When the jokes started, I knew exactly how this would go.

I knew that within days it would go from jokes to rumors to a full blown conspiracy theory.

I cannot properly articulate how much I wish I had been wrong.

But here we are.

And I could have almost accepted that, if not for the very strange obsession with wanting that seat to not be empty.

With McConnell off the floor, Republicans have one less vote. And in a closely divided Senate, boy does that matter.

Instead of 53 seats, they have 52. That’s a good thing in my book.

And Governor Andy Beshear said it best in a tweet this week:

I know there are a lot of folks wondering about the significance of August 3 regarding a potential Senate vacancy. I want everyone to know that this date has no legal impact on my options should there be a vacancy this year. Worth a reminder, right now, there’s one less vote for the SAVE Act, Trump’s war with Iran, or the potential replacement of a SCOTUS justice.

IF, and that’s a big if, McConnell is dead and Republicans are keeping it a secret, they VASTLY miscalculated, and we should take that as the win it is. Which we are literally seeing today, as the farm bill failed to get out of committee with him gone.

And I think people forget that Beshear is one of the few Democrats who was elected governor of a red state. And that’s because he is VERY good at convincing Republicans to sign on to things they would NEVER sign on to.

interviewed Beshear on June 5 and asked about what he’s been able to do that he’s most proud of:

We built the first hospital in our largest African American community, West Louisville in 150 years. It saw 60,000 people its first year in operation.When you deliver for your people, everybody does better.

Can you IMAGINE Republicans willingly opening a new hospital in a Black community? But they let it happen, because Beshear is good at what he does. Beshear’s budget proposal this year include keeping them open through state dollars regardless of what happens with Medicaid rules nationally.

THIS is what Beshear is focused on. THIS is why he keeps getting elected and THIS is the power of a Dem being given the opportunity to run a red state.

But no one cares about that. They care about if he announces he’s replacing McConnell with Thomas Massie.

Massie is a Republican. He is not a RINO, he is very much a Republican. We agree with him on a small number of things, but it really is a very small number.

Think of it this way. We hear about every time Massie crosses the aisle. It’s big votes but it’s not that often.

And the thing is, we HAVE a Democrat running for that seat in the fall.

His name is Charles Booker. He is a former Kentucky State Rep. He wants money out of politics. He is against the Iran war. He wants to abolish ICE. And he supports Medicare for All.

He is the exact candidate with the exact values we want running for the seat McConnell is leaving.

And yet, most people don’t know his name.

They know Beshear’s name though. The name that is now synonymous with “won’t do what’s needed to replace McConnell.”

But that’s not the story. That’s never been the story. He is doing what he knows how to do best. Fighting hardball. In this case that very literally means, doing nothing.

If McConnell is actually dead and Republicans are willingly leaving his seat empty in some attempt to spite Dems, let them miss the point. And trust that Andy Beshear will do what’s right for Kentucky.

Also, if you’re REALLY angry? Yell at the person actually responsible for making the seat is vacant, which would be Senate Majority Leader John Thune. If you attack Beshear instead of saying ANYTHING about Thune, I question if it’s about the seat at all.

And if you want to actually make a difference, really try to get a Dem in that seat, it’s not about Beshear, or Thune, all eyes should be on Charles Booker.

If social media lifted up Charles Booker even half as often as the berated Beshear about McConnell, maybe Booker could genuinely have a shot. But that’s certainly not the case with how things are going now.

So, anytime you wanna talk about McConnell, talk about Booker instead. Kentucky never gets this much attention, so let’s use it to our advantage.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Wed, July 1 - 227th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Church voted 459-25 to stand against white nationalism by categorizing it as a “theological error” and added this language to their governing document, The Book of Order.

The policy says:

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) repudiates the ideology and practices of 
white Christian nationalism in all its forms and affirms the PCUSA’s historical support for disestablishment of religion as enshrined in the First Amendment to  the U.S. Constitution.

And goes on to say:

The White Christian Nationalism agenda frequently extends beyond legislation into the active dissemination of misinformation and incitement of hostility against LGBTQIA+ persons, religious minorities, immigrants and communities of color. This ideology has made LGBTQIA+ persons specific and repeated targets. By characterizing diverse sexual orientation and gender identities as existential threats to the homeland or national identity, this ideology utilizes dehumanizing language to justify the exclusion of these communities and other marginalized groups from public life.

