Hi, all, and happy Monday!
I hope you had a great and possibly even restful weekend. I did, which is good, because the seemingly constant work now recommences. I’ve signed up to go do in-person ballot curing in Rudy Salas’s district on Saturday, and will be running two ballot curing phonebanks into CA districts this week. (The links for them are here.)
I know there’s only a slim path to holding the House, but until there’s no path at all I won’t stop trying, and neither should you. Fight, fight, fight! Every. Vote. Counts!
Of course, we’ll also be working on Georgia, for which there are more volunteer opportunities being announced every day—hurrah! Robert Hubbell explained why winning this seat, despite already having the Senate, is so important in last night’s
—if you haven’t read it I suggest you do. Number 51 would make a world of difference!All that being said, this newsletter will now return to its pre-midterm format. Phew! Electoral work will go back to being part—but not all—of what we do. There’s still so much to accomplish in DC, and so many tall legislative mountains to scale.
Fortunately we are the most expert and able of climbers.
So let’s lace up our boots and get to work.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
[Only call Democrats on this one!]
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m very concerned about the threat of a Republican House majority. We know the Republican playbook is based on sabotage, hostage taking, and an extremist agenda.
We need Democrats to stay in session for the rest of the year so we can minimize the harm Republicans can do by:
Passing popular bills like S. 4556, the Respect For Marriage Act and S. 4573 the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022. These bills are ready for the floor, but a Republican majority will block them if we wait.
Lifting the debt ceiling through budget reconciliation so Republicans don’t have a hostage to take next year that would threaten Social Security, Medicare and the entire global economy!
And passing a year-end funding package that protects Medicaid coverage and prevents millions of people from losing their health care coverage when the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. Thanks. [H/T and H/T]
Call Your House Rep (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m calling to say that I want Congress to remain in session seven days a week until all their work is done during the final session. I also want Democrats to lift the debt ceiling through reconciliation, by an amount sufficient to make it unnecessary to raise it again during the next Congress. Finally, please support a year-end funding package that protects Medicaid coverage and prevents millions of people from losing their health care coverage when the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
Send this to President Biden via the White House contact form (if you want to personalize it) or using Resistbot (if you don’t want to personalize). To do the latter text SIGN PPPHRN to 50409. [H/T]
I’m writing to ask President Biden to remove Ginni Thomas from the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board.
Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was appointed by Trump in May 2020 for a five year term on the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board.
The Trust Fund Board manages more than $200 million in donations and investments for the Library.
President Biden has removed Trump appointees from other posts. Thomas should be added to the list. Her role before and during the January 6 insurrection — including texts to the White House Chief of Staff promoting strategies to overturn the election — make her unfit for any position in government, let alone one overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money.
Please do this now. Thanks.
Get Smart! 📚
On Wednesday NOPE—one of my favorite volunteer-run activist groups—will have their monthly meeting. This one is called: Looking Back, Moving Forward--To Georgia and Beyond. From them:
Join us on Wednesday, November 16, to learn how we win in Georgia. Our featured speaker is Christine White, executive director of the Georgia Alliance for Progress (GAP), where she leads the funding network of grassroots, civic, and social change organizations across the state. Christine advises donors--large and small--on how to invest in communities of color to build power and create a more responsive and representative democracy.
We will review what happened in this election, including our big wins in battleground states at the top of the ticket, including critical Secretary of State races. We’ll also consider our down-ballot successes for state legislative candidates in PA, NC, and MI. And you will get a preview of what to expect in VA in 2023 and the battleground states in 2024.
Give 💰!
On Wed, November 16, 2022, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PST Flip the Vote is holding a fundraising event for the GA-based Asian American Advocacy Fund (AAAF) to help raise the $500,000 they need to fully execute their plan to engage and turn out Democratic Asian American and Pacific Islander voters in Georgia.
Register to hear from AAAF about its language-diverse and culturally competent voter engagement efforts. You will also be joined by special guest, activist Jess Craven (me!)
Please come! This will be fun and donations are optional (but very appreciated). Register here.
Cure Ballots!
Our path to 218 Democratic House votes runs through very close races in Arizona, California and Colorado. County elections officials have identified thousands of voters who either did not sign their ballot or whose signature does not match their voting registration record — and who can “cure” their ballot. Grassroots Democrats HQ has daily phone banks and canvasses to reach them —some of which I’m running— and WE NEED YOUR HELP.
