Chop Wood, Carry Water 9/20 🐀 😬
Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!
First, I want to apologize to anyone who showed up at my Grassroots Dems HQ phonebank yesterday. I blew it in a colossal manner—just totally forgot to be there! I’ve never done that on a phonebank I was running, and I was absolutely mortified when I realized my error.
My excuse? Rats. Literally.
I’d learned just a few hours before the phonebank that the two small creatures my cat caught in our house over the weekend were not, as I’d thought, mice; they were, in fact, baby rats. RATS!! We apparently have a family of them—at least—living in our house somewhere. This news—plus the sizable cost of remediating the situation properly—so horrified me that my brain went on the fritz. It’s a weak excuse, but real.
I’ve now spoken to many other Los Angelenos who’ve endured this particular trial—L.A. has the second-worst rat problem in the country—and it’s had a similar effect on them. Small comfort, but it’s at least nice to know that I’m not the only one to lose my cool—and memory—over a rodent problem.
So that’s the bad news. The better news is that the company we’ve hired to deal with it is already here and hammering away outside.
And the best news of all? Hal Rafter won his race for the New Hampshire statehouse yesterday, by 12 points!! Huge! Last time Rafter ran he lost by 25 votes. This time he won by 331 (it’s a tiny district). To quote a new ABC News piece called “Democrats Have Been Winning Big in Special Elections:”
Rafter’s win means the New Hampshire state House will be tied at 198 Republicans and 198 Democrats (with two independents and two seats still vacant). On paper, that will end full Republican control of New Hampshire state government.
It’s also the latest example of Democrats outperforming in a special election, a trend that could be a harbinger of a very good year for Democrats in 2024. This New Hampshire district is 6 percentage points more Republican-leaning than the nation as a whole, according to a weighted average of the 2020 and 2016 presidential results in the district.* Yet Rafter won by 12 points — an 18-point Democratic overperformance above their partisan baseline.
Music to my ears! It should be to yours, too.
To all of you who joined me on the Tuesday Swing Blue Alliance phonebank calling voters about this election, thank you. To those who wrote postcards or made a donation to Hal’s campaign, thank you. To those who simply spread the word about the election to friends in the area, THANK YOU!
This is how we win. One race at a time. Polls be damned. WE make election outcomes, and right now we’re excelling at it.
Look, y’all. Not all infestations can be fixed with traps. Some, like the infestation of our country by MAGA Republicans, must be resolved with time-tested electoral work, strong communication, smart organizing, and strenuous advocacy.
We’re very good at all of the above. So let’s keep it up. It’s not a one-day job, but it’s doable. We’ll get this house clean eventually.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m deeply concerned about the escalating Republican attacks on our armed services. We have Senator Tuberville blocking over 300 military promotions—this is hurting us so badly that military experts are now saying it’ll take us years to recover from it. We have House Republicans blocking the defense funding bill. Finally, it looks like House Republicans are also going to shut down the government. This would force servicemembers to work without pay. It feels like Republicans don’t have our military’s back at all, and that upsets me. As my representative I want the Senator to push Republicans to fight FOR our military, not against it. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I understand that Democrats in the House have re-introduced H.R. 14, the John R Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. I am a strong supporter of this bill and want the Congressmember to support it as well. Every American, no matter their color or their zip code, should be able to easily exercise their right to vote. Will the Congressmember be an original co-sponsor?
Extra Credit ✅
This is a bit in the weeds, but important if we care about the Post Office.
The Postal Board of Governors oversees the operation of the USPS, an essential and constitutionally-mandated public service that reaches every community in the country. Yet the Board's only formal contact with the people whose interests they are supposed to represent is a brief public meeting at least four times a year, broadcast online.
In the public comment section following the adjournment of the most recent meeting, commenters who had pre-registered to address the Board were given only 25 seconds each in which to introduce themselves and raise their question or concern. At PBoG meetings in years past, the time allocated for comments in person or via online link was 3 minutes.
The obvious conclusion is that the Postal Board of Governors does not want to hear from the people they are supposed to serve. Let’s tell them that’s not OK by signing this letter asking them to reform their public comment policy.
Get Smart! 📚
Interested in passing Medicare For All?
Together, we have successfully convinced a total of 128 senators and representatives to co-sponsor the Medicare for All Act of 2023—so far! That’s incredible!
But plenty of resistance remains at the local, state, and national levels.