The Presbyterian Church has not always made sweeping progressive statements like this. In 1977, a vote to allow gay and lesbian members to become clergy failed, and it failed again in the 90s. But in recent years they have embraced progressive viewpoints, like this one, wholeheartedly.

It is wonderful to see that they are continuing to take stances like this, especially int his political climate.

The new PC(USA) policy shows people who have religious trauma, that PC(USA) might be a safe place for them. It reminds MAGA and other bigots that this Church is not a safe place for them, and it makes sure they’re not just talking, but also walking that talk.

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North Carolina

Mon, July 6 - North Carolina Republicans have put a lot of effort into making sure Dems have as little power as possible, even though Dems are in control of the executive branch.

So it’s all the more impressive that the Dem minority in the legislature was able to convince the Republican controlled legislature that expanding parental would help their business interests, since that’s all they care about.

Before this bill, state employees who gave birth were given eight weeks paid leave while other parents were only given four. Now both get 12, and it’s all because North Carolina Dems are strategic.

This bill, The Public Workforce Modernization Act, which Governor Josh Stein has now signed into law, marks the largest update to the Human Resources regulations in over 60 years.

State Senator Natalie Murdock explained to me:

Years of advocating for 12 weeks of paid leave finally paid off. Session after session, Democrats file legislation to allow family members and new moms to take the time needed take care of themselves and their new child. No one should be in fear of losing their job to care for their new born or family member. This policy was included in a massive overall of our state HR policies. Our state needs to enact more policies like that this to improve maternal health outcomes. We look forward to building upon this work next year during long session.

I know that other countries are probably horrified that this is a win, but, in the US, it is. And it was only possible because Democrats in North Carolina are very good at what they do.

Even when Republicans think they have the power, even in a state like North Carolina, where they mostly do, good elected Dems are still able to create some change that gives me hope every single day.

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Montgomery County, Maryland

Fri, July 10 - Montgomery County has created a portal to keep track of where ICE is through the County Values Act they passed in March. People go to the ICE Reporting Portal and input if the agent is wearing a mask and where they spotted the officer and then it gets filed.

It’s not ideal, of course, but it is what the county can legally do as county executive Marc Elrich said in his newsletter:

I want to be clear about what the County can and cannot do. We cannot stop ICE from enforcing federal immigration law in Montgomery County, and this reporting mechanism will not change that. What we can do is document what is happening, track patterns, and take action within our legal authority, including enforcing the limits we have placed on where ICE can operate without a lawful warrant…We have legal limitations, but we are doing everything within our power to minimize the damage ICE is making in communities. 

And this isn’t all the County is doing either. They passed the Unmask ICE Act back in April as well.

And while they’re doing what they can, there are some hiccups, like last week when county firefighters inadvertently helped ICE capture three men when they were called following these men jumping into the Patomac to get away from the federal law enforcement.

Councilmember Kristin Mink responded saying:

What this shows is that there is more scenario planning that we can do and that we need to do to make sure that we are prepared and ahead of this federal government in the actions that they are taking.

To me, this response shows that they are really trying. This is real and not just something they’re doing to try and appease their constituents.

And there is real power in that. I really hope they are able to get some good data out of this new portal and that, even though it can’t stop ICE from operating in the county entirely.

And those are today’s stories. Having Democrats in office really matters, especially in red states. I wish more people knew that, but now that you do, spread the word!

And remember, our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

Follow for more nuance, anti-doomerism and calls to action!

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If you made it to the end of this post, comment 🧑🏽‍🍼(a new parent) cause getting more paid time off is life changing.

Sway is an organization trying to change who we approach voting across the board, from endorsements to election day. The idea is that recommendations from people you know and trust hold as much, if not more power than an endorsement from a given organization.

And I got to sit down with Claire Shorall, one of the founders and discuss how they are changing the game.

Check out the full interview below!

Read more

I think that’s a great idea.

Which is why, when they had the Daily Blueprint, I posted about it every single day.

The Daily Blueprint was a daily show from the DNC, 7 minutes of the top news stories from the Democrats. Half of it explained things Republicans were destroying that we needed to know about, and the other half made us aware of ways we were succeeding.

