Hi, all, and happy Monday!
Hope you had a great weekend.
I had the pleasure, last night, of speaking at a local Swing Left chapter’s meeting in the Valley. I’m not sure how the host found me—either on Tiktok or through this email—but I was honored to be asked and went without knowing what to expect.
What a delight to make my way into the back yard of a house, situated on a quiet residential street, and find several tables full of people chatting, laughing, and writing postcards and Vote Forward letters! There were snacks, there was swag, there was a table with clipboards and letters ready to write, there were children climbing on a play structure, a place to donate towards stamps, huge plastic bins full of completed Vote Forward letters…it was all so wonderful, organized, and inspiring.
I’m telling you. Whenever you grow afraid, look for the helpers. They are EVERYWHERE. Regular people are doing work that is anything but regular—by just taking simple actions to help save the country.
Very inspiring.
I’ll finish this email with a Rebecca Solnit quote—one I’ve used here before, but that bears repeating:
“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
— Rebecca Solnit, "Hope in the Dark"
Let’s go break down some doors, shall we? Thanks for all you do, folks. It’s YOU who give me hope.
P.S. — Al Franken and Cory Booker were just added to the speaker list for today’s/tomorrow’s “24 Hours of Activism” event. It’s going to be 🔥! See the full schedule and RSVP here.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I want the Senator to co-sponsor S.190 Ethan’s Law, a common sense child safety gun law, and S. 736 the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2022. Common sense gun laws are a top priority for me. Will s/he co-sponsor and support both?
Extra Credit ✅
Read this new Judd Legum piece about the illegal nature of the actions Ron DeSantis took last week, then call Massachusetts AG Maura Healey’s Civil Rights Division at 617-963-2917 and say:
My name is _____ and I’m calling from ____. I’m calling on the Attorney General to open a formal investigation into Ron DeSantis and the people who assisted him to coerce asylum seekers to fly to Martha’s Vineyard. They made numerous false promises to these asylum seekers — including of work opportunities, schooling for their children, and immigration assistance — in order to induce them to travel. They then disappeared, leaving these asylum seekers to learn that the offers of assistance had all been a ruse to exploit them for political purposes. This is a civil rights violation and should be treated as such. Thanks.
Get Smart! 📚
Did you know that relational organizing, or “friend banking,” is the single most effective form of voter outreach we’ve got access to?
Fortunately, Indivisible Marin has a new relational outreach program, "10x Your Impact," that they are launching at a zoom meeting this Tuesday, 9/20 at 5:30 PM PT. Both Rudy Salas and Christy Smith will be “dropping by” to cheer on the troops and they have a video message from Mandela Barnes.
Here is a link to sign up for the meeting. They will also be recording it and can share the link afterwards.
Get Social AND Give 📣💰!
Please post this on social media—and give if you have anything left to give! It’s an excellent, well-researched list.
Y'all, if you're looking for strategic places to give money this cycle I'd highly recommend checking out Blue Tent's list of the ten most pivotal, close, and underfunded races UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT nationwide. Check it out and please give if you can.
Date Entry, Anyone?
The NPP Needs Data-Entry Volunteers!
After the New Pennsylvania Project registers new voters, R2B enters their registration data in spreadsheets. That way, they can call these voters to ensure that their information is completely correct. (Often it’s not.) As the election nears, the NPP is ramping up its outreach, so they have lots of data to enter. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s absolutely essential. Anyone with a computer can do it, from any place and at any time of day. If you have a few hours a week to devote to data entry — and to making a difference in Pennsylvania — please get in touch with Craig Seligman, seligmanbrooklyn@gmail.com. Thanks!
Win Races! 🗳
I thought I might be able to lure some of you to phonebank into North Carolina using Julia Louis-Dreyfus as bait! She’s awesome, right?
Turns out she’s also a big friend of democracy, so she’s going to be joining Sister District for a phonebank into North Carolina tomorrow at 5PM ET. This phonebank, by the way, meets every week at this time to make calls for NC State Senator Sydney Batch or NC State Rep Deb Butler. While state-level races like this may feel boring, they are a) critical to the survival of our democracy and b) incredibly helpful in winning up-ballot races…like—ahem—US Senate!
Sign up here to phonebank with JLD tomorrow. And if you can’t make that—or if you want to double down on your Seinfeld—Jason Alexander will be joining the Sister District Crew on Saturday at 1PM ET to call into Michigan!
Sign up for either or both here!
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)
[to all 3 reps] [H/T] [quick send: Text PFCVAF to 50409]
Public education is critical for a healthy democracy, yet teachers across the nation are forced to pay for basic school supplies like pens, paper, and tissues with their own money while they take on second or even third jobs just to make ends meet.
Why? Because teachers bring home a much smaller paycheck than college-educated peers in similar professions. In fact, across the United States, the average teacher brings home 23.5% less than other comparable college-educated workers.
This kind of wage disparity leads to a situation where people who desire to be teachers are driven out of the profession altogether just to seek work that properly pays them for the amount of training and education they have.
This is why it is more important than ever for Congress to take action to address teacher pay. There are many ways for Congress to do so, including a bill that was recently introduced in the Senate: S 2510, The Respect, Advancement, and Increasing Support for Educators (RAISE) Act, which uses tax credits to increase teacher salaries.
Whether it be the RAISE Act or different legislation that increase salaries across the board, Congress can no longer sit on the sidelines while our nation's educators are underpaid and under attack. Please, raise teacher pay now. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess
Every day I look forward to your newsletter - sunshine in my mailbox! Also, to everyone who wants to help turnout the critical youth vote - here's a great opportunity for text-banking with Voters of Tomorrow - every Tuesday and Sunday for the next 6 weeks.
https://www.mobilize.us/votersoftomorrow/event/504481/?emci=b0192295-9016-ed11-bd6e-281878b83d8a&emdi=9e40f4c4-c135-ed11-ae83-281878b83d8a&ceid=9894344
So I live in Fl. I called my 2 senators who have never voted for gun control, but I asked them to anyway. And I added as impolitely as the way people who oppose sensible gun control have behaved. It’s time to fight back. Being polite doesn’t work. It’s time to say I am furious at you for your inaction on issues to protect people from harm. They need to hear our anger.