RFS feel-good update (5/10): It's time to get back in the fight
If you've been resting up since the 2020 election ended, stop resting.
Hi all -
I want to start with some related reading up top today because the urgency of this work only increases each week, and I don’t want you to miss it:
On the local level: Axios explains the lay-of-the-land on school board races, and the dangerous ways conservatives are diving into this critical elections. I think this is a great overview; I’ll only note: It’s not new! Conservatives have been contesting school board races for decades, much to our party & country’s detriment. If you want to see exactly how this is playing out, read one story of how “opponents of anti-racism education” (also known as…proponents of racism) won big in a Southlake, TX, school board race.
In Florida and Texas, GOP state legislatures have passed horrific new voter suppression laws that will make it even more difficult for folks to cast their ballots. Similar bad bills are being considered in Ohio and have already passed in Iowa and Georgia. Democrats are trying to find ways to push back through the courts and the Justice Department, as well as through passing federal legislation (if we can kill the filibuster) — but, as the NYT has put it:
”Democrats are reckoning with decades of party disinvestment in down-ballot elections and issuing dire warnings that nothing will improve without wholesale changes in how the party invests in local contests.”
I’ll repeat that: NOTHING WILL IMPROVE UNTIL WE REIMAGINE OUR PARTY’S INVESTMENT IN LOCAL ELECTIONS.
Forgive my all-caps and bold but I feel myself going a little nutty because this is exactly what we warned about ahead of 2020: The GOP has sustainable power and we’re all in a tough spot now in no small part because of decisions Democratic donors and operatives made a decade ago, to focus primarily on presidential/top-of-ticket elections and battleground states, and let local elections and state parties go under-resourced.
It’s going to be unbelievably hard to win in this environment. And/but: We have no choice but to try — and to start the work now, because the only resource that’s actually scarce is time.
We’re 18 months out from November 2022, so there is no alternative. Our #1 priority has to center fighting for and winning state and local elections in 2021 and 2022, to give us all a fighting chance at saving democracy for the longterm. We have to win state legislatures, and school boards, and city councils, and election administrative roles, and as many other local offices as possible. Pick your reason why: the impact on people’s lives, the impact on party-building, the impact on democracy, the impact on elections higher on the ballot, the need to build a bench, whatever. I don’t care what your reason for coming to the party is; I only care that you’re here now, when it matters.
If we repeat the same mistakes of 2009-2010, it will only get worse.
The Run for Something team is already working with hundreds of local candidates and are actively recruiting for 2022. Are you in?
In brighter news, some stories from our 2021 candidates…
NYC council candidate Jaslin Kaur has an op-ed on the need to support older New Yorkers and their caregivers.
I love our candidates on TikTok.
Tiffany Cabán’s campaign for DA came up short, but her city council race is now running full-speed toward the finish line. We’re proud to be on her team.
Get to know Shahana Hanif, candidate for NYC council. (She’s in my district!)
In alum updates…
Washtenaw County Attorney Eli Savit joined with other leaders to call for a change: It’s time to get state and local law enforcement out of the immigration business.
This is a fascinating overview of “healthy soils” bills working their way through 28 state legislatures, including in Kansas by RFS alum Rep. Rui Xu.
Congrats to Judge Lina Hidalgo for winning EMILY’s List’s Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star of 2021.
Also congrats to Rep. Taylor Small in VT for her successful work to end the LGBTQ+ panic defense.
In Arizona, Julie Gunnigle lost her campaign for Maricopa county attorney, but she’s not done fighting: She’s holding the state AG accountable for posturing instead of governing.
Gabby Salinas lost her campaign for TN state house by only 466 votes — now she’s leading on a PAC to help elect Latino candidates across the state.
CO Rep. Jennifer Bacon is cosponsoring legislation that will automatically seal records on arrests without charges filed, on low-level drug offenses, and expand eligibility more broadly on who’s eligible to petition for sealing records. This is the kind of criminal justice reform that can dramatically change someone’s employment and education possibilities.
