RFS feel-good update (1/22): Tomorrow is National Run for Office Day!
How are you celebrating?
Hi all -
Exciting news: Tomorrow is National Run for Office Day!
Sponsored by Civic Nation and Run for Something Civics, National Run for Office Day is a (non-partisan!) day to celebrate and encourage people to claim the mantle of leadership by running for office themselves. TBH, it’s the best day of the year. You’re going to love it.
In more RFS community updates:
In his first few weeks on the job, Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas is already taking action to oversee the county prison system, stepping in with solutions during a power outage.
Charlottesville (VA) City Councilor Natalie Oschrin “wants to put Charlottesville roads on a diet” — she’s ready to fight for more walkability, improved transit, and housing affordability (and won more votes than any other candidate last year, so has the mandate to do it!)
Miami-Dade School Board Member Luisa Santos worked alongside high school students to double the number of electric electric buses in the county — one of the parents noted: “She is the one who was very proactive and pursuing the clean energy resolution Initiative and she’s the one who said, ‘OK, let’s create a task force and let’s get to work on this,” Drucker said. “She’s closer in age to the students than most of the school board.”
NE Sen. Eliot Bostar is coming up with creative ways to bring down the state’s property taxes — Nebraskans have some of the highest property taxes in the country.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is pushing forward on a program to provide cash assistance to low-income families, and Lina is working to find alternative solutions for undocumented immigrants.
IL Rep. Daniel Didech is practicing what he preaches by installing solar panels on his own him and encouraging other Illinoisans to do the same.
Also in IL: Rep. Nabeela Syed is introducing legislation that create a governing body to set price limits on prescription medications.
WA Rep. Darya Farivar is leading on legislation to ban bulk sales of firearms, which are more likely to be used to commit crimes or turned into “ghost guns.”
In South Dakota, Rep. Kadyn Wittman is pushing forward legislation to provide free meals to students who qualify — doing her best to find compromise in a deeply partisan place.
I’m biased because this is literally my neighborhood, but I love that Councilmember Chi Ossé is taking every possible chance to advocate for a rezoning proposal that would build more housing
VA Sen. Danica Roem is leading on legislation to curb data warehouse sprawl in her community — ensuring they’re not making too much noise, polluting the water, burying power lines where possible, and limiting their impacts on state and national parks.
RFS alum in the Indiana state legislature are fighting for their communities: Sen. Andrea Huntley is enhancing tenant protections and Sen. Fady Qaddoura is banning hair discrimination.
KS Rep. Ashley Aune has been a vocal advocate against proposed legislation that would hurt trans kids.
MD Dels. Bernice MIreku-North and Emily Shetty are cosponsoring legislation to tax gun dealers and manufacturers in order to fund the state’s Trauma Physician Services fund, along with programs for gun violence prevention and victims services.
In Costa Mesa, CA, city councilmembers Arlis Reynolds and Andrea Marr are pushing forward on necessary ordinances to create more affordable housing.
RFS alum Tara Sreekrishnan’s campaign for CA state assembly is picking up steam with a bunch of key endorsements!
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett regularly goes viral for her speeches and questions in the hearings she sits in — that’s part of her strategy to bring in people who might not otherwise pay attention to what’s going on in D.C.
Some related reading:
I wish we had the resources to do more recruitment for prosecutor races (which require specific targeting and more time ahead of the filing deadline) — the attorney who pressed charges against Brittany Watts, an Ohio woman who miscarried at home and was then dragged into court, will ultimately run uncontested this year, and he hasn’t faced a challenger in any of his re-election bids since 1984. Only 15 of Ohio’s 88 prosecutor elections drew multiple candidates this year; the filing deadline was in December.
The Moms for Liberty founders may still be embroiled in a sex scandal but the chapters themselves are still hard at work undermining public education — they’re behind a new charter school in South Carolina and holding town halls with affiliated school board members in Manhattan. (Yes, in New York City. As we’ve been saying over and over again: The right does not limit their work to battleground states — they’re fighting everywhere they can get a toehold.) Meanwhile, Florida schools are literally banning the dictionary.
Finally: Over the weekend we celebrated seven years of Run for Something — seven! years! — and some of you have been getting this email nearly every week for all of those years. You’re the reason we can do this work. Thank you.
- Amanda
P.S. If you’re in NYC, come drop by Argent at 93 Crosby Street from 11-1:30pm for a National Run for Office Day celebration event! I’ll be there for a while - would love to say hi!