It included things like when and where you could watch a hearing and interviews with members of the Democratic party, both elected and not.

It was hosted by DNC Deputy Communications Director, Hannah Muldavin, and it ran for 104 days, the last day being November 12.

And then it stopped.

Why?

See the first sentence of this essay.

Even while this daily briefing was happening. Even as I posted it and analyzed it every single day, posts demanding a daily briefing were still going viral.

Could the DNC have posted it on more platforms? Yes. They absolutely could have.

But would that have mattered?

People say the same about Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries all the time, but his weekly briefings were not only live on YouTube, but also on IG.

Did that make a difference?

No, it didn’t.

Posts like that were STILL going viral.

This is why I can’t take anyone seriously who says Dems need to post more or better or differently.

What they’re already doing isn’t being acknowledged at all.

I have a weekly series called “You’re Being Lied To” where I highlight two Dems who posted something engaging about the work they’re doing, the fight their bringing to it and the noise their making.

These stories are things THEY posted. They are not things that were hidden or that I found by doing heavy amounts of research. I found them by scrolling my feed on IG.

There’s this expectation that if it doesn’t organically come to you, it’s not good enough, and doesn’t exist at all.

Okay, so how do you expect that to change?

How is a member of Congress or the DNC expected to get YOUR attention?

There is this pervading idea that it’s THEIR fault. That if it’s not handed directly to every single person on social media on a silver platter then the politician or organization is doing something wrong.

But it’s hard to make that a priority when it doesn’t seem to make a difference.

Would more people have watched The Daily Blueprint if it wasn’t just posted on YouTube and Substack?

If it had been clipped up on YouTube shorts, as well as IG and Tiktok?

Sure. Yeah, more people would have seen it.

But what would those comments have looked like?

I bet you anything, even on those videos themselves, they would have said that same sentence from the start of this essay. And I know this because they did, and those are the same comments I got when I posted about the Blueprint myself.

It’s hard to think people actually want better comms when they refuse to highlight the comms actually happening.

It’s hard to believe it would make any difference at all.

Look, could Democrats be doing better, yeah sure, always, there’s always room for improvement.

But the companies are mostly run by Republicans, and so are most publications, and the ones that aren’t are run by the consultant class who are really angry no one wants to listen to them anymore.

And remember, these stories are supposed to come from journalists and creators, that’s how we’ve always learned what’s happening.

So if they’re not posting it…

Literally everything is making it as easy as possible for you to give Democrats as little credit as possible every single step of the way.

Which means, it’s on you to put a little effort in. If a Dem posts something that impresses you, don’t wait for it to be picked up. YOU can be the person who spreads it and gives it the attention it deserves. You can’t wait till a journalist acknowledges it exists.

THIS is how we beat Republicans. Cause THIS is where they are making the most inroads. They know they can’t get your vote but they can stop you and others from voting all together and from believing in Democrats at all.

Take back that power. Instead of saying “why don’t I see X, obviously it’s not happening.” Assume it is, find an example for yourself, and spread it.

THAT is how we save and strengthen democracy.

New Jersey

Thu, July 2 - Governor Mikie Sherill signed the “John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey Act” into law.

This is the first voting rights law enacted since the Callais ruling. It will:

ensure that eligible voters who are members of protected classes, including racial, color, and language-minority groups shall have an equal opportunity to participate in the political processes of the State of New Jersey, and especially to exercise the elective franchise.

The law specifically focuses on voter suppression, intimidation and access.

When the bill passed the Assembly, sponsor, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Hunterdon, Mercer) said:

When those individuals marched into Selma, they did so with the understanding that they were facing immense danger, but they moved forward anyway, determined to show the underrepresented voices in our country the power of their vote and the way it can shape a democracy.

And I think that’s a really important reminder. It’s never safe to fight for what’s right, but it’s powerful to do it anyway. This might not feel like a big risk, given that New Jersey is a blue state, but puts a target on their back, and they’re doing it anyway.

This shows the importance of electing Democrats at every level of government. And that’s a reminder we always need.

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New York City, New York

Mon, July 6 - Back in June, Obama Appointee, Judge Katherine Failla issued a Temporary Restraining Order against the DOJ accessing and NYU hospitals providing healthcare data of patients undergoing gender affirming care who were minors between 2020 and this year.

