RFS feel-good update (8/24): What a week
Hi all -
Last week was the convention! And I’ll get to that in a moment.
But first: It was also Election Day in Florida!! Some of the highlights:
Nicole Hamm, a young Black woman running for city council in a Republican area in Jacksonville, won 42% of the vote against two GOP opponents — she’ll be in a runoff this November.
Alexandria Ayala in Palm Beach County and Sarah Leonardi in Broward both won their school board races — they’ll be the youngest members of their boards: Of the 16 board members in the two counties, just four are younger than 50. The youngest school board officials in Broward and Palm Beach are in their 40s. Alexandria is 27; Sarah is 30.
Michele Rayner won a crowded primary and will be the first Black queer woman in the FL state legislature.
Jennifer Jenkins beat an incumbent for a seat on the Brevard County School Board.
Marco Giron will be one of only 28 openly LGBTQ elected officials in Florida.
Pasha Baker fought and won a tight victory and will be taking on a Republican incumbent this fall - we worked with Pasha in her unsuccessful 2018 race for Sanford mayor; she came back stronger than ever.
Caprice Johnson Edmonds won her primary for a school board seat in Pinellas County — if her opponent wins this fall, the board will be all white people.
Also congrats to Luisa Santos, Rep. Dotie Joseph, Lucia Baez-Geller, Henry Duhart, and Caprice Johnson Edmond for their big wins!
OK, let’s talk about the convention…
The keynote: 17 rising stars of the party — including our very own MI Rep. Mari Manoogian and PA Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta — gave a keynote speech at the convention on Tuesday night. (If you missed it, catch up now!)
Two of my favorite stories (of the many!!!) to come out of that keynote:
Malcolm and his fiance were on the frontpage of the Philadelphia Inquirer, watching him speak. Malcolm, along with a few others, became one of the first openly LGBTQ+ people to give a keynote address at the DNCC.
Mari talked with 1A on NPR about where the party is headed & how she views the path to victory this fall. Listen in!
How local leaders of today are the national leaders of tomorrow: Every night of the convention, I took to Twitter and chronicled the ~rookie years~ of nearly all the big speakers. It’s worth flipping through this, because these folks are proof: The mayors and state legislators of today will eventually take higher office. Outside of the policy impacts, ensuring that the best possible people run for local office matters for building a bench. Catch up on the threads from night 1, night 2, night 3, or night 4.
A note of personal privilege: On Thursday night early on in the convention broadcast, you might have seen a video with story I shared about VP Biden connecting with my Grammy. Always glad to be helpful to the campaign in whatever ways I can.
In other RFS candidate & alumni news:
We worked with Bloomberg News on this story about how local candidates are talking about climate change in specific & meaningful ways. Alum/candidates highlighted include Rep. Anna Eskamani in FL, Re. Chloe Maxmin in ME, and Lindsey Constance in KS.
NY state Sen. Zellnor Myrie has introduced legislation to allow victims of gun violence to sue gun manufacturers.
Save this longread and then savor it: How a brotherhood of Black mayors — including our own Little Rock mayor Frank Scott Jr. — have a groupchat/friendship that keeps them going. Do not underestimate the value of community among candidates & electeds!
NowThis continues to highlight RFS candidates as part of their Face of Change series.
“Not long after the coronavirus shut down life in most parts of the country, Sarah Crawford’s weekend runs took an unusual turn, as mapped out by her Garmin watch. On April 11, her trail spelled the word HOPE in the middle of downtown Zebulon, North Carolina. The next week, she spelled VOTE in Louisburg, 20 miles away. Her run through the town of Franklinton in May resembled a stick figure waving.
Crawford is also running for North Carolina Senate this fall, and like many candidates around the country, she’s had to get creative during the pandemic. The maps of her routes, which she posted to social media, were a promotion for the “virtual 5K” her campaign held in June.” Read more from Wired about how candidates like RFS’s own Sarah Crawford are innovating on the virtual campaign trail.
From Advocate magazine: LGBTQ+ candidates to watch this cycle. A list that includes a few of our amazing folks running: Sarah McBride (DE), Michele Rayner (FL), Jabari Brisport (NY), Tiara Mack (RI), Kim Jackson (GA), Torrey Harris (TN), Alex Lee (CA), Taylor Small (VT), and Brandon Thomas (TN)
In Virginia, Del. Chris Hurst has introduced a bill expanding transparency into criminal investigative records, with an eye toward equity in the criminal justice system.
Katie Valenzuela hasn’t even officially started as a city councilwoman in Sacramento and she’s already making waves. As the youngest member, the only renter, and a longtime activist, she’s ready to bring her passion and network into city hall.
Jerred Rose is challenging an anti-choice Democrat in the MA state senate, arguing that he doesn’t represent the district and lead on issues like housing and transportation. You love to see it.
Loved this, from two-time RFS candidate Claire Barnett, pointing out how investing in every single race — even the long-shots — matters over time
Two interesting stories about the state of the eco-system (and one about the Republican bench):
State legislative candidates (like our very own Aimy Steele in NC!) have seen an exponential rise in funding — donors have already given 3x in 2020 what they give in all of 2016. But let me be super explicit here: We can’t stop now. And, the giving is mostly concentrated at the top flashy races; we have to keep spreading the wealth.
People with more time on their hands — whether because of quarantine, furlough, or something else entirely — are jumping into political engagement at rates many have never seen. This is great! And: This means organizations (like us!) need to be sustainable past 2020 in order to capitalize on this enthusiasm.
"The GOP is recruiting its future leaders from a pool of people attracted to the furthest fringes of far-right thought simply because those are the only young people currently interested in being associated with organized GOP politics under Trump." We can’t give a single local seat to the GOP because their bench is getting crazier & crazier. Read this in the New Republic.
In some RFS programming notes:
Tomorrow, Tuesday, 8/25 at 8pm ET/7pm CT: Our first event of the Unapologetically Progressive series, spotlighting Texas and RFS TX House candidates Akilah Bacy (District 138), Elizabeth Beck (District 97), Natali Hurtado (District 126) and Lorenzo Sanchez (District 67). Tickets are free, just claim your spot now: runforsomething.net/upwithrfs
Our Armchair Chat series is back! This Wednesday at 6pm ET, we’ll be talking with Cortney Tunis of Pantsuit Nation/Supermajority about storytelling. RSVP here.
Save the date: Wednesday 9/9 at 8pm ET: We’re hosting Local Politics 101 NYC with State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, State Assembly candidate Amanda Septimo, and Yonkers City Court Judge candidate Karen Best. You can join the host committee for $100 at runforsomething.net/HOUSEPARTY
Finally: If you need something to tell your under-18 year old friends (or children or grandchildren), we talked with Teen Vogue about how folks too young to vote can get involved in politics anyway.
It’s been a really long summer, a really long August, and it’s going to be a long fall until polls close on 11/3 (and even longer until we have results.) But I’m still feeling hopeful. I hope you are, too. Thanks for making all this possible.
- Amanda