Feel-good update (7/13): Why one school board member needs new shoes...
Hi all -
Good news & bad news: We’re just a little more than half way between when the pandemic shut down (some of) America in mid-March and Election Day on November 3rd. That’s both horrifying & comforting because, well, at least time is moving forward!
In other news, if you missed it: Nearly 100k people watched our second weekly Armchair Chat on fundraising with Anthony Mercurio, National Director of Investment at Pete for America. This Wednesday at 6pm ET, Ross will be chatting with Jessica Byrd of Three Point Strategies about organizing & the power of movement. RSVP now or tune-in on Facebook.
Also last week: We announced a new partnership with More Like America, a PAC raising money for diverse state legislative candidates in AZ, FL, MI, and WI. This is yet another way we’re trying to direct funds directly to RFS candidates this year (on top of the RFS Ascend program, which gives directly to state legislative candidates in PA & TX.)
In other RFS candidate & alumni news:
Jeremy Cooney won his competitive primary for NY state senate! Onward to November to flip this seat and give Democrats a supermajority in the chamber.
Rigel Robinson, Berkeley City Councilmember, is proposing legislation to get police out of enforcing traffic violations. As he told the NYT: “If we’re serious about transforming the country’s relationship with police, we have to start by taking on Americans’ most common interaction with law enforcement — traffic stops. Driving while Black shouldn’t be a crime.”
You must read this profile of NY state Sen. Jessica Ramos — she is absolutely not here for anyone’s bullshit.
Brandon Thomas’s opponent for TN state house is….something else. Watch this video.
Ben Ku, member of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners, and and Everton Blair, representative on the Gwinnett County Board of Education are the first LGBTQ members in each of their positions, and are part of a changing Georgia electorate. Get to know them.
Natali Hurtado is running to flip a seat in the TX state house — she’s a single mom who worked her way through school & has deep experience in city and state government. Her story is incredible.
SC Rep. JA Moore is calling on the state superintendent to waive standardized testing regardless of whether the federal Dept. of Educations approves their request.
Madison Alderman Max Prestigiacomo has introduced ordinances to prohibit the forceful use of crowd control and to demilitarize the police force in the city. Leaders actually leading — what a thrill!
Denver school board member Tay Anderson needs new shoes. Read more from the Denver Post on why.
The Florida unemployment system is a mess (by design) — state legislators are trying to help deal. As one columnist explains: “One of the hardest working [legislators] has been Orlando Democrat Anna Eskamani, who has been flagging applications at midnight, 4 a.m., whenever they come in, and sharing them on Twitter.”
Meet Chad Klitzman, candidate for Broward County Supervisor of Elections in Florida. I don’t need to explain to you why the position that oversees elections matters, right? Right.
Some related reading for those of you who care about engaging young people & making government more diverse:
A great NYT op-ed on the not-so-sexy but best way to turn out the youth vote: Talk to young people about all things democracy, all the time. (Especially about local issues.)
Our partners at the New American Leaders Project released a super interesting report about the demographics of state legislators. Spoiler: It’s not representative of America. 81% of state legislators are White, 10% are Black, 4% are Latinx, 2% are AAPI, and 1% identify otherwise (including Indigenous or multi-racial). And super fun: 71% are men.
Finally, in upcoming events: This Thursday, join us for a virtual house party with three incredible candidates: Godfrey Santos Plata (candidate for CA State Assembly, District 53), Jackie Fielder (candidate for CA State Senate, District 11) and Nithya Raman (candidate for Los Angeles City Council, District 4).
Plus: Save the date for the RFS 2020 awards on July 23rd. Trust me, this will be inspiring.
Thank you for making all this possible. We’re feeling hopeful; hope you are, too.
- Amanda