On July 6 that TRO was extended into a preliminary injunction. While a TRO can only last for around 14 days, a preliminary injunction can remain in place for the length of the trial.

Though there was a lot of coverage when the TRO was granted, the only info about the preliminary injunction comes from the case updates drop own on Lambda Legal’s case timeline.

When the TRO was issued, Chase Strangio, Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project said:

Patients and families trust their doctors with their most intimate, private information and should trust in turn that this information will be protected from impermissible and harassing demands for disclosure from the federal government or anyone else…We will continue to fight on behalf of these families and the fundamental liberty of all transgender New Yorkers and those who come here to seek needed medical care.

We should have some sort of update on the case after Aug 10 when NYU must respond to the complaint. I will keep you posted as we know more.

Regardless, anything that happens that makes it harder for this administration to have access to trans patient data is a win in my book.

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Florida

Tue, July 7 - In a 2-1 decision in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, a Trump Appointee, Judge Britt Grant, and a Clinton Appointee, Judge Charles Wilson ruled that Ron DeSantis’ WOKE Act cannot take affect in higher education.

Judge Grant wrote for the majority:

Florida’s salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the State’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry—classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.

Banning “unpopular ideas” defeats the purpose of higher education in Grant and Wilson’s eyes.

And as Leah Watson, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program said in the press release about the decision, “This ruling sets a strong precedent that higher education cannot be limited to the whims of politicians,”

Even in Florida.

There is this assumption that because DeSantis is so evil and Republicans control all state branches that they can just do whatever they want. But that’s not the case. The state cannot restrict what conversations are allowed to take place in a higher education classroom.

And as a reminder, this bill became law in 2022, so just because a bill becomes law in one year, doesn’t mean that law will ever be able to go into effect. Our judiciary is still our most powerful force against the Republican destruction of Democracy.

And that is something that gives me hope every day.

So those are three stories that hopefully give you the strength to keep fighting today. Our courts are still pushing back, even Trump judges, and so are our blue states.

I am confident that the louder we are and the more we vote the sooner we will win.

If you want more nuance, anti-doomerism and calls to action like this, make sure to follow me!

Also, turn on my notifications and subscribe to this newsletter so these stories come right to your inbox!

And join my group Election Day Is Every Tuesday, so you’re informed for every election, cause that’s how we start changing things

Remember our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

If you made it to the end, comment 🗳️(a ballot box) cause that’s where we elect the people who can appoint these judges (or elect them ourselves) to make these wins possible!

So you best believe that the second I heard these new rumors, I went directly to my friend , who is on the DNC Finance Committee, and asked for the truth.

Well, as I expected, that New York Times article was bullshit, and luckily, you don’t have to take my word for it, cause he agreed to an interview.

And I hope, after this, if you can, you are inspired to sign up for a monthly donation to the DNC so they can create even more incredible infrastructure.

📝READ: Give Ken Martin and the DNC the Credit They Have Earned. The Data Is In.

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📍Ken Martin on Substack, The DNC Is Building a Democratic Party That Can Win the Moment and Win the Future

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TIM’S RECOMMENDED NEWS SOURCES

📰 Rachel Bitecofer - Political Scientist

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Because there are so many races across all these states, below you will find voting and endorsement guides. Some of these are from local publications, while others are from Blue Voter Guide, and still others are from Sway.

If you don’t know yet, Sway is a organization where educated voices can create voting groups focused on all sorts of things. And they create their own voter guide with all the people they strongly believe in.

For instance, and are people I intrinsically trust on everything, especially when it comes to VA, so their guides for the VA primary are below.

And of course just a reminder that I also have a voting group that you can join as well! It’s especially useful if you want to make sure your elections are covered in this guide.

I know this is late, I also wish I had gotten this out earlier, but hopefully, if you haven’t made your decision yet and decided to vote last minute this is helpful.

And please remember. if you are voting absentee for any of these races, it is long past time that you can safely put your ballot in the mail. Take your ballot to a drop box or to a polling location. Nearly 150,000 ballots were thrown out in California, some of that was because they didn’t cure their ballot, but most of it was people who trusted USPS to get their ballots in on time.

Okay, I’m done yapping, onto the info!

