RFS feel-good update (5/30): "No one's ever come to my door before."
Welcome back to work! Be hopeful.
Hi all -
Hope your long weekend was relaxing and joyful!!
Good news on our end: We endorsed another 45 amazing young leaders across 12 states last week — 76% for municipal office, 18% for education roles, 4% for legal positions, and 2% for state legislature.
This new class is amazing - teachers, animal rescue leaders, policy wonks, possibly historic candidates, veterans, engineers, lawyers, parents, affordable housing advocates, and more. Scroll through the latest class and get inspired.
This class brings us up to 234 endorsed candidates for 2023 so far across 30 states - 54% of which are people of color, 50% of whom identify as women, and 28% as LGBTQIA+.
This is not an off year — just an odd-numbered year — because there are more elections in 2023 than there were in 2022. We’re going to keep working hard all summer long to get our candidates whatever they need and we’re so grateful for your help to get it done.
This will cheer you up: Did you hear about what Minnesota Democrats accomplished this legislative session? Among other things, they increased funding for schools, roads, housing, transit, health care, and social services; allowed undocumented people to sign up for health insurance and get drivers’ licenses; restored the right to vote to those leaving incarceration; made marijuana legal (led by alum Lindsey Port); codified the right to abortion and reproductive health care into law; created a child tax credit; guaranteed paid family leave and sick leave, and more.
“I was the first BIPOC person in my district to hold the seat, and what I’d say to young people … (is that) ‘I’m coming in to knock the door off the hinges to ensure that I won’t be the last.” - Rep. Cedrick Frazier (an RFS alum!)
Shout out to alum Sen. Alice Mann, who led on the new guaranteed paid leave program, the first of its kind in the midwest.
When Democrats lead with courage, they can get shit done.
In other RFS community updates:
Harris County attorney Christian Menefee explains exactly how Texas Republicans are coming after Houston’s elections in a politicized effort to suppress voters — he and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo are planning on suing the state.
This is a beautiful story: When Jaime Churches won her MI state house race last year, she had to leave her job as a public school teacher. Her former students came to the state capitol to visit: “I feel proud of her, because she’s doing a good job and it’s her dream job – even though teaching was her dream job too,” the girl said. “I hope I can be like Miss Churches and follow my dreams.” 😭😭😭
Allegheny County Councilmember Tom Duerr led on passing campaign finance reform after a very expensive election concludes.
KY Rep. Josie Raymond calls out the GOP’s hypocrisy: After the Dobbs ruling, they promised to support kids and families. Whoops.
Ronnie Mosley will be the youngest member of the Chicago City Council leading one of the city’s largest wards on the far south side — his story is that of so many young Chicagoans.
NYC Councilmember Amanda Farias, quoting RFS alum FL Rep. Ashley Gantt, writes on how she’s pushing forward menstrual equity in the city.
IL Rep. Nabeela Syed led on legislation to ban price gouging on generic and off-brand prescription medications, which will help so many Illinoisans currently paying huge out of pocket costs for medicine.
Of the five leaders of a new progressive caucus in the PA state house, three are RFS alum. Whaddupppppp!
I love seeing these kinds of report-outs from our candidates across the country — we hear this kind of thing constantly - they’re the first or only person to ever knock on someone’s door.
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Indiana Sen. J.D. Ford joined senior citizens in his community to deliver a petition calling to stop the demolition of an elderly housing complex after HUD cancelled their contract with the community.
NYC Councilmember Shahana Hanif shares how being diagnosed with lupus at the age of 17 changed her life and taught her how to lead.
Excellent stuff out of Kentucky, where Tyler Murphy, chair of the Fayette County Board of Education, led his district to pass a budget that will make them first in the state with starting teacher salaries above $50k. Wild.
In less good news: The Washington Post dug in on the record number of book bans — they found that 11 people file a vast majority (60%!!) — of all book challenges. This is a really good reminder that there is not a nationwide movement of people calling for censorship but rather a small but well-organized group of activists leveraging attention and targeting key local elected officials.
Relatedly: Some excellent data out from our partners at Ballotready:
24,226 school board seats are up for election in 2023
These seats span across 8,104 school districts in 38 states
These districts represent 129,823,059 people—a little over a third of the country
The story is similar in 2024, with another 21,144 school board seats up for election
2023: For Texas, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, stakes are especially high. Each state has from 1,827 to 3,139 positions up for election. Additional states with high percentages of school board elections are Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, New York, and New Jersey, each with a minimum of 1,000 seats up for election.
2024: For California, Texas, Missouri, Michigan, New York, and New Jersey, each state has from 1,027 to 2,510 positions up for election.
This is why our scaled recruitment work is so important: In order to work in as many of these races as possible, we need to be everywhere, bringing in large numbers of folks into the pipeline and helping match them with open races. Your support makes that possible!
Thanks for being on this team. You’re the best.
- Amanda