RFS feel-good update (9/6): A new kind of sheriff
Plus a rundown of all our September elections
Hi all -
Hope your Labor Day weekend was restful, relaxing, and hopefully not too hot. (Thanks, unions, for the long weekend.)
Welcome to September; we’ve got 33 candidates up for elections this month!
On the ballot today in Massachusetts: 8 amazing young leaders running for state legislature (including Sydney Levin-Epstein, who could be the youngest state senate in MA history!) and an incredible young woman running for sheriff, Virginia Leigh, who’s made headlines as a social worker running to turn county jails into “clinical, trauma-informed” spaces. (You can read more about her candidacy here and here.) If she wins, she’ll be one of only a handful of sheriffs blazing a new path for what the role could look like.
Stay tuned to our social media for results.
In other RFS community updates:
The American Prospect talked to PA Senator Katie Muth about how she flipped her district red to blue: Knocking a ton of doors, building relationships with voters, then fighting for them tooth & nail.
”Muth overcame the partisan advantage by knocking tons of doors. Some even started to recognize her after she’d knock a second or even a third time. “There was some respect earned,” she said. She has called out both parties (she calls the Capitol building in which she serves “the dome of corruption”) and admitted that Democrats sometimes can be a letdown, which she believes appeals to the vast swaths of independents in her district. Since getting into the Senate, Muth routinely introduces amendments, one of the few ways she can get legislation considered as a member of the minority party. Those amendments are what she calls “some pretty fucking progressive shit,” and she’s pleased when her Democratic colleagues vote for them. “We’ve been in the minority for so long in the state legislature that sometimes (Democrats) don’t even fight,” she said. “Even though I’m in the minority, people know that I’m going to fight for them.””Get to know Kate Turner, who’s running for state house in Kentucky to defend access to abortion care.
Zooey Zephyr decided to run for Montana state house because she saw anti-trans bills pass through the legislature without a single trans voice in the room speaking out. She’s ready to change that.
RI Sen. Tiara Mack on how meaningful it is to see more Black women run for office in Rhode Island: “It’s still so apparent how isolating it is for Black people ... being one of two Black women in the Senate chamber, being one of the few young Black women who's in this space even on staff in the State House, it is hard to see how the systems change until we have more people who look like us or with our lived experiences."
Alfred Twu, candidate for AC Transit At-Large, paints a picture of what San Francisco could look like with real housing reform. It’s a compelling vision!
Allison Miller is the only Democratic candidate to run for Pasco & Pinellas County’s State Attorney in nearly 3 decades — this is a high-stakes race (especially as DeSantis tries to kick out oppositional state attorneys elsewhere) but she’s an incredible candidate ready for a tough fight.
Starting tomorrow, we’re kicking off a series of Snapchat takeovers by RFS candidates from now through November. First up: Zo Qadri, candidate for Austin City Council. Follow RFS on Snapchat to see what he’s up to on the trail.
Watch FL state senate candidate Janelle Perez’s first TV ad, featuring her dad.
Also in FL: Eunic Ortiz is the only candidate in her race talking about climate change, a big flag when the district includes 11 different beaches.
Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb’s first round of spending of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act includes money for housing, public safety programs, early childhood programs, and arts projects. This is excellent stuff.
Brevard School Board member Jennifer Jenkins explains to NPR what DeSantis is doing in Florida: “He's creating a regime of loyalists to create a platform that he can brag about as a, quote, unquote, "success" when he runs for presidency in 2024.”
Some related reading…
Not-so-fun fact about America’s gerontocracy: The only country in the world with an older average age of a legislative chamber is Cambodia.
This is good news though! A record number of first-generation Americans now serve in state legislatures.
Conservative activists are taking over library boards then demanding the removal of books, attacking librarians, and censoring communities. It’s been a “dystopian nightmare.”
Despite so many of us sounding alarms for years now, Democrats continue to fall behind in spending on state legislative races — which are even more important now that abortion access is determined state by state.
Next week we’re hosting our first in-person Unapologetically Progressive event of the month in San Antonio. Join IRL or log on from home to get to know some amazing young leaders in Texas - 100% free!
Stay tuned this week for more endorsements to come as we get close to the finish line for 2022 — you’ve made it all possible!
- Amanda