You can still early vote if you are registered in:

AK 8/18 — Midterm Primary (MP) — Early In Person Voting (EIP) 8/3-8/17
CT 8/11 — MP — EIP 8/3-8/9
FL 8/18 — MP - EIP 8/6-8/15
HI 8/8 — MP — EIP Thru 8/8 ELECTION THIS WEEK
KS 8/4 — MP — EIP thru-8/3 @Noon ELECTION THIS WEEK
MI 8/4 — MP — EIP Thru 8/2 ELECTION THIS WEEK
MN 8/11 — MP — EIP thru 8/10
MO 8/4 — MP — EIP thru 8/3 ELECTION THIS WEEK
VT 8/11 — MP — EIP thru 8/10
WA 8/4 — MP — EIP thru 8/3 ELECTION THIS WEEK
WI 8/11 — MP — EIP thru 8/9
WY 8/18 — MP — EIP thru 8/17

Tue August 4

Kansas

Voter Registration Deadline: 21 days before Election Day

Midterm Primary Election

Voter registration status and polling locations
Voter Guide – Six Degrees of Activism – Kansas Edition
Voter Guide – Kansas City Star
Voter Guide – Decode the Vote
Voter Guide — Johnson County Dems
Endorsements — Blue Voter Guide
Sway Group — Let’s Free The State of Kanas

Michigan

Voter Registration Deadline: Election Day

Midterm Primary Election

Voter registration status and polling locations
Voter Guide – Michigan Advance
Voter Guide – Ballot Ready
Endorsements — Blue Voter Guide
Voter Guide — Planet Detroit
MIVoter.org

Missouri

Voter Registration Deadline: 4^th Wednesday prior to Election Day

Midterm Primary Election

Voter registration status
Voter Guide – Ballot Ready
Endorsements — Blue Voter Guide
Candidate Info - Missouri Dems
St Charles County Dem Candidate Questionaire
Mid-Missouri Measure Guide

Virginia

Voter Registration Deadline: 22 days before election day or Election Day

Midterm Primary Election

Voter registration status and polling locations
Voter Guide – Virginia Mercury
Voter Guide – Cardinal News (articles)
Voter Guide – Ballot Ready
Endorsements — Blue Voter Guide
Voter Guide — WAMU
Sway Group — Amanda Nelson
Sway Group — Be. A. Menace (Kate Powell)

Washington

Voter Registration Deadline: Election Day

Midterm Primary Election

Voter Guide - VoteWA
Voter Guide – WA State Standard
Voter Guide – Progressive Voters Guide
Voter Guide - Secretary of State Website
Endorsements — King County Democrats
Endorsements — Blue Voter Guide
Voter Guide — Spokane Democrats

Thu August 6

Tennessee

Voter Registration Deadline: 30 days before Election Day

Midterm Primary Election

Voter Guide – Tennessee Lookout
Voter Guide – Ballot Ready
Voter Guide - TNVoterGuide
Endorsements — Blue Voter Guide
Voter Guide — WSMV
Voter Guide — Nashville Banner
Voter Guide — Equity Alliance

Sat August 8

Delaware

Voter Registration Deadline: 4^th Saturday before Election Day

Sussex County

• Rehoboth

  • Mayor

    Suzanne Goode

    William Raak

    Susan Stewart

    Criag Their

  • Commissioner

    Jeffrey Goode

    Patrick Gosset

    Mark Saunders

Hawaii

Voter Registration Deadline: Election Day

Midterm Primary Election

Voter Guide – Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Individualized Ballot
Voter Guide – Ballot Ready
Endorsements — Blue Voter Guide
Voter Guide — Civic Beat
Voter Guide — Lily Hi'ilani Okimura

So I really hope this guide was helpful. Please vote if you are registered in one of these states and haven’t voted yet. Every single vote makes a difference in which candidate or measure wins!

And remember, your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower, but only when you use it!

Follow for more nuance, anti-doomerism content and calls to action!

Turn on my notifications and get a paid subscription to my newsletter so all these stories come right to your inbox!

And join my group Election Day Is Every Tuesday, so you’re informed for every election, cause that’s how we start changing things

Apologies in advance for the following word problem

If Democrats are in, conservatively, 40% of elected positions around the country, and there are 519,682 possible seats, there are about 205,063 elected Democrats in the US.

