RFS feel-good update (3/28): If you think they don't matter, you're not paying attention
We're back! We've got new endorsements, great partners, and more.
Hi all -
After a two week hiatus on this newsletter — probably the longest pause for this update since we launched RFS back in 2017 (!!) — I’m back and so excited to share everything you might have missed. We just have so much to catch up on.
Let’s start with some big RFS updates…
We announced 70 new endorsements! They’re an amazing group that is 53% people of color, 49% women, and 19% LGBTQIA+ leaders. There are teachers, firefighters, an astrophysicist, refugees, single parents, election experts, history-making candidates, organizers, farmers, musicians, and more. Each class is more inspiring than the last — if you need to feel hopeful, scroll through this list, pick a few to follow along or support, and remember: If democracy survives, the future is bright.
We launched some very cool new partners in our candidate recruitment, including an Indigenous creator on TikTok, a beauty/fashion blogger, a non-binary creator who makes the case for protecting trans folks, and a Nebraska-based amputee & plus-size fashion content creator. More to come in our efforts to meet young people where they are and reach folks who might not ever consider running for office until we ask!
Time Magazine dived in to why our work on school boards is so important — they connected with RFS candidates Lisa Schoenberger in Nebraska and Staci Childs in Texas, among others, to talk about how the protests against equity and an accurate telling of history inspired them to run for office themselves.
In RFS candidate & alumni news….
USA Today named TX state Rep. Jessica González one of their Women of the Year, highlighting her work especially standing up for voting rights in the face of strident opposition.
Thanks to Sen. Sarah McBride’s leadership, Delaware is about to be the 10th state to provide paid family leave. Huge.
MA Sen. Becca Rausch found the state funding to launch a peer-to-peer text line for young people in crisis. This will save lives.
“My age definitely gives a different perspective, and a much-needed perspective,” James Coleman said, who is also the only openly LGBTQ candidate. “It’s really going to be our generation that bears the brunt of climate change, that bears the brunt of the affordable housing crisis.”
In Nevada, the Washoe County Commission - including RFS alum Alexis Hill — voted against changes that 2020 election deniers were pushing; as Alexis explained: “This resolution would limit access to voting and create chaos and throw our voting tallies into question. I don’t see any evidence for this resolution.”
A fun trend watch: RFS alum working on ending parking minimums in zoning laws. See: Burhan Azeem in Cambridge and Jonathan Melton in Raleigh.
CA assemblymember Alex Lee introduced legislation to close a loophole that was enabling foreign interference in California elections.
NY assemblymember Kenny Burgos makes the case for a $15 billion climate investment in the Bronx.
Denver City Councilmember Candi Cdebeca is pushing for her colleagues to go further on allowing affordable housing in Denver.
First-term state legislator Emily Kinkead in PA draws a new challenger who straight up tells the press: “I can't right now, you know, right off the top of my head tell you that what I'm for and what I'm against.” The audacity!
NC legislator DeAndrea Salvador was named to the Grist 50 - a top list of leaders on climate.
NYC Councilmember Shahana Hanif is not letting the NYPD get away with their shit. As the first Muslim member of the city council, she’s pushing back when the NYPD claims they never spied on Muslim New Yorkers.
In CO, Rep. Dylan Roberts introduced a bill that would add affordable housing and provide cash assistance to folks struggling to afford rent.
MN Rep. Cedrick Frazier’s bill to provide cash payments to workers who may face exposure to COVID has officially passed the state house and is over to the Senate.
Rep. Lindsey Williams in PA has introduced two bills to forgive student debt for school-based mental health professionals and provide internship stipends to student nurses as a way of reducing the load on PA teachers. Huge.
Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, the first openly gay board member, has a new opponent: A man convicted of a hate crime.
We love our mentorship program & so do the candidates.
In related reading:
Meet the Press dug in on the stakes of the fight over school boards and the challenges we’re up against.
A NYT headline that sums it all up (and that we’ve been saying for years): “If You Think Republicans Are Overplaying Schools, You Aren’t Paying Attention.”
Historian Jill Lepore traces the history of the fight over schools: “Still, this fight isn’t really about history. It’s about political power. Conservatives believe they can win midterm elections, and maybe even the Presidency, by whipping up a frenzy about “parents’ rights,” and many are also in it for another long game, a hundred years’ war: the campaign against public education.”
Librarians are the last line of defense on book bans as school boards get twitchy and parents panic.
Here’s really why all this matters:
Lou Whiting, a nonbinary junior at Granbury High School, said they were outraged [about the removal of books about gender & sexuality at school] . Whiting and another student who’s part of the LGBTQ community said classmates at Granbury have harassed them at school, but they’ve avoided reporting the harassment because they worried administrators wouldn’t take their complaints seriously. [The superintendent’s] comments validated those fears, Whiting said. “I don’t feel incredibly safe or welcomed by a large majority of the students at my school,” Whiting said. “I’ve been called slurs. I’ve been verbally attacked. I’ve been physically attacked. But it kind of feels worse when the attacks are coming from adults, from the people who are supposed to keep us safe.”In slightly more uplifting news: We talked with Jezebel about why it’s (mostly) a good thing that it’s boring for women to run for office now.
One upcoming RFS event: Tomorrow night, we’re hosting a call for folks thinking about running for election admin jobs. Get all the details.
We’re running full-steam ahead and growing our pipeline ahead of the big filing deadlines over the next few months. So much more to come - thank for making this all possible!
- Amanda