Fortunately, Public Citizen has developed strategies in their time fighting for Medicare for All that can win over skeptical legislators and convince sympathetic ones to make fixing our broken health care system a top priority. And they’d like to share them with you!
Spread the Word! 📣
Unrig Our Economy just sent out an excellent toolkit on the Republican shutdown. It’s got great graphics, perfect talking points, and lots of relevant facts. Highly recommend using it! Remember, a huge chuck of the country hasn’t even heard that a shutdown is looming, let alone whose fault it is or what Republicans’ real agenda is. Let’s make sure they get that info!
Give 💰!
Y’all, the Center For Common Ground is putting out an emergency call for donations to their incredible paid phonebanking program in Virginia. This is a really worthy cause—I can personally vouch for the incredible work these local organizers are doing. They deserve our support! Please, if you have some extra money and want to see BIPOC voters get the help they need to vote in VA, give here.
Win Races! 🗳
The DNC is building a relational organizing program for 2024 around a simple principle: that YOU are the best advocate with the people in your life. Join them for a training on organizing the people in your life and how to share key campaign messaging and content with their new (excellent) tool, Reach!
This training, which I did last week, will cover how and why we need to organize people we know, campaign objectives and priorities, and how to use the Reach app to support your outreach. I really can’t recommend it highly enough.
This is a virtual training hosted on Zoom, so they recommend joining from a computer and having your phone accessible for their tool onboarding process.
Trainings are this Wednesday and next from 5:30-6:30 PT / 8:30-9:30 ET
For more information on the Reach program read this.
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[H/T] [Text SIGN PNXUOF to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]
I’m calling on you to stand with working people, passengers and our communities by supporting Good Jobs for Good Airports standards (GJGA) in the FAA reauthorization bill. Airports should and can be strong, vibrant drivers of good jobs in every part of our country. The Good Jobs for Good Airports standards are central to that mission and our nation’s future prosperity. Billions of our public dollars are invested in our nation’s aviation system every year, and we must ensure that our public resources serve the public good. That includes ensuring airports better serve the needs of our families, our passengers, our communities and the airport service workers who make it all possible.
It is evident that our air travel industry is in crisis. From record flight cancellations during summer travel peaks to mountains of lost luggage during the holiday travel season. Airports are critical publicly-funded infrastructure vital to the health of our local communities and global economy, but right now airports aren't working the way they should for travelers or airport service workers — a largely Black, brown, multiracial and immigrant service workforce. These working people, including cleaners, wheelchair agents, baggage handlers, concessionaires and ramp workers, keep airports safe and running smoothly even through a global pandemic, climate disasters and busy travel seasons. Yet many are underpaid and underprotected--even as some major airlines rake in record profit and billions of our tax dollars are invested in our national air travel system.
Domestic passenger numbers increased by 80% between 2020 and 2021, total industry employment fell by nearly 14%, leaving airport service workers to sometimes clean entire airplanes in as little as five minutes as many take on additional responsibilities outside of their typical job duties. Meanwhile, wages have barely budged for airport service workers in 20 years. The Good Jobs for Good Airports standards has the power to transform workers’ lives by ensuring airport service workers have the pay and benefits they need to care for their families.
The Good Jobs for Good Airports standards would help build a stronger, safer, more resilient air travel industry by making airport service jobs good jobs with living wages and benefits like affordable healthcare for all airport workers. Airport service workers at more than 130 covered airports would be supported through established wage and benefit standards, putting money back into hundreds of local economies and helping families thrive. If passed over 73% of wage increases will go to workers making $20 or less, estimates show.
I urge you to include the Good Jobs for Good Airports standards in the FAA reauthorization bill, and help ensure our public money serves the public good.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Yes! Also great news!🎉 Dem Lindsay Powell's win means Democrats have now RETAKEN a razor-thin majority in the Pennsylvania House. This is huge. Ps: Good luck with the 🐀
Sending hugs from NYC where I won't walk down the side street from our parking garage to our apartment building at night for fear of seeing those critters skittering across the sidewalk. On a positive note, YAY Hal Rafter. We hosted him on a Zoom in August and we all wrote postcard for him.
Democrats have had a good month of special elections (really a good year of special elections). Last night, Hal Rafter in NH, Lindsay Powell in PA. Last week, Sam Berger won a special election in Queens, NY in a district that Lee Zeldin won by 12 in 2022. When we organize and focus, we win!