Chop Wood, Carry Water 8/27

Jess Craven

Aug 27, 2024

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Hi, all, and happy Tuesday!

Last night I attended a Zoom fundraiser hosted by the folks at Swing Left Peninsula (as well as All in For NC and Br50klyn) to raise money for the Mecklenberg County Democratic Party in North Carolina.

The event was terrific—we heard from Anderson Clayton, the inspiring young chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Drew Kromer, the equally inspiring (and equally young) chair of the Mecklenberg Dems, Rep. Jeff Jackson—who was every bit as dynamic as I expected he’d be—and Julia Buckner, the Meck Dems’ Senior Organizing Advisor. Each speaker was off-the-charts amazing in their own way and, despite a few technical glitches, a wonderful time was had by all. By the end of the event not a person in the room doubted that donating to the Mecklenberg County Democrats was critical and strategically smart—exceedingly so, in fact. Attendees gave accordingly.

So I was moved, this morning, when I heard from Scott Carlson, one of the event’s organizers. He wrote to thank me for participating in the gathering and mentioned, in passing, that he had never organized anything like it before. He said he’d decided to try because he’d met Drew and, after talking with him for an hour or so, realized how vital it was to raise money for this county party in particular. He decided to jump in.

He went to his group—a small collection of volunteers—and asked if they’d help. They were game. They reached out to speakers. They made an invitation. They spread the word.

And the event not only happened, and was terrific, but raised a truly significant amount of money!

“When [Drew] asked me how much we could raise,” Scott wrote, “I said I didn't know, I really had no experience with it, but...$30,000? It now looks like we're on track to raise 65K or so!”

Amazing, right? This is what happens when one person decides to try to make a difference.

Congratulations to Scott and all the good people at Swing Left Peninsula. And congratulations to all of us! On September 6, county elections offices in North Carolina will begin sending absentee ballots to voters. These voters, at least in Mecklenberg County, will be more likely to see a volunteer at their door because of the fundraiser Swing Left Peninsula did last night.

I’m more convinced than ever that we can and will win North Carolina for Team Harris-Walz, and that that victory will run straight through Mecklenberg County. If you were on last night’s call—and many of you were—I suspect you’re convinced too. I wish it had been recorded so I could share it with the rest of you, but that was one of the technical glitches I mentioned earlier; alas, it was not.

In case you feel so inclined, you can donate here to support the Meck Dems—and reward Scott’s hard work!

OK. Speaking of work, it’s time to get to it! Thanks for all you’re doing, and all you will do. Because of you—and us!—we will win.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

I understand that House Republicans are threatening investigations into Tim Walz because of tourist trips he took to China when he was a teacher. This is an outrageous waste of taxpayer money and I want it to stop. If the House is going to investigate anyone for their connections to China, furthermore, it should be Donald Trump, who collected millions from Chinese government-owned entities while he was in office, embraced the Chinese government’s authoritarian practices to the detriment of U.S. interests, called Xi Jinping a “good friend,” and maintained a bank account in China during his presidency. Let the investigation start there, please.

Extra Credit ✅

Last Friday, the Postal Service announced plans to slow mail service standards again, and this time, it seems it’s rural communities who will bear the brunt of the changes. The AP reported, “Postal customers who live closer to regional hubs will see the greatest reductions in transit time for mail; transit times for some rural customers could grow while still falling within existing service standards, an official said.”

Make Your Voice Heard!

Tell DeJoy and the Board why universal service to every ZIP code is an essential part of the public service promise of the post office. There will be a virtual USPS conference call with stakeholders on Thursday, September 5 at 1PM Eastern before the proposed changes are submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

The Save the Post Office Coalition is encouraging rural stakeholders to register to attend and speak in order to push back and say no to rural service slowdowns.

You can register here—and please tell a friend.

Get Smart! 📚

🛜 House Accountability War Room launched four new ‘microsites’ in an ongoing series, calling out House Republicans whose records match the extreme Project 2025 agenda. The first four were released — they focus on the extreme positions of:

Check them out and spread the word! And if you sign the peitions on any of those sites

We can also use this site to see how aspects of Project 2025 would affect us—it’s excellent!

And THIS is the motherlode of Project 2025 content—I don’t know who’s keeping this spreadsheet up but WOW.

Spread the Word—Harris rally in Savannah GA! 📣

On Thursday, August 29, Vice President Harris will host a rally in Savannah to speak directly to Georgians about the stakes of this election. The Harris-Walz campaign is encouraging wide distribution of the public link below with your networks - let's keep the momentum going! Please remind people, each person who wants to attend needs to submit a registration.

Mobilize Link

Give 💰!

Here’s an in-person opportunity to meet me and Robert Hubbell in Pasadena, CA!

Join the SL SGV community and other grassroots volunteers in Pasadena on Sunday, September 15 at 6:00 pm for a magical night under the stars with Dynamic Duo Jessica Craven and Robert Hubbell. We're asking for a small donation of your choosing to the Swing Left National Impact Fund, which targets the closest races up and down the ballot. Remember that fundraising is one of the most important — and strategic — things you can do to help Democrats win. Seating is limited to 100 people, so be sure to sign up soon, then click contribute to make your donation. We assure you that you will be very happy you did!

Win Races #1! 🗳

Join

Simon Rosenberg

for Thursday Night Postcarding and Phonebanking for Josh Riley (NY-19) —this seat is a key pick-up opportunity!

From Simon:

We are back at it this Thursday at 730pm ET for a night of work for a great House candidate from New York, Josh Riley. You can register here, and note when doing so you can now select which breakout room you want to join. We have trainings for both activities live each evening, and for those who are more experienced you can a select a breakout room without training and just get to work. Visit here to learn more about ordering postcards for these events. Each week we will be reaching our to core Democratic voters and encouraging them to Vote on Day 1 and letting them know when early in person and mail/drop box voting begins in their states.

Win Races #2

To fight back against racist voter suppression laws, the Coalition For Human Needs is joining with their friends at Vote Forward to write letters to infrequent voters in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to make sure they have everything they need to get to the polls.

Click here to RSVP and join them this Thursday at 7pm ET as they gather together to make sure voters in swing states have all the resources they need to vote in this historic election.