And that doesn’t account for certain nonpartisan positions or appointed positions.

That’s a hell of a lot of elected Dems. It’s not enough, not by a long shot, but it’s a lot.

Which is why it always boggles my mind when I see posts talking about seven members of the Congressional Democratic Caucus as if they are the entire party.

And even if we go with the argument that Congressional Dems ARE the entire party, because the federal seats matter more — which is an argument, it’s not a factual argument, but that’s neither here nor there — we’re at 3% of House Dems, or 2% if we include both legislative bodies.

So either 2% or 7/200k are treated as if they represent all Democrats.

But only when something bad happens.

When something good happens, the people involved in that good thing only represent themselves. Even when the entire party is behind them.

As for Republicans, well there, it seems like people understand the assignment.

There are Republicans that vote with Democrats occasionally, in Thomas Massie’s case, more than occasionally, these days.

But everyone understands that Massie does not speak for the Republican Party. No one praises the Republican Party anytime a Republican, or a few, do something less horrific.

So Republicans are not subjected to the same scrutiny and Dems are only subjected to it in the negative.

No wonder Dems have a low approval rating.

I mean, how could their approval rating ever improve if they are collectively blamed for every single little thing that one person does that a certain portion of people online don’t like?

That’s impossible.

We have a big tent party. That’s just a fact. And that means that there is at least one subsection of the party that each other subsection is not a huge fan of.

So it is, quite literally, impossible for Dems to be the good guys if every subsection uses this logic.

One thing that sets Democrats apart from Republicans right now is that we are not a cult.

We do not have a leader who we listen to without asking questions.

And I think that’s a good thing.

Cause when we start blindly listening to a leader that’s when we stop being Democrats. We stop thinking and feeling and caring about what happens to others and how our actions affect the world and people around us.

But that also means that we’re gonna disagree, passionately. It means that how I see caring about the world and how you see caring about the world might be different.

My nonnegotiable are different from yours because my focus is different from yours.

At this point, ALL Democrats believe that the most important thing we must do is save and strengthen Democracy.

And, right now, that’s enough.

It might not be enough when we’ve had a trifecta for a few years, but it is right now.

It has to be.

Cause the alternative is a party that doesn’t agree with Democracy, doesn’t care and doesn’t even consider how their actions affect others.

And I think that’s worse every single time.

So can we PLEASE stop blaming all Democrats for the actions of a few?

There are some INCREDIBLE Dems at every level of government across every state and municipality. Instead of holding the entire party accountable for what seven people did, lift up those who are doing the right thing, especially those who don’t get much attention for it.

You are not convincing the Dems to “stick to the status quo” by focusing on supporting the ones who impress you, but you ARE convincing them not to listen to you when there is not a single second they can collectively do one thing right.

It’s in our power to change the Dems approval rating. And if you ever want the kind of progress you dream about, that’s what we have to do.

Aurora, Colorado

Tue, June 16 - Republican Mayor Mike Coffman has always had pretty unconventional methods for creating change, especially when it comes to homelessness.

In 2021, two years after he was elected Mayor, he spent a week on the street undercover as a homeless veteran so he could learn what his constituents go though and how he could best help.

He told CBS News Denver at the time:

I don’t think a lot of policymakers like myself understand it. ... I think there’s so many questions -- Where’s their income? How do they exist? And what is the profile of people in homeless encampments?

Fast forward to 2025 and Advanced Pathways, where he is on the board, created the Aurora Regional Navigation Center (ARNC) to help get those experiencing homelessness into transitional housing through a tiered system.

In February he found out that ARNC was making those staying there really sick with bad plumbing, among other things especially in Tier 1’s basic shelter.

Almost immediately, instead of trying to push it under the rug, he started spending his Friday nights in Tier 1 so he could see first hand what needed to change.

It wasn’t until June that he announced he has been doing this for the past 5 months:

Every Friday afternoon, I leave my office for the ARNC where I meet with the men and women who are staying in Tier I. I stay overnight in the men’s’ congregate shelter sleeping on a cot. In the morning, I help set up and serve breakfast to everyone in Tier I

And he’s gonna keep doing it:

I will continue to stay with those experiencing homelessness, every Friday night, until the program is everything that I believe that it can be and it is a model, not just for Colorado, but for the country.

