RFS feel-good update (8/9): "No candidate has worked harder" is the best kind of endorsement
You could say it about any single one of our folks, TBH
Hi all -
Last week, as always, included an Election Day for Run for Something candidates! We’re still waiting on results for quite a few races, but some of the highlights:
In Kansas, Meanie Arroyo is advancing to the general election for Lenexa City Council and will be head-to-head against a GOP incumbent who didn’t break 50% in the open primary.
Denzel McCampbell will move on to the general for the Detroit City Clerk race — a critical job for ensuring Michiganders can vote.
Also in Michigan: Jen Oresti is moving on to the general election for the St. Clair Shores city council.
Peter Spadafore is moving on to the general election for Lansing City Council at-large.
In Kansas, Amber Sellers is moving on to the general election for a seat on the Lawrence City Commission - if she wins, she’ll first African American woman elected to the City Commission in over 50 years. Mo’Ko’Quah Jones is also moving on to the general for Lawrence City Commission.
Melissa Cheatham is moving to the general in her race for Overland Park City Council.
Let these results remind you: There are no off-years!!
In RFS candidates & alum updates:
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has endorsed Justin Bibb in his campaign for mayor of Cleveland. This is a must-read:
In this pivotal moment for Cleveland, the first mayoral election in 20 years without an incumbent, we believe the candidate with the vision for the successful city we wish to be is Justin Bibb. We feel so strongly about this endorsement that we’re taking the rare step of publishing it on the front page of The Plain Dealer.
We endorse Bibb because of his ideas for fighting crime, with more efficient deployment of safety forces and better training for them before and after they are hired. We endorse Bibb because of his collaborative approach to building the Cleveland economy. We endorse Bibb because no candidate has worked harder to understand the challenges of the city or study solutions across the country.
Three of the five members of the Gwinnett county commission are Run for Something alum — Ben Ku, Kirkland Carden, and Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson — so it’s no surprise the board is being celebrated (on both sides of the aisle!) for their productivity and progress: “A new, Democratic administration took office in Gwinnett County in January, and leaders haven’t wasted any time as they set to change government’s priorities in the most diverse county in the Southeast.”
TX Rep. Jasmine Crockett has a powerful NBCNews op-ed on what leaving Texas and breaking quorum was all about.
DE Sen. Sarah McBride campaigned for current RFS candidate Tyler James Titus, who’s running for Erie County Executive. We love to see this.
Lydia Laythe, candidate for Erie County Council in PA, lays out her progressive and practical platform for the county prison system, the recycling program, accessibility, and more.
More than 100 local lawmakers joined the Texas Democrats in DC last week to rally for voting rights — nearly a quarter of whom were Run for Something alum. Prettttttty great.
FL Rep. Anna Eskamani has an op-ed in the Tampa Bay Times about the need for immigration reform — as a daughter of immigrants, this issue is personal for her.
Just dropping this here from VA candidate Jennifer Kitchen…
FL Rep. Andrew Learned passed the most bills of any legislator - Democrat or Republican. Pretty impressive in a chamber controlled by Republicans!
Palm Beach County school board member Alexandria Ayala is pleading for federal support in fighting back against the governor’s prohibition of mask mandates in schools.
The Ann Arbor City Council is finally taking steps to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors, led by RFS alum Travis Radina.
In Minnesota, alum Hoang Murphy may have lost his campaign but that hasn’t kept him from staying in the fight — his nonprofit helped create a new law that will cover much of college tuition for kids in the foster system.
Jen Dover lost her campaign for Philadelphia City Commission but has stayed involved as a block captain, helping her neighborhood navigate government services.
“There’s a “caucus of one” in the statehouse representing Coloradans who have physical disabilities: Rep. David Ortiz, a Littleton Democrat and the first Colorado lawmaker who uses a wheelchair. “ Rep. Ortiz has sponsored 4 pieces of legislation helping make life a little bit easier for Coloradans with disabilities.
In related reading, two stories to scare the shit out of you:
The most important thing we can do in 2022 is win state legislatures and local elections: “It’s easy to picture how this might play out in the next presidential election. Imagine that a state legislature sets forth general rules for conducting the 2024 election, but it does not provide every detail about how the election is run. Republican legislatures in states won by the Democratic candidate could seize on some normal election administration rule created by a state or local election administrator or some ruling from a state court, and argue that implementation of the rule renders the presidential election unconstitutional, leaving it to the state legislature to pick a different slate of electors.”
The Proud Boys are running for local office: "Kansas school board candidate wants ‘pro-white country with protected white majority’
This week on the Run for Something podcast: Jordan Acker was a University of Michigan alum and lawyer working hard and raising a family when he went through a health scare that landed him in the UM hospital system. That experience made him realize just how important the university was to the state -- which led him to ultimately running for the Board of Regents to help govern it. When he won in 2018, he became the first Regent to graduate from the university in this century. Since taking office, he's helped raise the minimum wage, expanded free college to thousands of Michiganders, made it easier for employees to unionize, and changed sexual assault reporting standards for the first time since 1996. Learn more then follow Jordan on Twitter at @JordanAckerMI
And remember - if you have questions or comments, give us a call at 833-244-5382 and you might appear on our 50th episode in a couple weeks!
Thank you for being part of this team. It means the world to us to get to do this work.
- Amanda