RFS feel-good update (12/21): The last one of 2020
While 2020 may not spiritually end for a few more months, we've made it!
Hi all -
This is the last feel-good update of 2020 — we’ve made it! While the year may not spiritually end for a few more months, it will literally end in 10 days and I could not be more excited to truly enter the new roaring 20s.
I’ve been sending this Monday morning emails every week since we launched almost four years ago; going through them is like reading a journal of what this amazing project we’ve tackled together. (If you’re in the mood for some reading material during this break, the archive is a real blast.)
A few things I’m particularly proud of as we close out 2020:
Run for Something’s candidate pipeline grew from 45,000 at the beginning of the year to now more than 65,000 young people who’ve said they want to run for office (and 2000+ of those folks have signed up since Election Day 2020!!!)
We’ve endorsed 1480 individual candidates in all 50 states, including a brand new 2021 class just last week. Of those, we’ve elected 488 people across 45 states. Those winners are 55% women and/or non-binary, 56% BIPOC, & 21% LGBTQ+. All are under the age of 40.
When the pandemic began, we launched resourcesforcampaigns.com, a hub for candidates that nearly 20,000 people visited. We ran the Armchair Chat series all summer long, reaching more than 2 million viewers.
Our virtual events knocked folks’ socks off — from our Front Row Seat Series that included presidential candidates and governors (and now Cabinet secretaries & VP-elects!) to our Unapologetically Progressive panels with candidates from top battleground states to dozens of virtual house parties, we reached tens of thousands of people, building an incredible Run for Something community.
We raised more than $100,000 for Black candidates running for local office around Juneteenth, and another $100,000+ for state legislative candidates in Pennsylvania and Texas through RFS Ascend.
We built or sustained more than 100 partnerships with state, local, and movement groups across the country, because we know no one does this work alone.
All that is just the tip of the iceberg on the public-facing stuff, and doesn’t cover anything we did internally, as our team continued to work on processes, technology, and operations that allowed us to scale, work efficiently, and be scrappy with our resources. We especially focused a lot on internal culture so we can keep doing this work for a very long time without burning out.
None of this would have been possible without you. I’m so grateful for your generosity of your time, resources, and talent. This community — that’s you! — is why Run for Something is able to move at full speed into 2021. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
In other Run for Something candidate & alumni news…
We endorsed 25 new candidates for 2021 (on top of the folks we’d previously endorsed earlier this year!) This new class includes folks running in New York, Florida, Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. Of those candidates: 75% are women, 71% are BIPOC, and 29% are LGBTQIA+.
There are so many good stories in the new class, but this one made me teary: Five days after we launched, a friend sent Kerri-Ann Nesbeth a link to our website.
Today we wanted to share a meaningful #TBT! Back in 2017 my friend @tammyjphan believed in me and told me about RFS. It’s community members and supporters like her that keep us going! Join the us today at KerriAnnNesbeth.com/volunteer #YesWeKAN #Miramar #RunForSomething #RFS #March2021That email got her thinking about running — and now we’ve endorsed Kerri-Ann in her race for Miramar Commission. The long game pays off!!
Newly endorsed NY City Council candidate Felicia Singh is running to flip one of the few Republican seats on the council. She explains: “New York City Council District 32 has been sold the single story of conservative values. We’re the red dot you see on maps all the way at the bottom of Queens. This is not who we are. Rather, we’re a district that has been underfunded and unsupported by establishments who benefit off of the silence of a strong voting block of Black, brown and white community members striving for justice. “
TX state Rep. James Talarico introduced legislation to provide funding for social-emotional learning programs in TX school. If it passes, it’ll make a meaningful difference for kids who’ve experienced trauma.
GA state Rep. Matthew Wilson talked about the change his district has seen in the new Crooked Media podcast about the state of GA. Listen in!
In her first year on Ames City Council (and her junior/senior year at Iowa State University,) Rachel Junck has made huge progress on her biggest campaign promise: funding a climate action plan for the city.
Taylor Small, Vermont’s first trans state legislator, “is conscious of her role as a trailblazer and what her victory means for other LGBTQ people. ‘My goal,’ says Small, ‘is now that the door is open, I’m going to hold it open for those who are yet to come.’”
Dr. Ravi Grivois-Shah was sworn into his new role as Tucson Unified School District Board, along with his kids and husband.
Nithya Raman, new LA city councilmember, is going to do things differently:
“Raman, however, enters office having eschewed any developer campaign contributions — and the taint (and influence) that comes with them. Instead of treating housing primarily as a supply and demand problem, as many housing advocates do, Raman’s solutions are justice-oriented, focusing on the unhoused and working-class renters. Don’t expect an endless sea of upscale apartments in her district. She wants to redo L.A.’s zoning rules to allow affordable housing projects to be built by-right, meaning that no special city permissions are required, instead of having to navigate exhaustive red tape and political pushback. She’s the rare leader whose ideas live up to L.A.'s progressive reputation. And the one it desperately needs if it has any hope of breaking through its ineffectual housing status quo. ”
On her first day in office, Nithya announced two motions she’ll be bringing to the council, both centered on homelessness and strengthening care networks. Watching her lead is going to be amazing.Emmett Soldati may have lost his race for the District 2 Executive Council, but he’s not done fighting. He’s throwing his name in the ring for NH Democratic Party chair.
Sasha Renée Pérez was originally sworn in as mayor - the youngest woman mayor in San Gabriel Valley history, and the first renter on the Alhambra city council.
In an overview of the statewide races for 2021 & 2022, two RFS alum — Jennifer Carrol Foy in VA and Anna Eskamani in FL — are name-checked as current or possible candidates for governor in their respective states. That’s what building the bench looks like.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was named one of the Best Things in Texas by Texas Monthly for her work expanding access to the polls in 2020.
On his first day in office, CA Assemblymember Alex Lee introduced a bill to ban corporate donations to state candidates. This is how we change the system: Introduce people with the political bravery to lead.
PA State Sen. Katie Muth is imploring her fellow PA state legislators to combat the climate crisis by participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in this powerful op-ed.
New Broward School Board Member and educator Sarah Leonardi is urging Floridians to show thanks to the teachers who are going through hell and making it work this year.
There is no new RFS podcast episode this week or the next — we’ll be back on January 5th! — but until then, don’t hold back from diving into the archives. These interviews age like a fine wine.
I said it up top and I’ll say it again: Thank you, thank you, thank you. This community has made the world a better place. You’re heroes, all of you.
We made it through 2020. Have a safe and restful holiday — see you on the other side.
- Amanda