Kelly Krout’s story — and her ability to tell her story — is wonderful.
Juliana Bennett just won her seat on the Madison city council and she’s already getting to work: She’s introduced a resolution that would prevent people from getting evicted from a local encampment.
L.A. City Councilwoman Nithya Raman is urging more funding to go toward housing security and reimagining public safety.
DE Sen. Sarah McBride is leading on a bill to ensure folks can get up to 12 weeks of paid family & medical leave — a critical promise she made in her campaign last year.
100 days in, Alexis King is making good on her promises from her DA campaign — she’s launched Colorado’s first conviction integrity unit, reimagined equity and compensation in her office, and made a dent in the backlog of cases that stacked up during the pandemic.
PA Sen. Amanda Cappelletti is a cosponsor on much-needed legislation to get homosexuality out of the PA criminal code. Finally!
TX Rep. Jasmine Crockett is appropriately furious about the delay in passing the Texas George Floyd Act.
WI Rep. Francesca Hong and a group of bipartisan legislators are introducing legislation to mandate education on Hmong and AAPI history in WI public schools.
The CO house has begun debate on Rep. Dylan Roberts and Iman Jodeh’s legislation to create a state health care plan and public option. Historic!
Thanks to NE state Sen. Terrell McKinney and advocates across Nebraska, the state became the 10th ever to pass anti-hair discrimination legislation.
MI Rep. Laurie Pohutsky is holding her colleagues accountable for perpetuating a sexist and misogynistic environment. This takes real bravery.
“Politics has a lot of queen bees with not enough worker bees, and I’m a worker bee. I want to do the work. I want to make sure that we’re empowering everyday people to know their efficacy, and to get involved and to run for office themselves.” - FL Rep. Anna Eskamani on her decision to run for re-election and not higher office just yet. We’re on her team, no matter what.
Keep an eye on the RFS bench…
Last year, we worked with Jevin Hodge in his campaign for Maricopa County Board of Supervisors — he came up just a hair short, but proved out his commitment to his community. Now he’s running to flip a seat in Congress. Watch his awesome launch video & learn his story.
In Virginia, Jennifer Carroll Foy could be the first Black woman governor in America: “Unfortunately, people look to the past to try to dictate what can happen in the future. When people see women of color running for higher office, we are seen as the exception and not the rule.”
In upcoming RFS events:
May 11th, 3-4pm ET: We’re walking through our reverse coattails research with the folks at BlueLabs Analytics — don’t miss out on this free briefing.
Also May 11th, 7-8pm: A conversation on why it matters to run for public utility boards (and what utility boards even are!), co-hosted by us, Climate Cabinet Action, Emerge America and the League of Conservation Voters. RSVP for free.
May 13th: Unapologetically Progressive & AAPI, with four amazing candidates and moderated by GA State Rep. Marvin Lim. RSVP for free.
May 18th: We’re partnering with New American Leaders Action Fund to host a training specifically for AAPI folks considering running for office. This is 100% free; help us get the word out!
This week on the Run for Something podcast: When Liliana Bakhtiari ran for Atlanta City Council in 2017, she made national headlines as a queer Muslim millennial seeking leadership. She came up a few hundred votes short, but kept organizing, because her campaign was never really about what happened on Election Day -- it was about engaging her community. When every problem she ran to solve the first time just got worse, she knew she couldn't stay silent. She's running again, this time in an open race, and she's going to win. We talked about her experiences running, the good and the bad of being a trailblazer, and how she stays inspired, even when it's hard. Listen wherever you get your shows when the episode drops tomorrow.
We’re now five months into 2021. Thanks for everything you’ve done to make this all possible. And, I should say… if you’ve been waiting to get back to work, now’s the time. We can’t wait until things feel scarier; trust me: Things are scary now. Let’s go.
- Amanda