RFS feel-good update (12/18): New endorsements & reports after filing deadlines

Spoiler: It's all good news!!

Dec 18, 2023

Hi all -

Last week we announced our last endorsements of 2023: 49 people running for office in 2024!!

This class includes school board members in Anchorage, an RFS alum running for mayor in Berkeley, a military veteran & social worker running for state house in CO, a community advocate working toward equity in Idaho, a special education teacher running for the Nebraska state board of education, a mental health advocate running for state senate in PA, an incredible young woman running for state house in Tennessee after being denied the care she needed to get an abortion, and the daughter of Vietnamese refugees turned businesswoman running for state house in Utah.

We’ve now got 100 endorsed folks on the ballot in 2024, more than half women. and more than half leaders of color, who will knock doors, talk to voters, and generate turn-out for the entire ticket.

They’re the best. You’re going to hear much more about them (and the hundreds more we’ll be working with in 2024) in the months to come.

In some recruitment good news:

In Texas, where Run for Something has been running candidate recruitment work for literally years (check this out from 2019!), the filing deadline has passed and the results are excellent — we’re fielding candidates for every statewide office, every state senate office, and nearly every state house seat.
In North Carolina, Democrats are running in every single state senate race and all but two state legislative races. We’ve been working hand-in-hand with the incredible state party chair, Anderson Clayton, along with partners on the ground to fill those seats.
In Arkansas, Democrats are fielding the most candidates in a decade!

Candidate recruitment is a strategy: By running in as many races as possible, we’re forcing Republicans to compete, spend money where they might not otherwise, defend their horrific policy choices, and ginning up turnout across the ticket.

We’re doing aggressive candidate recruitment across the country ahead of filing deadlines. Every dollar helps in this critical moment.

Fund candidate recruitment

In other RFS community updates:

This is a really beautiful story about Delegate-elect Adele McClure’s family, as she grew up in instability, bouncing around evictions, and experiencing homelessness as her single mom struggled to make ends meet — a foundational experience that informs her legislative priorities.
NE Sen. John Frederickson and his husband have created an annual endowed scholarship to support LGBTQ+ champions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. John is the first openly gay and only second openly LGBTQ state lawmaker in Nebraska history.
Caroline Tanbee Smith, who will take her seat on the New Haven Board of Alders, is part of a “queer wave” of new leaders in Connecticut.
PA Rep. Manuel Guzman, vice chair of the Latino Caucus in the PA state legislature, is looking toward long-term strategy.
RFS alum CA Rep. Alex Lee (and RFS Board Member Addisu Demissie!) were on last week’s episode of Pod Save America. Listen in!
Aurora, CO Councilmember Juan Marcano is pushing back on an effort to kill the public defenders program in his city, standing up for people who deserve support in the criminal justice system.
Congrats to RFS alum James Coleman in South San Francisco!
MI Rep. Ranjeev Puri’s legislation to expand language access across state agencies was signed into law!
Also in MI: Rep. Laurie Pohutsky’s bill repealing MI’s ban on insurance coverage for abortion and other protections for caregivers and patients was signed into law.
Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb is taking over as chair of the Climate Mayors team.
In VA, Lily Franklin lost by just 183 votes — another $100k could have won her race. No one thought she could win, so she didn’t. We did!

Some related reading:

To make you mad: In WI, one parent’s complaints led to 444 books being removed from area schools. ONE. This is why we’re running the 50 State School Board Strategy!
You should also read about what’s happening to destroy public education in Idaho. It’s a precursor for what we can expect in other states if we don’t fight back hard.
Rolling Stone goes long on Gen Z’s fight to end the gerontocracy and why it matters — this is worth a read.

Finally, in some personal news: I’m excited to share I’m writing a second book, to publish in mid-2025. I’m digging in on what next-generation leadership looks like across politics, art, education, tech, non-profits, and more.

Less than two weeks to go until the end of 2023. Run for Something is closed and our team is taking a well-deserved break, but I’ll back in your inbox one more time before the new year!

Thanks for making all this possible,

Amanda

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