Chop Wood, Carry Water 10/7
28 days out!
Hi, all, and happy Monday!
Hope you had a great weekend.
We’re in the home stretch, my friends. We have less than a month to go. Early voting starts this week in many states across the country, including mine, and both campaigns are cranking into high gear.
Of course, “high gear” looks very different for the two candidates.
For Donald Trump it means more lies, more disinformation, more fear-mongering, and more threatening rhetoric. His speeches at rallies have grown even more unhinged (even the Times is finally acknowledging it), and FEMA has had to create an entire website to counter the falsehoods he and his surrogates are spreading in the aftermath of Helene. These lies are making FEMA’s job harder and impeding recovery efforts. It’s vile, and utterly indefensible, but Trump can’t win without resorting to deceit, so he’ll continue to lie, even when it hurts already suffering Americans.
For VP Harris “high gear” looks entirely different. We’re seeing more rallies, a trip to Georgia to commiserate with Helene victims, and a bevy of media appearances on strategically chosen shows—including “Call Her Daddy,” (a podcast of which I’d never heard until this week but which has many millions of listeners), Sixty Minutes, Howard Stern, the View and Colbert. I recommend the 7-minute clip posted above, by the way, if you want a sense of how Harris is doing in these interviews (spoiler alert: fantastic!)
While Call Her Daddy or Howard Stern may not be places where you or I get our political information, they are where millions of hard-to-reach Americans do. Harris’s campaign continues to show itself to be shrewd, strategic, and extremely capable—it’s tuned in to the popular culture in ways that many of us are not. Team Harris-Walz knows that those who regularly watch cable news have already made up their minds about this election; they are going where the “undecided” voters are and trying to reach them. Good!
Note I put the word undecided in quotes. This is because everything I’ve heard recently tends to support Dan Pfeiffer’s assertion that “the majority of undecided voters are not choosing between Trump and Harris; they are choosing between voting and the couch.” Correct! There are still an alarming number of Americans who just aren’t sure they can be bothered to turn out for this election. It’s our job to find them and explain to them why they must. VP Harris is doing her part; we must do ours!
Two final things:
First, it’s the anniversary of the October 7 attacks. This is a tough and upsetting anniversary for a lot of people, and it falls amidst a brutally painful chapter in history. I know it’s a hard day for many. Know that we are thinking of you.
Second, for anyone in the path of Hurricane Milton, we are thinking of you, too! Please stay safe! I send not only my thoughts and prayers, but my promise that I will continue to work to elect climate-aware politicians who will seek to address the crisis making these storms so much worse.
On that note, let’s get to work. There’s much to do, and an increasingly dwindling amount of time in which to do it!
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) and Call Your Senators (find yours here)📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
With another extremely dangerous hurricane barreling towards Florida it’s clear that FEMA needs more than the $20 billion authorized by Congress as part of the stopgap funding bill. Not only that, but the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program has run out of money. Congress needs to come back into session and pass more funding for these vital programs. Also, has the Congressmember/Senator made a statement condemning Donald Trump’s dangerous disinformation campaign about FEMA? It is putting people in danger. I expect him/her to speak out about it loudly and correct the record in every way s/he can. Thanks!
Extra Credit ✅
Please watch and share this 14-minute film: The Conversation, made to help us talk to young people about the importance of voting this fall. The film was directed by an award-winning filmmaker, and scored by a Grammy Award winning composer.
Get Smart! 📚
Two wonderful organizations, Galvanize Action and One For All, are expert in crafting campaign messages to motivate people to vote Blue. They reach out to moderate women who admire Kamala but are married to Trumpers – giving them a nudge to follow their own common sense and vote for Kamala. Their messages are tried and true - created by veteran campaign experts, social psychologists, and data scientists, and are constantly tested and refined. Their next ZOOM is Thursday, October 10 at 8:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. ET - and it will feature Hillary Rodham Clinton! I know I’ll be there!
Do Voter Protection!
Don’t forget, the DNC is hosting their “National Voter Protection and Access Final Stretch Kick Off Call” tonight, October 7, at 7:30 p.m. ET as a big push to recruit volunteers for the final stretch. This will be a space for people to learn how they can get involved and make sure that every eligible voter is able to cast a ballot that counts. Please come!
Also, many key Presidential battleground states and swing House Districts are short of poll observers and voter protection hotline volunteers. This is a critical need! It's not enough to get out the vote. We need to make sure our votes are counted! Help recruit poll observers or sign up to be one! Click here for the National Volunteer form.
Sign-up if you can and share this graphic and the QR code — help protect everyone's right to have their vote count!
Virtual Phone Banks to Recruit Poll Observers
[GEORGIA] Poll Watcher Recruitment Phonebank
[PENNSYLVANIA] Voter Protection Phone Bank
[WISCONSIN] Voter Protection Recruitment Phonebank
Spread the Word! 📣
Downtown Nasty Women sends out weekly “Dem Facts” to help combat misinformation and spread the word about Democrats’ successes. They then post them all on a website for easy access. It’s EXCELLENT.
This morning they sent an email with some great facts about the government’s response to Hurricane Helene. Here they are!
