RFS feel-good update (1/4): We made it to 2021!
It's gonna feel like 2020 for a little while longer, but in the literal sense, it's over.
Hi all -
I hope you had a nice holiday, full of delicious food and zero superspreader events.
The Run for Something team took the last two weeks off, and now we’re back at it, ready to get to work recruiting and supporting more young diverse progressives running for local office. Our next big moment: On January 19th, we’re celebrating National Run for Office Day. More to come!
In the meantime, if you haven’t joined our National Host Committee for 2021 yet, don’t miss you chance. You can guarantee a spot at every RFS event this year for as little as an $8 monthly donation. Every dollar means the world to us.
Here are a few of the many many good stories about RFS candidates & alumni from over the break:
The Washington Post profiled FL Rep. Anna Eskamani on her work to help Floridians navigate the uninsurance system:
Many who called weren’t from Eskamani’s Orlando district and had no idea whether she was a Republican or a Democrat. They had seen her name in social media posts and were desperate for someone in government who would pick up the phone, empathize with their agony and try to help. “This is not easy work and it’s not cheery,” Eskamani said. But it was the minimum she believed she could do as an elected official; a first step to winning back the trust of those who had lost faith in their government and the Democratic Party, which had been battered in Florida in November. … So far, Eskamani’s office has helped about 21,000 unemployed Floridians with their claims by forwarding their information to the state’s unemployment office and, when answers weren’t immediately forthcoming, calling on their behalf. A Tampa Bay Times analysis in September found that her office accounted for about 25 percent of all state lawmaker interventions during the first six months of the pandemic.Colorado Rep. Dylan Roberts will be introducing a bill to allow members of the public to buy insulin at the same rate as what the state pays.
On his first day as Washtenaw Attorney in MI, Eli Savit issued a directive rescinding “zero tolerance” policies. Promise kept!
The Philadelphia Gay News named Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta their Person of the Year. Well-deserved.
Gabriella Cazares-Kelly’s swearing-in ceremony included traditional Tohono O’odham singing, dancing and a blessing — she’s now the first Indigenous woman to hold office in Pima County, AZ.
Rep. Heather Edelson was named assistant majority leader in the Minnesota State House — RFS alum are climbing the ranks!
NY State Sen. Zellnor Myrie led on legislation to end evictions in New York until at least May 1 — much-needed right now.
PA State Rep. Sara Innamorato talked with the Pittsburgh City Paper about her experience so far. It’s incredibly inspiring:
“What I’m trying to do is bring my lived experience to the role. I grew up in this area. I’ve actually lived in the district my entire life, just in different parts of it. I brought my experience of what it was like to have a father who struggled with an opioid addiction, and what that meant for our family — how it meant housing instability, how it meant I had to watch my mom who didn’t have more than a high school degree find a job that she could support two kids on. It meant having to put myself through college without really understanding how to navigate that space, graduating at the height of our last recession in 2008 and finding a scenario where there wasn’t much opportunity, but now I had this cool new mountain of debt I had to deal with. It’s watching my family members work in the service industry and work hourly wage jobs and not having enough to support themselves, or really just having to work around the clock and not having paid sick leave, or not having insurance. I was living without health insurance myself when I started my own business.
It removed barriers and said, “OK, that’s not a politician, that’s a human being. That’s someone who maybe I don’t agree with 100% of the time on ideology, but I understand that struggle, because it’s been my struggle too.”NYC City Council candidate Shahana Hanif has a strong op-ed in the Gotham Gazette about why it matters to elect more women to leadership, especially as we consider how to recover our public education system.
Ricky Hurtado became the first Latino elected to the NC state legislature. This is beautiful: “After the election, he was flooded with texts and in-person congratulations from well-wishers, including one immigrant mother at an event who told him: “For you to win here, in Alamance County, is so important for my children.””
Some other fun swearing-in photos to warm your heart:
Tomorrow on the Run for Something podcast: I talk with Nebraska state senator Megan Hunt about how her state’s unicameral non-partisan state legislature works, what it means to be a progressive in a deeply red state, and why it matters to make states like hers a place people want to live. Subscribe wherever you get your shows.
Finally, I want to say thank you, as always. The last year (and last four years) have been really really really hard. I am always an optimist, sure, but I’m particularly hopeful for what 2021’s going to bring, both for the country but especially for the entire RFS community. We’ve built something special together. Thank you for making it possible.
- Amanda