I rarely use this series to praise a Republican, but how could I not? He’s walking his talk in such a literal way and that really matters.

And I do believe him when he says he’s gonna do this for as long as it takes. I hope other Mayors and elected officials follow in his footsteps and make sure all their constituents can live a life of dignity with their basic needs met.

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New Orleans, Louisiana

Wed, June 24 - In September. Planned Parenthood shut their doors in Louisiana, last year thanks to the Big Ugly Bill. Now, they are back in New Orleans.

Louisiana has joined the Planned Parenthood Great Plains Network. With their support the state can resume telehealth services this summer and open the new New Orleans facility in the fall.

While they will still not be able to provide abortion services, they will be able to provide support for those going out of state. They will also provide “contraception, STI testing and treatment, gender-affirming care, pregnancy testing, perimenopause and menopause care, vasectomies, cancer screenings, and other preventive health services.“

Their abortion services are important, but Planned Parenthood is so much more and it’s so important to see them coming back to New Orleans.

Emily Wales, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains told the Louisiana Illuminator:

When we took a hard look at the patients who had been coming to Planned Parenthood [in Louisiana] and the lack of resources for those patients trying to find other providers, we knew that there was a gap we could fill.

She continued:

We have fought constitutional fights. We have pushed for state legislators to do better, and we’re going to bring that same energy to Louisiana.

Every day I hear people talk about how Louisiana is on no one’s priority list for creating change, and I hope this story changes your mind.

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Huntington Beach, California

Wed, July 1 - Huntington Beach has lost yet another lawsuit against the state as they try to do everything in their power not to provide affordable housing.

In 2021 they were supposed to create a plan for how to increase the amount of affordable housing and refused. In 2023 the state sued and in May they won.

However, Huntington Beach countersued, arguing that the lawsuits, violated their freedom of speech, which is illegal in California thanks to the Anti-SLAPP Statute of 1992.

As, I’m sure you can expect, Superior Court of San Diego Judge, Katherine Bacal was incredibly unimpressed with this argument and ruled against Huntington Beach.

Attorney General, Rob Bonta broke it down in a statement:

Huntington Beach claimed it was immune from state housing laws because it’s a charter city. It lost. It claimed that having to comply with state housing laws violated its First Amendment rights. It lost. Now it’s lost on its claim that the State can be sued simply for enforcing state housing law. No more excuses. It’s time for the City to adopt and implement a lawful housing element.

And they aren’t stopping there. On July 16, AG Bonta announced five more cities that the state is suing over their refusal to create more affordable housing.

And I’m confident that those judges will be just as unimpressed with those cities. Hopefully, after enough of these lawsuits, California Republican enclaves will finally realize they don’t have a leg to stand on.

Or maybe, we can just flip their city councils and it won’t matter anymore. This is why voting is so important.

I feel like most people who aren’t directly affected by California prioritizing affordable housing might not even know how big a priority it actually is. So, now you know and hopefully this can give you some hope that we won’t stop combating Republican’s lack of values.

So those are today’s stories. I hope you learned something and it makes you wanna keep fighting!

Remember, our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

Please follow for more nuance, anti-doomerism content and calls to action!

Turn on my notifications and subscribe to this newsletter so these stories come right to your inbox!

And join my group Election Day Is Every Tuesday, so you’re informed for every election, cause that’s how we start changing things

If you made it to the end, comment 🏝️(beach) because Huntington Beach is losing and it’s beautiful to see.

I was so incredibly spectacularly wrong.

The DNC is not running low on funds. In fact, they have raised 63% more than during the last Trump Midterm cycle.

They are low on “cash on hand” but that is 100% by design. Chair Ken Martin chose to use money rather than save it.

“Cash on hand” has nothing to do with how much they’ve raised, and it does not include how much they’ve spent, it’s purely what is currently in their war chest.

And as Chair Martin said in his new article:

We made a conscious decision to invest money in the work required to win in 2025, 2026 and beyond. We are converting the cash we raise into electoral assets: more people, earlier organizing, better technology, and stronger state parties.

That answer may be unsatisfying to people who believe the purpose of a political party is to accumulate the largest possible bank balance until the final days before an election. But a party is not a savings account. Its purpose is to build power.

Think about that for a second.

