RFS feel-good update (9/9): The mayor in Jaws is still the mayor in Jaws 2

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Hi all -

Last week, the Harris campaign announced HUGE fundraising numbers and moved a record-breaking nearly $25 million to down-ballot races — mostly to the House and Senate committees, with some going to the governors association, the attorneys general association, and the state legislative campaign committee. This is AMAZING. I don’t want to understate this: It’s a big deal!

A few reasons why:

1. The maps are different: The Electoral College battlegrounds are not exactly the same as House or Senate or Gov or AG or state leg battlegrounds. Those campaigns can’t count on the top of the ticket’s organizing efforts in the same tactical way. They've got to (and get to!) do their own.

2. If she wins, she can’t be a successful president with out governing partners. She needs a trifecta in DC plus governors plus state legislatures plus AGs who will work with her to get shit done. (She also needs local leaders, which is one of many reasons why what this community does matters so damn much.

3. Over the last 18 months+, a lot of state and local work was wildly underfunded. People had to scale back programs because resources were scarce, especially outside some of the presidential battlegrounds. Everyone is now rebuilding in even more places - but it's got to happen fast, which takes more money. This infusion helps. (It’s also why we should be building year-round infrastructure in all 50 states — like, say, what RFS is trying to do! — since you don’t have to get ready if you just stay ready. But that’s a rant for another time.)

4. One of the big mistakes Democrats made the last time the top of the ticket was SO EXCITING (2008!) was losing sight of and underinvesting in everything else. We’ve been paying the price for that ever since. The Harris campaign is signaling in a big way: We’re not going back. We have to carry that energy with us post-election day.

5. As you know: These offices matter! Every week you get this email with scores of stories about how state and local leaders are making life better for people in a meaningful way. The only way we stop bad things from happening is by electing good people.

We've got to operate from a place of abundance. We've got to fight for and win it all — and resource it all accordingly. As Vox puts it: Small elections can have big consequences. (Or as I like to say: The way to win the big elections is to win the little ones.)

Run for Something is the closest thing around to a Democratic committee focusing exclusively on local elections — state legislatures, yes, but also city councils, school boards, and the kinds of core offices that directly affect people’s day to day life.

Even with this surge in funding, there are still HUGE gaps in state and local organizing work. Billy Wimsatt from

Movement Voter Project

lays this out in his latest Bat Signal memo — FYI that RFS is one of MVP’s recommended national groups!

Take your cues from the Harris campaign. Move money toward state and local work so we can win big and win it all.

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In RFS community updates:

• This is such a gorgeous profile of Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, whose grandmother didn’t have the right to vote until she was 30 years old. Nw Gabriella is working to ensure everybody — especially her Indigenous community — has access to the polls.

  

• PA Rep. Jessica Benham spoke with LGBTQ Nation about her experience as an openly LGBTQ+ leader, a person with disabilities, LGBTQ community and religion, and what she loves about her job: “What I love about being a state rep, in particular, is that I can get from one end of my district to the other in 15 minutes. Now, I have a dense urban district, right? And so that means I can be just about everywhere if I am in town. And I love getting to go to community events, community meetings, really meeting folks where they are. That level of accessibility, I think, makes a meaningful difference in folks’ ability to feel like government is there and working for them. And for me, it just brings me a lot of that hope and that joy that I was talking about. “

• Madison (WI) Alders MGR Govindarajan and Juliana Bennet are leading on bringing more affordable housing to the city — necessary, especially given the student population.

• LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath is pushing forward a ballot initiative to expand the board of supervisors and make the county executive role an elected instead of appointed position — this is a big deal; right now the five-member board has nearly all governing authority over a county that’s bigger than most states!

• Detroit City Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero has been successfully advocating for the return of the Detroit ID card, a program that ensures every Detroiter has access to essential city services and identification.

• IL State Rep. Hoan Huynh makes the case for not taking Asian American voters for granted this election cycle.

• Thanks to NYC Councilmember Amanda Farías, high school students in the city can take the ferry to and from school for a deeply discounted price, giving them easier and more affordable ways to commute.

• Charlottesville, VA will now use ranked choice voting in municipal elections, thanks to leaders like former Del. Sally Hudson and city councilors Michael Payne and Natalie Oschrin.

• An excellent headline — “Bisexual boss moves” — that goes with a great explainer on Ysabel Jurado, who “is running to become the first queer, Filipina to represent CD-14 [on the Los Angeles City Council]. Among the list of issues she aims to tackle while in office are; homelessness, climate action, safer streets and economic justice that uplifts small businesses. “I will bring the institutional knowledge of a legal housing expert and the lived experience of a queer, immigrant-raised, working class, woman of color – a battle-tested representative for and from the community,” said Jurado.”

• Atlanta City Councilmember Jason Dozier spearheaded a campaign to protect key areas of the city for “people-oriented priorities” — restricting the building of data centers in communities they’re redeveloping to include more green space, trails, transit, and housing.

• It’s one of the last big Primary Days tomorrow — we’re tracking 8 RFS candidates in contested elections (along with keeping an eye on alum DE Sen. Sarah McBride’s primary for Congress!)

In related reading & listening:

• Long-time RFS supporters know we’ve been big-mad about uncontested elections since day one. Even with all the recruitment we’ve done, half of all races for partisan offices are uncontested — that’s why this work can’t stop after Election Day!

• I got a chance to join Molly Jong-Fast on her podcast on Friday about all things RFS, local candidates I’m excited about, and the impact of reverse coattails. Tune in.

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We just rolled out some new merch this is proving to be verrrrrrrry popular - get yours now!

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One last note: I’ll be stepping away for parental leave starting September 25th — so if you’re hoping to catch up before I do, please just reply to this email! I’d love to chat or at least exchange a few notes before I’m off.

Thanks for making all this possible.

- Amanda