RFS feel-good update (7/14): 50 new candidates to love!
Get to know our latest endorsement class
Hi all -
Last week we announced 50 new endorsements that will give you so much hope.
You’ve never met candidates like this before.
Selina Barajas (Tucson City Council) founded Reinas Who Hike, a hiking collective for women and families of color who reclaim joy in the Sonoran Desert.
Tiara Ross (Columbus City Council) works in the city attorney’s office fighting housing violations and unsafe properties — because every neighborhood deserves dignity.
Sebastian Matthews, just 18, is running for Horseheads Town Council. Gen Z isn’t waiting their turn — they’re making their own lane.
Nadarius Clark, already the youngest Black Democrat elected to Virginia’s General Assembly, is back for another term — stronger, sharper, and ready to lead.
This class includes history-makers:
Sol Kersey would be the first transgender person elected to Cincinnati City Council.
Alexandria Washington would be the first Black woman serving on Overland Park City Council
Liliana Bakhtiari is already the first queer Muslim elected in Georgia and the first non-binary person elected in Atlanta.
Isabel Mata would be the first openly neurodivergent member of Lynnwood’s City Council (WA).
Aaron Martinez is the first Hispanic/Latino candidate to run in Novi, MI — and the youngest in the race.
These 50 candidates running across 15 states aren’t just filling seats — they’re reimagining what’s possible. Some more fun stats:
74% are running for municipal or county office
16% are running for their state legislatures
48% are women
33% are LGBTQIA+
52% are people of color
8% are Gen Z
26% are renters (yes, renters run things too!)
Help us help them all and keep growing the pipeline while we’re at it.
Tomorrow, July 15th, we’re launching our new training & mentorship community specifically for people thinking about running for office. This is a super exciting new phase of our program as we expand resources for people early in their candidate journey — join us on the call to learn more.
In RFS community updates:
Portland City Councilmember Angelita Morillo — the only immigrant on the city council — is speaking out against the ICE facility in the city.
NY Sen. Jeremy Cooney is pushing forward legislation to establish a census counts commission — remember that the 2030 Census will shape the redistricting process and what is possible in Congress & the electoral college for the next decade.
Houston City Councilmember Mario Castillo has successfully moved forward proposals to move meetings for public comment to a time of day that more people can attend. Small changes, big wins for accessibility!
MI Rep. Carrie Rheingans is leading on legislation to consider student-athletes as university employees and remove restrictions that currently make it impossible for them to unionize.
CO Sen. Dylan Roberts reflects on his tour of town halls in all 10 counties across his district and what he heard from community members.
Massachusetts has banned renters paying brokers fees when they move — legislation that has been pushed and asked for by RFS alum Somerville City Councilor Willie Burnley Jr. and Cambridge City Councilmember Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, among others.
The Detroit News endorses Gabriela Santiago-Romero for re-election to her seat on the Detroit City Council!
PA Rep. Ismail Smith Wade-El makes the case for the state stepping up as the federal gov’t cuts aid for homeless kids. This is heart-breaking.
Minneapolis City Councilmembers Katie Cashman and Aurin Chowdhury led on a new ordinance that raises the price of e-cigarettes in the city to $25 and restricts new tobacco shops from opening close to schools.
NYC Councilmembers Jennifer Gutiérrez and Sandy Nurse introduced bills to require apps that contract delivery workers to pay the deliverista minimum wage — helping close a loophole in the law that companies were exploiting.
And keeping an eye on our bench:
TN Rep. Aftyn Behn has announced her campaign for Congress to fill a seat opened up by a retiring member. Aftyn RULES.
In PA, Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas announced he’s exploring running for Congress against Republican Scott Perry.
In related reading:
New from Ballotready: More than 10,000 open races in 2024 had ZERO candidates running. When people ask me if there’s such a thing as recruiting too many candidates in our pipeline, this is why I say no!
I joined
to talk about how 10,000 (!!!) people have signed up to run for office inspired by Zohran Mamdani’s win.According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of first-time home buyers has dropped and the population of renters has grown to its highest number yet — at least 46 million US households are renters, with at least 1.2 million of them “trapped renters” who would like to buy but can’t afford to. This is why we’re running an effort to recruit more renters to run for office: We need to tackle the housing crisis from the perspective of the people experiencing it most acutely.
I said what I said: “Passing of the torch implies the leaders are handing it off. What we’re seeing right now is, the new generation is taking the torch. They’re not waiting for it to be passed.” 😈😈😈😈
Thanks for making all this possible, 60,000 people have signed up to run for office since election day in November — you’re helping all of them (and hundreds of thousands of others) take ownership of our democracy. You’re the best.
- Amanda
What FANTASTIC good news! You are doing so many things RIGHT, OBVIOUSLY! Thank you with all my heart for providing this information about open seats in all the States, and for not only encouraging young people but also for providing excellent training for those who are passionate about making a difference in this country! HOORAY!