RFS feel-good update (12/20): New endorsements & more great research
Squeezing it in just before the holiday...
Hi all -
A few final good stories before the holidays…
First big update: Last week we endorsed 31 amazing 2022 candidates across 15 states.
These folks are amazing. They include health care professionals, business leaders, union/community/housing organizers, a cancer survivor, first generation Americans, folks with student loan debt, renters, non-binary leaders, lawyers, veterans, and lots and lots of parents. Scroll through and pick a few to help out this year. (And stay tuned: We’ve endorsed 68 candidates total for 2022, but we expect to support more than 700. Wayyyyy more to come!)
Also in RFS news: We worked with For Our Future to commission some amazing new research, previewed first in Time. The headline: “Want to Win the White House? Recruit a Candidate for School Board.”
In an analysis of seven must-win states from two Democratic groups that emerged from the ashes of 2016, it turns out that fielding down-ballot races has a statistically significant effect on boosting the headliners. In other words, having someone on the ballot for the parochial races like school boards and county auditors can actually help the contenders for Governor, Senator and even President. How much help they offer varies, from 0.4 percentage points to 2.3 percentage points, according to the BlueLabs analysis funded by Run for Something and For Our Future, two groups focused on local races.
A fraction of a percentage point might seem small, and it is. But Biden won Pennsylvania and Georgia by 0.2 points, Arizona by 0.3 points, and Wisconsin by 0.7 points. Four years earlier, Hillary Clinton lost Michigan by 0.3 percentage points, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by 0.7 points, and Florida by 1.2 points. The power of the presidency is regularly decided on the margins and may well hinge on that state assembly race that no one is paying attention to.
This is the second round of research into reverse coattails we’ve worked on (you can read about the first in the NYT earlier this year) — we wanted to dig in deeper, examine more states, and affirm the findings.
As always, it remains true: The way to win national elections is to fight for & win local elections.
In other RFS community updates:
We had one last win of 2021 this weekend: Rebecca Like won her race for Kaua’i prosecutor— congrats, Becky! That makes 638 wins since we launched in 2017. AMAZING.
27 year old Indira Sheumaker beat a two-term incumbent to win a seat on the Des Moines city Council — she’s going to make a huge difference on climate change as the city negotiates their agreement with the energy utility.
Etel Haxhiaj, Ruthzee Louijeune, and Thu Nguyen all made history this year — the Boston Globe calls them “the new guard” who are “reshaping politics in Boston and Worcester.”
NY Sen. Jabari Brisport introduced legislation that creates a path toward universal child care.
The Washington Post deep-dived into Travis County DA Jose Garza’s work reforming the county & police department: “Garza is doing more to hold police accountable and reform the criminal justice system than any other prosecutor in the nation and that the public is behind him.”
Sean Elo-Rivera, who recently won a seat on the San Diego City Council, was elected as council president.
23 year old NYC city council member-elect Chi Ossé is highlighted as a star in using social media to reach young voters in municipal elections. Younger candidates who are fluent in social = good!
Caitlin Clarkson Pereira lost her campaign for CT state legislature but is now making history in other ways: She became the first woman firefighter in Fairfield in nearly 25 years.
In reflecting on her first year in office, San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert “is most proud of the ghost gun ordinance she authored that as of October banned non-serialized untraceable firearms within the city.”
IL state Rep. Bob Morgan successfully sponsored legislation that would allow state and local councties to spend gas tax funds on walking & bicycling infrastructure (not just new roads) — meaning more ways to build more people-centered transit!
Restaurateur and WI state assemblywoman Francesca Hong’s lived experience has pushed her to advocate for food industry workers.
A brief RFS bench-watch (meaning: an eye on the folks running for higher office or moving up into leadership!!)
RFS alum Lydia Edwards won her special election for MA state senate, becoming the first Black woman to represent the First Suffolk & Middlesex District.
Seaside City Councilmember Jon Wizard announced his campaign for CA state assembly.
WI Assemblywoman Greata Neubauer is running for minority leader - go Greta go!
Nida Allam, who’s running for Congress down in NC, is part of a wave of gun violence survivors running for office.
Also cool: We’re partnering with Arena to host Run Academy, a training specifically for young leaders thinking about running for office, held in partnership with a program to train campaign staff. Learn more & sign up!
In related reading:
Earlier this summer, the Proud Boys — a far right extremist violent group — declared they’re going to refocus on local politics. Now, we’re seeing the effect of that: “Their presence at school boards, town councils and health dept. meetings is part of a strategy shift by the far-right militia -- to bring menacing politics to the local level.”
The final few weeks of the year feel the longest — that feels especially true this year. I’ll have one more note for you before 2021 ends, with some sappy feelings and a whole lot of gratitude, so all I say for now is: Thank you. We’re lucky and grateful to do this work with you.
Happy holidays,
Amanda