RFS feel-good update (5/2): 87 amazing new endorsements to inspire you
Plus: It's Election Day tomorrow!
Hi all -
Last week, we announced our newest class of endorsed candidates: 87 amazing young leaders (63% people of color, 51% women, and 22% LGBTQIA+ folks) across 30 states who are running to build sustainable power at the local level.
These leaders include foster parents, professors, trial attorneys, veterans, non-profit leaders and organizers, immigrants, educators, social workers, public health professionals, and more. They’re just so inspiring. Scroll through to feel good about the future.
Also in candidate news, heads up, there are 13 RFS candidates in elections this week in Indiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Tennessee. It’s never too early or too late to get to work.
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin notes what we’ve been saying since day one: Run for Something candidates & alum like Sen. Mallory McMorrow & MO Rep. Ian Mackey have the moral clarity & connection to community to be able to make the case for our values.
These speeches went viral in large part because they are the sort of declarations of moral principle one hears too infrequently from Democrats. … For showing Democrats how to stand up to cultural bullies, we can say well done, Rep. Mackey and Sen. McMorrow.”
You also must read RFS alum (x2) Chloe Maxmin, ME state Senator, in the NYT, arguing that to win back rural voters, we need to run genuinely local candidates and empower them to run strong campaigns.
“Talked with a 43-year-old guy who announced that he wasn’t voting, that he was so depressed at the quality of people in office,” an old-timer who was one of our volunteers recounted in an email. By the end of their conversation, he was going to vote just for Chloe. “The fact that an older person is optimistic and working to elect young people is a great thing,” the voter told him.
In other RFS community updates…
Beyond that column, MI Sen. Mallory McMorrow continues to get attention for her powerful argument against hate — MSNBC called her a “secret weapon,” the Atlantic explained how her story helped find common ground, and NYMag got some insight into her experience as an elected official and a new mom. David Remnick at the New Yorker called her a “a role model for the midterm.”
Truthfully we need a lot more YOU (yes, you, reading this tweet) to do the same: speak truth, stand in your values, and fight back. Step one: do you know who your elected officials are? At all levels? Find out. Don't like what you learn? Speak up. Or even @runforsomethingWe need more @MalloryMcMorrow’s right now. https://t.co/FGhKH3kDnhWendy Davis @wendydavisAir Force Veteran & Arvada (CO) City Councilwoman Lisa Smith went to Ukraine to help support refugees on the ground - she shared her story with Westword.
NY state leg candidate Kaegan Mays-Williams is speaking up about the personal side of the Black maternal health crisis and her experience giving birth.
For Justice Horn, candidate for Jackson County Legislature in MO, the argument about making schools a safe space for LGBTQ+ students is personal — the bullying he experienced in school just a decade ago led him to try and take his own life.
In Kansas, Overland Park councilmember Melissa Cheatham is helping lead on the Climate Action Playbook, a regional plan put together by Climate Action KC to help reduce the Kansas City metro’s emissions and create healthier communities. Local climate action!
ME Sen. Chloe Maxmin successfully expanded a law to grant immunity from prosecution to anyone who helps someone experiencing an overdose.
CA Assemblymember Alex Lee is leading on legislation to reduce light pollution, specifically providing for the safety of migratory birds, insects, and of course, Californians.
CT Sen. Will Haskell successfully led on legislation to reduce climate change and curb asthma rates caused by vehicle pollution - among other things, the bill requires the state vehicle fleet to be at least 50% election by 2025 and simplifies the installation of charging stations.
“It is essential that we send a person who has lived experience with the issues facing our community. From living as a renter in the district and dealing firsthand with the rising cost of housing, to working as a public employee and relying on public transportation for everyday needs, to being a bisexual trans woman whose human rights are perpetually under attack in Montana and across the country, Zooey has some of the most valuable experience an elected official can have.” - A powerful letter to the editor in support of Zooey Zephyr for MT state house.
CO Sen. Julie Gonzales joined protestors outside the Capitol to advocate for a treatment-centered approach to the state’s fentanyl crisis.
RI Sen. Tiara Mack joins with a colleague to argue for more affordable housing instead of backdoor deals with developers.
Allegheny County Councilmember Bethany Hallam is keeping on her fight to ban fracking underneath county parks.
Highly recommend this NPR interview with VA Delegate Danica Roem as she continues to share stories from her new memoir.
NC Rep. Brian Farkas is pushing for budget appropriation to a program that helps the formerly incarcerated re-enter society.
CO Rep. Dylan Roberts is leading on legislation to ensure a “just transition” for coal workers impacted by the shift to clean energy.
Keeping an eye on the RFS bench — alum who are now running for higher office:
Congrats to Durham County Commissioner & current congressional candidate Nida Allam on her pregnancy — she’s been very open about her fertility challenges, helping destigmatize the experience.
All of this!! “Malcolm Kenyatta is the future of the Democratic Party. In seeking to become America’s youngest senator, he surely faces the hurdles of so many “firsts” in a state where politics is weighed down by its brass-knuckle ward-boss traditions — a Black, openly gay man in a state that has sent only white men to the Senate since 1789. Yet Kenyatta also bridges so many gaps for a party grappling with a severe identity crisis. While pundits fight over whether the Democrats should own their new look as the party of the college educated or woo back the working class, Kenyatta — who washed dishes at age 12 to help his mom get by, then took on $100,000 in debt earning degrees at Temple and Drexel — speaks to a more universal idea: the politics of aspiration.”
Some related reading for you…
This is very cool! Snapchat has announced 4 million users have used the Run for Office Mini - if you had told us when we launched RFS 5+ years ago that a tech company would build candidate recruitment into the core of their civic program, we would’ve laughed you out of the room. How things have changed!
I joined Molly Jong-Fast on The New Abnormal podcast on Daily Beast to chat about a whole bunch of Run for Something-related projects - listen in if that’s your jam.
The Atlantic dives in on the power and heart of school boards — why they’re heated and why they matter.
A reminder that the RFS candidates running on an accurate telling of history are on the same side as a majority of Americans!
In upcoming RFS events:
On Wednesday, May 4th, we’re hosting a call for AAPI leaders considering running for office. 100% free; help spread the word!
It’s not too early to get your tickets for Party for Something in D.C. on June 15th!
Thank you for making all this possible. You’re a star.
- Amanda