Fact: Trump and his enablers are spreading lies and dangerous misinformation about the relief efforts in North Carolina following the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene. Emergency officials say the false rumors are impeding their efforts to help tens of thousands of people in need.
Here are some facts about the Biden-Harris administration and other relief efforts for Hurricane Helene:
The federal government is responding to the emergency 24/7. Teams include local, state, federal and military units in addition to businesses and volunteer groups.
The federal government is sending supplies, meals and taking aid applications from affected residents.
So far, FEMA has processed $45 million in direct assistance to people affected by Helene.
No funding for FEMA disaster response was diverted to support Ukraine or any other international efforts.
The Red Cross is helping, and has been on site since before Hurricane Helene made landfall. There are at least 1300 responders helping to provide safe shelter, food, hygiene items, medications and emotional support.
Contrary to what Marjorie Taylor Greene is claiming, the government did not create the hurricane.
Trump claimed that VP Harris has spent billions of FEMA dollars to pay for housing for migrants. Not only is this claim false, as the White House did not use funds from the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund on housing for migrants, but the VP does not disburse FEMA funds.
However, here are some facts about Trump's presidency regarding FEMA:
In 2018, Trump diverted nearly $10 million in funding from FEMA to ICE to use for detention programs.
In 2019, the Trump administration redirected millions more from the FEMA disaster fund to ICE, including $38 million in the middle of hurricane season.
Sources: Washington Post, News & Observer
Give 💰!
Walk the Walk USA funds strategic grassroots initiatives that utilize the most effective voter engagement tactics, supporting the most impactful voters in the most competitive geographic “pressure points” in the country. Come learn about the brand new addition to their 2024 Democracy Preservation Portfolio with a deep dive into the current Nevada electoral landscape. They’ll be sharing evidence-backed recommendations for ways to have outsized impact with limited political dollars. In a nutshell, they support voters rather than candidates.
Walk the Walk USA
Wednesday, October 9, 5:30pm PT / 8:30pm ET: Register in advance here.
Win Races! 🗳
PostcardsToVoters.org volunteers are working on postcards for Senator Sherrod Brown, as well as for candidates in important elections in NY and PA! More will be added soon. THEY NEED HELP!!
To join PTV, email postcards@TonyTheDemocrat.org If you already joined, PTV has a brand new easy-to-use webpage to get addresses and script. Go to Abby.postcardstovoters.org to get started!
Win Races!
Check out the Coalition On Human Needs’ full volunteer schedule below and sign up for a shift today:
October 10TH, 6:00 pm ET– Empower Text banking Party – Voter Registration
October 15TH, 7:00 –8:15 pm ET– Vote Forward Letter Writing Party
October 22ND, 7:00 –8:15 pm ET – Vote Forward Letter Writing Party
October 24TH, 7:00 –8:15 pm ET– – Final Vote Forward Letter Writing Party
October 29TH, 6:00 pm ET – Empower Text banking Party – Find your Polling Place
November 4TH, 6:00 pm ET – Final Empower Text banking Party – Voting Reminder
Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥
There's still time to get out the vote before November! Join Climate Action Now and League of Conservation Voters for a special letter-writing event on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 7:30 pm ET. We will learn about the Vote Forward platform and work on crafting messages to add a personal touch to prewritten letters.
If you can, we also recommend registering with Vote Forward by Tuesday, Oct. 15. This will allow you to adopt 5 voters and print your letters before the event. Of course, this step is optional—whether you register ahead of time or not, we encourage anyone who wants to learn more about letter-writing with Vote Forward to participate!
No Resistbot today—sorry!
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Exactly right - undecideds are really just voters who don't feel like they have a reason to vote and this is most true of young voters. And with polls showing the entire election wi/in the margin of error, whether we win or lose will come down to whether we ALL do the work of GOTV and making sure young voters are registered, engaged and getting to polls. For our part, my GenZ daughter and I just launched Donuts+Democracy - a super fun, super simple GOTV program on college campuses and in just one week, we have:
🗳️Partnered with 47 colleges (and counting!) in battleground states/districts and HBCUs with more being added every day!
🍩 Hosted 5 college campus events which were a huge success! (See link below for photos and stats!)
🗳️Scheduled 80+ (and counting) Donuts+Democracy events.
🍩 Raised $32K of our $40K goal and every dollar goes to 🍩!
🗳️ At $2 a donut is the most effective and least expensive GOTV strategy.
🍩 Young voters are the key to winning and have the most room for growth.
🗳️ If anyone would like to join us in supporting these amazing student organizers who are working around the clock to deliver Dem wins up and down the ballot, see link below.
You can learn more about Donuts+Democracy here: https://tinyurl.com/eyc24n3e
Just want to share that I was wearing my Dems Make Life Better T-shirt Saturday when I stopped to buy coffee at my local coffee shop and it finally paid off! A woman tapped me on my shoulder and said I like your T-shirt. We got to talking and she said she'd given $$ but asked if there was some other way to help given the fact that she works full time. I asked if she'd ever thought of postcard writing and she said I could do that. I got her number, gathered up 40 postcards and stamps and addresses for Sherrod Brown from Tony the Democrat and texted her. She was at my door in 15 minutes. It made me smile all day.