Chop Wood, Carry Water 11/9 🥰

Big exhale.

Jennifer Bendery @jbendery

NBC's Garrett Haake reporting live from Kevin McCarthy's victory party where... the Doobie Brothers are playing and there is no party right now. "Very different vibe here than was expected tonight."

Hi, all, and happy Wednesday.

And it is happy, indeed.

Look, y’all. I don’t want to say I told you so, but in this case I will exuberantly tell you: “I told you so.”

Why? Because in so doing I am really congratulating you, not me.

I knew you could do this.

I knew you WERE doing this.

I knew you would do this.

THANK YOU.

I’m not going to write a lot today. I phonebanked for nine hours straight yesterday; my house is a disaster; I have eight loads of laundry to do, and I may just go splurge on a massage this afternoon. Plus many others will write better pieces than I could about all we know so far and what it means. (Status Kuo has what I think is an excellent summary right here.) But let me be clear: we had an INCREDIBLE election. Stunningly so. As evidenced by our many, many victories thus far…and the above tweet.

Obviously it wasn’t all good news. And there’s a lot that’s still unknown. But today I am going to dwell only on the fact that what we’ve done—even so far— is extraordinary. We defied ALL (except for Michael Moore’s) predictions. The news coming out of the states is particularly exciting. We flipped the Michigan AND Minnesota statehouses, y’all! Held off a supermajority in both NC and WI! Kept our majority in Maine! These are not small victories. They are incredibly meaningful for the people living in those states, and for democracy itself. These victories will greatly matter in 2024.

We also beat many of the most toxic, Trumpy election deniers running for statewide office.

And we did all of this while being told relentlessly, with absolute mansplaining certainty, that we wouldn’t.

Never. Ever. Forget: It’s about what we do. Not what we believe. And when it comes to us and elections they will underestimate us every time.

So the next time the “experts” tell you you’re going to lose, give a little smile, then keep chopping wood and carrying water.

Because it works.

I love every single one of you, and I’m so proud of you. Take a day off…unless you feel up to some ballot curing. Which is actually really important. See below.

I’m off to wash clothes.

---

🚨 Here are some urgent ballot cure needs for this week. If anyone has any bandwidth left please sign up. These cured ballots could make the difference in close House or Senate races. IMPORTANT! 🚨

1. Thursday November 10th, GA ballot curing. 4-6 ET. Sign up here.

2. Virginia phone bank later today 5-7 ET. Sign up here.

3. Illinois ballot cure 5:30-7:30 today. Sign up here.

4. Ballot curing into Washington (could determine balance of power in the House) multiple shifts this week. Sign up here.

5. Ballot curing calls for Nevada multiple shifts. Sign up here.

6. NY ballot cure for competitive House districts. Multiple days starting today. Sign up here.

Thanks, all. More tomorrow.

Jess

P.S. You did it again. You helped to save democracy. Really.