RFS feel-good update (9/13): 80,000 & counting!!
Our pipeline is growing big & at a faster pace than we ever expected.
Hi all -
After the horrific abortion bill went into effect in Texas, a silver lining: We saw a massive spike (100%!) in people signing up to run for office. In fact, we hit a big milestone a few weeks earlier than we expected.
We officially have more than 80,000 people in the candidate pipeline since we launched in 2017 — that’s more than 80,000 (mostly) young people thinking about running for local office.
As far as we know, this is one of the biggest pipelines in Democratic politics. Ever!
And even better: 2021 is on pace to be our best recruitment year yet. It’s already exceeded 2017, 2018, and 2019 annual totals and is on track to beat 2020.
People are fired up, ready to run. We’ll be here to help them every step of the way.
It’s Election Day tomorrow and we’re keeping an eye on 25 folks on the ballot in CT, MA, OH, and MT. Keep an eye on our social media for updates; here are a few of the many all-stars we’re excited about:
Justin Bibb is in a tough primary to be mayor of Cleveland.
Alex Gray is running for Boston City Council at-large; if he wins he’ll be the first Blind city councilor. Also running for one of the multiple at-large seats: The incredible Ruthzee Louijuene.
Judy Pineda Neufeld is in a tough primary for Somerville City Council
Those aren’t just big stats — they translate into thousands of people running for office and making their communities better. A sampling of what’s going on across the RFS community:
Meet Shan Rose, a non-profit executive, a single mother of a young son, and a survivor of gun violence running for Orlando city commission.
In Virginia, Del. Danica Roem is running for re-election against a former Trump admin employee and anti-LGBTQ bigot.
Michigan Reps. Mari Manoogian and Laurie Pohutsky are calling attention to some real bullshit: women athletes at Michigan State University are being excluded from scholarships available for all members of the school’s football & men’s basketball teams.
This is a really powerful reflection from NYC council candidate Shahana Hanif.
PA Rep. Katie Muth is joining with a bipartisan coalition to lead on legislation that provides a system for survivors of sexual assault to track the status of their rape kits and other evidence.
TX Rep. Jasmine Crockett is continuing to speak up for folks who need abortions in her home state.
In our ongoing bench-watch:
Kelly Krout is running for Lt. Governor of Arkansas!! Kelly ran for and lost her campaign for state house in 2020 but did not let that discourage her. She’s the foster mom for seven boys.
Memphis City Councilman J.B. Smiley Jr. announced his campaign for TN governor. This is an absolutely stellar launch video.
In related reading:
The conspiracy theorists are coming for your schools. And so are the more establishment conservative activists… We’re going to fight back but we need your help!
Winning state legislatures starts (and ends) with candidate recruitment — especially recruiting candidates of color.
"The conservative movement has invested time and money in recruiting, training, & electing state legislative candidates. Up until recently, Democrats have been unable and unwilling to make similar investments. The consequences of that failure are devastating." - Dan Pfeiffer
This is a very interesting poll — it’s noteworthy how much young people trust local elected officials!
This week on the Run for Something podcast: Elizabeth Wanczak first started caring about local government by watching the city planning meetings on public access television. (She admits, it was sometimes about as boring as watching paint dry.) But the more she watched, the more she understood what was happening and what could be fixed. When a dear friend who'd been pushing her to run for office suddenly passed away, she decided it was time to get in the game. She ran and lost by just 182 votes -- now she's running again for Alderman of district 4 in Franklin, Tennessee, and she's going to win. Help her campaign at https://liz4alderman.com/.
Thanks for making all this possible. Keep an eye on your inbox — more endorsements coming this week!
- Amanda