
Gabriella Cázares-Kelly made history as the first Indigenous woman elected in Pima County, Ariona.
Democrats took an 8-1 supermajority on the San Diego City Council, in part thanks to victories from Sean Elo-Rivera (a RFS candidate 2x over - he ran for and won a seat on the San Diego Community College board before running for a city council seat!) and Raul Campillo!
With the latest victories, our 205 winning candidates for 2020 are (so far) 56% women, 63% BIPOC, and 22% LGBTQ. We’ve elected (or re-elected) 11 to legal positions, 17 people to education roles, 38 to municipal or county office, and 139 to state legislature seats. 12 of our winners are 25 years old or younger, 60 of our winners are 30 or younger.*
*(All these numbers will obviously shift a bit as more results come in!)
And while I know the federal losses may hurt, there’s a progressive wave sweeping cities in both red and blue states. Ross talked to Bloomberg about how young candidates with big ideas are winning big and making meaningful change.
All of that is to say, what we’re doing is clearly working — and we spent less than $3 million this year doing it.
If you can commit to making a recurring donation now, it’ll go a long way to helping sustain and expand our work into 2021 and beyond.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. We have a lot to celebrate today — President-elect Joe Biden, VP-elect Kamala Harris, and 205 RFS wins (and counting!) — so embrace the joy. We’ve earned it.
- Amanda