19 days until the sun starts setting after 7pm again. We’re going to make it!
In the meantime… if you need to be inspired, tune in to our panel from last week, Unapologetically Progressive & Black. This incredible hour of conversation will give you hope.
If you need to be furious, two things:
First: FiveThirtyEight explained how the Trumpiest Republicans are at the state and local level, not in D.C.
This is why Run for Something’s focus on state & local elections continues to be so important: It’s Trump’s party, all the way down.
And FWIW, that’s a feature, not a bug.
The Washington Post had the best summary yet of the Republicans’ 40 year plan to hold sustainable power:
Republicans saw longtime Democratic majorities as reversible but needed time to build local political strength to become competitive. “We tried very hard as a principal goal to have self-reliant state parties,” [former GOP chair Haley Barbour] recalled. The Republican brand had improved under Reagan — especially in the South — but national popularity wasn’t enough to pry statehouses away from Democrats. Republicans slowly and steadily built up fundraising and organizing capacities in Democratic strongholds — and then waited for those gains to pay off.
As we’ve noted many times over: The GOP is at the end of their 40-year plan. Democrats are on year 5, at most. We can fight back if we keep making long-term investments.
(You’re a part of that - thank you!!)
In RFS candidate & alumni updates…
The South Florida Sun Sentinel endorsed Kerri-Ann Nesbeth in her race for Miramar City Council: “Despite being younger than her opponents by more than two decades, Nesbeth, 31, was clearly the adult in the virtual room when the three candidates interviewed with the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board over a video call. While Koval’s campaign seems largely about removing the incumbent (and we can’t help but understand that given the quality of the incumbent), Nesbeth has focused her campaign on fiscal responsibility and sustainability in this fast-growing city of more than 140,000 residents. Miramar needs more forward-thinking people like Nesbeth at City Hall.”
Carlsbad councilmember Priya Bhat-Patel attended her most recent council meeting while in the hospital about to give birth to her first baby.
MI sen. Mallory McMorrow just gave birth to a baby girl - she’s been talking openly about her decision to take 12 weeks of maternity leave and the impact it might have on her political career.
A number of RFS alum, including State Sens. Jessica Ramos, Alessandra Biaggi, and Andrew Gounardes, are calling to hold Gov. Cuomo accountable for his mismanagement of covid in nursing homes.
Time named Judge Lina Hidalgo to their Time100 Next list, with a tribute written by Beto O’Rourke. While she was granted this honor long before the outages and crises of the last week, it’s as deserved as ever.
Relatedly: Judge Hidalgo and fellow RFS alum Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee are going keep standing up for Texans.
University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker kicked off his most recent board meeting denounced any calls that the 2020 election was stolen — a pointed comment given that one of his fellow regents is the co-chair of the Michigan GOP who selected a seditionist as their party’s other co-chair.
Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit announced his office will prosecute crimes against LGBTQ+ folks as hate crimes.
Nebraska state Sen. Terrell McKinney introduced legislation to ban racial discrimination against specific hairstyle.
Pittsburgh city council candidate Bethani Cameron is calling on the city to enact an eviction moratorium.
Selvena Brooks-Powers is on the ballot for a special election on 2/23:“It was the start of the coronavirus pandemic and City Council candidate Selvena Brooks-Powers was scrambling. Her uncle had just died in a nursing home – presumably from COVID-19, the very virus raging throughout the city. The city was locked down. PPE supplies were hard to find. Working from home with a young baby in tow, Brooks-Powers hunted down masks to hand out to the community. She called local lawmakers to get their help with PPE giveaways and arranged pop-up food distribution sites.
It was during this frenzy that she realized she needed to run for City Council again.”
VA gubernatorial candidate Jennifer Carroll Foy told Elle her birth story for the first time, explaining how she managed to win in 2017 while being on bed rest and in severe pain and suffering.
The Missouri Times has named Maggie Nurrenbern a “freshman to watch” in the state legislature.
Former TN state house candidate Brandon Thomas was profiled as a leader making Black history in the moment.
In the Concord Monitor, NH state Sen. Becky Whitley explained her new bill to help address some of the structural inequities in the child care system, explaining how the caregiving economy is critical to the state’s survival.
I love this series RFS alum Kelly Krout is running on TikTok…
MI state Rep. Mari Manoogian has introduced legislation to ban cell phone use while driving, making Michigan streets safer.
VA Del. Chris Hurst is pushing forward legislation to broaden public records laws and give the public more access to investigative files, bringing Virginia in line with 32 other states.
KY Rep. Josie Raymond has introduced what’s being called “the most important bill in Frankfort” — legislation that would establish a process for citizen-driven ballot initiatives.
NV Assemblywomen Cecilia González and Selena Torres introduced legislation that would prevent authorities from suspending a driver’s license when that person can't pay fines.
Building the bench pays off.
We have a number of alum currently running for statewide office, including Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta for Senate in PA & Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy for governor in VA. I’m not going to include them in this update every week, but wanted to flag it since Malcolm just announced!
We’ve got a packed line-up of events this week. Make sure you don’t miss one.
February 22nd: A virtual house party (ticketed) with GA state Sen. Kim Jackson & Coral Springs Commissioner Nancy Metayer
February 23rd: A free Strategy Session with our partners at Avalanche Insights, where we’ll walk through the research we did on our 2020 candidates & program, then dive in to what’s next.
February 25th: See Yourself Running - a free call for Black folks thinking about running for office, hosted in partnership with Collective PAC and Higher Heights.
February 27th: A comedy show hosted by Josh Gondelman and starring Adam Pally, Cocoon Central Dance Team, Chris Duffy, Shalewa Sharpe, and @TrumpComedyNerd.
This week on the Run for Something podcast: Gabriella Cázares-Kelly got her start as an organizer and educator, struggling to get Indigenous communities registered to vote. Learn more about how that experience shaped her journey to becoming the Pima County Recorder, who manages (among other things), the voter registration process, how far her family has come in just three generations, and the burden and privilege of being the first to represent her community in elected office. Get it wherever you get your shows.
One more week of February. We can make it! Thanks for keeping all this going.
- Amanda
P.S. I’m not going to link to it, but a GOP news outlet wrote up my appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show and gave me the best summary of RFS yet: “The organization’s main objectives can be best summarized as: promulgating a far-left agenda and installing as diverse of a ruling class as possible."
The headline absolutely slayed me, too. What a ride!
Thanks for this great feel-good update, Amanda. With the Dems on year 5, we have a long way to go but we have an opportunity to build lasting support on the local levels and "resource every state like a battleground state."
Thanks for this great feel-good update, Amanda. With the Dems on year 5, we have a long way to go but we have an opportunity to build lasting support on the local levels and "resource every state like a battleground state."