RFS feel-good update (5/3): A big milestone
You built this!
Hi all -
Last week, Run for Something hit a big milestone: 500 winners since we launched in 2017!
Marche’ Johnson — a veteran, community organizer, and caregiver — won her runoff for a seat on the Montgomery City Council. (If you missed it, I talked to Marche’ for the podcast earlier this spring. She’s amazing.)
500 winners is bigger than our wildest dreams. And even better: It compounds on itself. The more people we help run and win, the more young people are inspired to run themselves, and the more meaningful progress we can make.
You made this happen. Thank you for being part of this team.
You can see our full list of lifetime winners here.
In addition to Marche’s big win last week, we had 25 candidates on the ballot on Texas on Saturday. While we’re still gathering results and votes are being counted, a few exciting wins:
Crystal Dávila beat a longtime incumbent to take on the role of trustee in the Pasadena Independent School District.
Alison Maguire beat a two-term incumbent for a seat on the Denton City Council.
More to come from these elections; keep an eye on our social media for updates!
In other news from our 2021 candidates:
This is a beautiful video from Dr. Tyler Titus in PA. Warning: You might need tissues.
Pretty cool: Andrew Grant Houston is the first candidate for mayor of Seattle to max out on matching funds for the primary — meaning, he’s hit the city-mandated limit on what he can raise.
In RFS alumni updates:
Good stuff out of PA…
NY State Sen. Jessica Ramos is passionate about food both personally and professionally — she’s led the charge in Albany to speak up for street vendors, farm workers, and restaurant owners in her Queens district.
CO Rep. Brianna Titone led on legislation that would allow human remains to become compost, making Colorado the second state to legalize human composting.
Rep. Erin Zwiener got a bill passed through the TX state house that would reduce the penalty for possessing small amounts of marijuana — a big step forward for ending prohibition in TX.
NV Assemblywoman Selena Torres has sponsored a bill that would require every eligible higher ed institution in NV to participate in a survey on sexual misconduct, implement a sexual misconduct policy, and establish a victim’s advocate.
CO Reps. Dylan Roberts and Iman Jodeh are slowly pushing forward their bill to create a new public-private health care plan in Colorado.
NC Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed is advocating for bills requiring police body camera footage to be released 48 hours after the recording to help build trust and accountability between law enforcement and the public.
Rep. Alice Buckley successfully sponsored legislation that would allow Montana candidates to use campaign funds to pay for childcare. We love to see it.
The Nebraska state legislature has passed Sen. Terrell McKinney’s bill to ban hair discrimination.
PA State Reps. Jennifer O’Mara and Sara Innamorato helped co-author a piece on an important question: Why is starting a family treated like a privilege in American society?
Finally, as we keep an eye on our bench…
It’s official: GA Rep. Matthew Wilson is running for statewide office!
In related reading:
FiveThirtyEight lays out how the GOP has a structural advantage to winning control without actually winning a majority of voters. While some of this advantage is accidental or built into the constitution, much of it is by design from the Republican Party’s decades long investment in state and local politics:
”Minority rule is not just a fact of life for the GOP — it is a strategy, encouraged by Republican politicians who fear ceding power to a more and more diverse majority. And because political institutions interact to shape the rules of our democracy, they have created a vicious cycle where minority rule can perpetuate itself.”Relatedly, this is a compelling story about the state of voting rights/suppression right now. I’ll call your attention to this:
Republicans remain committed to a strategy of enacting voting restrictions through state legislatures. They also have a 10-year head start, given their string of down-ballot successes that continued in 2020.In Mr. Obama’s administration, Democrats “focused our resources on the presidency, Senate, the House,” Mr. Holder said. “We think of ourselves as a national federal party, without necessarily understanding that there’s a direct connection between federal power and the makeup of the state legislatures and governors at the state level.”
He added, “Secretaries of state, Supreme Court races in the states — you know, there was just not a focus there.”
Yet another reason to care about state legislatures: The GOP is passing legislation specifically to ban accurate curriculums describing racism in America in their public schools.
This week on the Run for Something podcast: Justan Parker Fields had never really been involved in politics before -- it had run in his family, sure, but he'd never been too engaged. But when the police shot and killed Philando Castile back in 2016, he decided to try and organize a protest in his hometown of Allentown, PA. Not too many people showed up. A few years later, when George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Justan tried again -- and this time, hundreds came out to show their support for Black lives. From there, Justan became one of the founders of Black Lives Matter Lehigh Valley, and now he's fighting for a seat on the Allentown City Council, because as he says: while there's power in protest, there's also power in policy. If he wins, he'll be the first gay Black man on the city council. Listen wherever you get your shows!
A free event to put on your calendar: As part of AAPI Heritage Month, we’re hosting “Unapologetically Progressive & AAPI” on May 13th. The conversation will be moderated by Georgia state Senator and Run for Something alumni Marvin Lim, who will be speaking with candidate for Minneapolis City Council Aisha Chughtai, candidate for Columbus City Council At-Large Aditi Bussells, and candidate for NYC Council Tricia Shimamura. Don’t miss it.
Thank you for making this all possible. You helped elect more than 500 young people in the last four years — you’re a hero!
- Amanda