SIGN UP HERE to phone or canvass in person this week: https://www.mobilize.us/grassrootsdemocratslahq/
Help in Georgia! 🗳
I’ll be posting some GA-related actions here, but if you want the full Magilla please subscribe to my Chop Wood, Carry GA list here. That’s where I’ll post everything I find that’s relevant to the runoffs.
And be sure to check out, bookmark, use, and share the Win Georgia doc, which I’ll be adding to daily.
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)
[to all 3 reps and POTUS] [Quick send text SIGN PTYAJT to 50409]
I’m writing to ask the President and Congress to use this lame duck period to pass the Assault Weapons Ban and Ethan’s Law for child access prevention. We can’t wait any longer for common sense gun laws. Just today a shooter in Virginia has taken three lives. It simply won’t stop until Congress puts politics aside, stops listening to the NRA, and does what’s right.
Americans—especially our children—will not forgive or forget inaction. You’ve just seen what galvanized voters can do. Please know we will keep working until either we get the bills we want, or we get rid of every representative blocking them. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess
Jessica Craven, you are absolutely AMAZING!
Jessica,
A week after THE DAY (if not the counting), and I just feel so compelled to write here (for I know of no other more direct way) and express just how grateful I am for your presence online here, and the tireless work you do. I don't remember how I came across CWCW, but what you have done for my sanity, motivation, and patriotism in these last few years cannot be measured. Although to me you appear superhuman, I know you are in fact human and must have days where you feel worn down or wonder whether things are making a difference, or fast enough. Please KNOW you make more of a difference than you can imagine to everyone who cares as deeply as you do about the good ole USA and reads CWCW regularly.
As for the nitty-gritty: I'm not given up on the House yet either: there's just too much left in Cali to know for sure (hey, we aren't usually the deal-maker). Since last week I have found my attitude shifted - even if we come up short there (which I obviously would not prefer), I am willing to accept it without too much grief at all considering the totality of the outcomes. I had a frank exchange with one of the campaign managers during a phone bank and he offered me a new motto: PROGRESS ISN'T LINEAR. (He followed it up with "Not a lot of people get that.") If you offered me the deal of coming up 2-3 seats short in the House, but gain in the Senate (Go Reverend, Go!!!) and flip governors *and* state legislatures for the first time in forever... I'd take it. Let them display their idiocy; knowing full well they earned it temporarily only through mapmaking skullduggery. Every time they try some nonsense, we will call it out loud, and then give Joe a photo op at the new snazzy CHIPs factory and a coupla Ketanjis on the courts. Bide our time, deploy our resources, and sweep back in on the winning presidential ticket in '24, filibuster proof trifecta in hand (I'm already making Ruben Gallegos yard signs.)
And we still might pull off a not-really-a-miracle, and gain it all. We'll know soon enough. My point is, we both know all the armchair know-it-alls are waiting to claim that anything short of total triumph on our part shows they were right all long. But they never gave us a chance, and you did. You knew we COULD succeed, no matter how many times they said we couldn't. Even coming close indicates you were right. You ARE right. Their "realism" is nothing but cynicism in a thin disguise, and while that cynicism accomplishes nothing, your positivity accomplishes everything worthwhile.
PROGRESS ISN'T LINEAR. I don't need The Resistance to have a straight line to victory. What I need is to finish this decade with democracy and the planet intact. Thanks in part to your power of example, no setback will dissuade me. I am in this for the long haul. Somehow I suspect Maxwell Frost and Summer Lee aren't moping around today doubting about whether they will be in a majority position or get the right committe assignment. They are in this for the long haul. Somehow I doubt that those kids who registered and organized for Beto really thought they were going to win, or are going to hang up their hats now. They are in this for the long haul. So are you. So am I. And so are the dozens upon dozens of millions of Americans who showed up in the last weeks to give election denying, autonomy-constricting extremists a hard slapdown, no matter how many reports expected us to care more about the price of something or other. WE are in this for the long haul.
Again, Thank you for what you do.
-William
P.S. My Mom says you "Are beautiful in the best way: because your spirit shines through from the inside out. Can't fake that!" And she is an internationally awarded art photographer and former Ralph Lauren stylist... so she knows what she's talking about. (Disclaimer: She also thinks I could be a model, which is delusional, but if someone has 1/2 your DNA who else can you count on to be deluded in your favor?)