Chop Wood, Carry Water 10/24
Take to the oars.
Hi, all, and happy Thursday!
First of all, WOW, you guys. I asked for help, and did you ever respond! We made our $150,000 goal for Chop Wood, Carry Statehouses! Actually, we’re at 152K (and counting! The fundraiser is open for 5 more days!!) That money will be going to critical state legislative races in both Arizona and Pennsylvania. There it will turn out more voters—not just for our designated races, but for Democrats up and down the ballot in two battleground states. It’s huge. You’ll remember our original goal was 50K. Then we moved it to 100K. Now we’re here. It’s outstanding and it’s because of you. So THANK YOU!
I got this from Melissa walker this morning and will share it here so we can all celebrate together:
I’m going to keep celebrating wins like these because they represent people power! They show what you and I together can do, and it’s inspiring! I know it’s chaotic out there and occasionally scary, but I like to keep this a warm and upbeat space—not because I’m being a Pollyanna, but because you are doing so many amazing things that deserve a joyful response!
Also, being grim never helped anyone win.
On that note, yesterday I began receiving anxious messages from readers who’d seen a post by Nate Silver—I haven’t read it, but it was apparently about his gut feeling being that our side was going to lose. His gut feeling, y’all.
Nate Silver, of course, now works under Peter Thiel? Hmmmm…why am I feeling uninterested in his opinion? Why do I think that anything that comes from anyone associated with Peter Thiel must be discarded as PsyOps by the enemy?
And why am I absolutely intolerant of anything any GOP-associated pollster has to say right now?
Because a) it’s almost definitely BS. And b) it won’t change what we’re going to keep doing, which is EVERYTHING.
We’ve been here before, folks. Many, many times. “Experts” telling us we’re going to lose is familiar background noise at this point—I hope by now we’ve all learned to ignore it. Just pretend you’ve got psychic noise-blocking headphones and put them on.
Keep them on, in fact, for the next eleven days. Or don’t, if you prefer to listen to doomsayers. But either way just. Keep. Doing. The. Work.
Thank you. I love you. You can do this. You are doing it.
Back to the oars. Let’s row.
Extra Credit ✅
I got an email address for the L.A. Times owner! Let’s write him! Patrick.Soon-Shiong@latimes.com
I said:
To Patrick Soon-Shiong,
I’m writing to ask that you reverse your decision to block the LA Times Editorial Board from endorsing Kamala Harris. It’s frightful. Whatever small benefits you’ll incur from helping Donald Trump—I’m assuming you want to keep your tax cuts and/or receive a position in his cabinet—will be vastly outweighed by the damage done not just to your paper’s reputation but to yours. Trump will go down in history as a vile imposter—a wannabe dictator who did immeasurable damage to our country and to democracy as a whole. Those who side with him now can expect infamy, opprobrium, and the shame of their descendants later. Maybe think of your legacy instead of your bottom line or your personal ambitions.
Thanks.
A (now former) subscriber,
[Name]
Get Smart! 📚
Join the Women for Harris-Walz grassroots coalition on Friday, October 25th at 3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT as we go beyond Vice President Kamala Harris’s public persona to explore who she truly is through the lens of someone who knows her personally.
Joined by Tony West, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General and brother-in-law to Vice President Harris, we’ll dive into the personal side of Kamala—her core values, the life experiences that shaped her, and what truly drives her. Tony’s perspective offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at Harris’s character, passions, and the qualities that define her when the cameras are off. It’s a unique opportunity to understand the real Kamala Harris, beyond the political stage.
For Our Servicemembers! 🪖
Know someone who has served—or is serving—in the military?
Team Harris-Walz is hosting a Veterans and Military Families for Harris-Walz Organizing Call! Saturday, October 26 from 3 – 4pm EDT
Get energized and mobilize to support the campaign in the days leading up to the election and learn how to get involved with the Veterans and Military Families coalition as we sprint down the final stretch to Election Day.
Spread the Word! 📣
SOME IMPORTANT VIDEOS TO AMPLIFY!
DemCast has got clips of Kamala Harris from last night’s CNN Town Hall loaded into a social media toolkit. They’re worth sharing—particularly the one where she talks about Trump’s tax cuts. Please consider amplifying.
OMG THIS IS BRILLIANT! DemCast has been saying they were going to be dropping a new video that’s been found to be VERY effective at moving young, male voters. Well, they have, and you’ll immediately see why it works. It may be too edgy for some of you but I posted it immediately. This is EXACTLY what we need to be telling this demographic. Genius! Please share (if you’re not too horrified.)
Give 💰!
Just got this from political strategist Mike Lux, who got it from Dan Osborn’s campaign manager. Yikes!
Hey, Mike. For the first time in a year Dan Osborn's campaign has an actually serious cash problem.
The Nebraska Miracle has a budget hole.
What happened was, yesterday the cost of TV in Nebraska spiked dramatically more than the campaign thought it would, because more money is pouring into Nebraska than ever before.
The final week of TV ads are very very good and critical to campaign strategy and suddenly costs $350k higher than anticipated. $1.5 million needs to be wired by Monday morning. This is a very difficult situation -- essentially, the campaign is raising $175-200k a day where it needs to be raising $250k to cover this overage.
While Nebraska is now the consensus closest Senate in America, that does not translate into enough dollars to counter Mitch McConnell's $3 million dollar spend (and Trump's ad that he just cut to save Senator Fischer.)
So...please give what you can, please share this around, please help us make some history. We all have until Sunday night to close this gap.
Oof. Can we help?
Win Races—Phonebank with SURJ—It Works!! 🗳
The Many Over MAGA persuades 1 in 5 undecided voters!
SURJ has developed their own methodologies for phonebanking using compassionate listening, open-ended questions, and an open mindset to appeal specifically to white voters who are undecided.
And now we have proof that it works—their growing campaign to reach undecided voters reported that they have a 1 in 5 rate of persuading them to vote for Harris! This is an incredible result and will help us get as many votes as we can into our margin of effort.
Interested in getting involved? Join The Many Over MAGA Phone Bank (they have one almost every day through Election Day), and/or donate to their ActBlue page.
Win Races—Text!
Join Voter Riders’ volunteer event TOMORROW, October 24, at 7pm ET! We’re texting voters in Georgia and Wisconsin with critical information they need about their state’s voter ID laws.
Win Races—Write Letters!
Vote Forward still has a TON of letters to adopt out, and only a few more days to go! Please, please, let’s all do even 5 more! Go to your own dashboard or go through mine here!
Win races—Canvass!
KNOCK DOORS
The highest value volunteer activity you can do is to canvass.
To find a canvass near you, go to operationswingstate.com, knockfordemocracy.org or type in your zip code at go.kamalaharris.com. Also, Liz Minnella & Chicago Women for Harris are hosting a Michigan Weekend of Action starting Friday, October 25. The event will kick-off with a documentary screening of “No One Asked You” in Grand Rapids. Canvasses will take place Saturday through Monday in Grand Rapids and Detroit.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Two friends and I just finished sending off a total of 500 postcards to Arizona, thanks to you, Jessica.
Yep! Ignore the doom and gloom and act with vigor and hope. Just put another 80 letters in the mail to voters in Pennsylvania! There are still more to do with https://votefwd.org/