It’s the difference between a really rich person like Elon Musk, who keeps all his money for himself and MacKenzie Scott, who doesn’t.

The difference between hoarding money for a rainy day (Election Day) vs using it to make an impact NOW.

As Martin says repeatedly in this article, only hiring temporary field organizers, hired for the duration of an election, means everything has be rebuilt from the ground up every single time.

That’s not sustainable or practical is we want to make lasting change.

And neither is listening to the consultants, who tout that strategy among others. Which is also something he addresses several times including:

There is a reason this strategy makes some Washington insiders uncomfortable. A model centered on late-cycle spending concentrates decision-making in the hands of the few. It channels enormous sums through a small universe of consultants, media buyers, and vendors. It treats state and local parties primarily as delivery systems for national strategy.

Yeah, this is Chair Martin DIRECTLY saying that they aren’t listening or paying attention to the consultants.

And that’s why the consultants don’t like Martin. It’s a mutual dislike.

James Carville made YouTube video about how useless Martin is and how he wishes anyone else was chair, including David Hogg.

Hogg, the guy who left the DNC because Martin told him was a conflict on interest to get involved in primaries. That’s the guy Carville would rather support running the organization.

And, of course he believes everything the New York Times said in their hit piece cause anything to make Martin look bad is good in his book:

It was a story on a DNC that basically said it’s dysfunctional. It’s just difficult to do anything with it, and it’s all true. And at the end of the day, who cares?

Of course he thinks it’s all true. All of his consultant friends want Martin out too.

Martin is breaking all the rules. He’s gotten rid of the consultants.

He’s giving money to the state parties for year round organizers and better technology and infrastructure.

He’s creating Local Listening trainings so volunteers can start reaching out to people who voted for Biden in 2020, but stayed home in 2024 and asking which of their needs weren’t met in the 2024 cycle.

The DNC is now focused on strengthening leadership through programs like Battleground Leadership Project and BlueMatch, which are 6 figure projects designed to bring the right organizing leaders to the right battleground states.

And, of course you remember that they are spending 7 figures A MONTH on state parties. Every single month Red states get $22k while Blue states get $17k.

And no, that money is not for mailers, it’s for infrastructure:

State parties are using these investments to hire organizing directors, communications professionals, and voter protection staff. They are building partisan voter registration programs, constituency outreach operations, volunteer systems, and year-round capacity.

Unfortunately, people hate the DNC so much that most journalists are ignoring this, but luckily the Atlanta Journal Constitution is not one of them. And they just wrote an article about where the Georgia funding has gone:

The Democratic Party of Georgia today announced it will have 30 field offices open by early August along with 60 full-time field organizers and more than 100 coordinated campaign staffers — the biggest operation the party has ever had at this stage of a campaign.

Martin can’t control how the states use this money, or these offices would have been open much earlier, but this is a direct result of DNC investment in Red states.

And that’s all because of Martin.

When he said that the DNC is using the 57 State and Territory Strategy, he wasn’t just talking, he’s implemented it:

The DNC is supporting races that some dismiss as too small, too local, or too difficult. But school boards, county commissions, city councils, state legislatures, judicial races, and mayoral offices are where governing majorities and future leaders are built.

So of course you’re hearing that he’s terrible. The consultants don’t like being pushed out. They don’t like being told their ideas suck. But Martin did it anyway, knowing that EVERYTHING would be against him in the process.

You wanted the script flipped, now support the guy actually doing it!

Martin’s article is long, but PLEASE read the whole thing. My essay didn’t even scratch the surface of all the details he gives for where the DNC is investing.

It’s honestly awe inspiring, and I really hope you see that too.

Let’s end this lie that Martin is the wrong person for the job and the DNC is terrible.

That’s LITERALLY what the consulting class wants you to think.

All of today’s stories are international. Because it’s important to recognize the work being done outside of the US too.

Nepal

Thu June 18 - In 2007, the Nepal Supreme Court issued it’s first ruling in favor of same sex couples and marriage. over the years there have been two other rulings which strengthened that decision.

But the government was still finding loopholes and denying marriage licenses.

Last month, the Supreme Court closed one of the biggest loopholes by updating “the civil code to remove any discriminatory language.”

Nepal’s first LGBTQIA+ and human right’s organization, Blue Diamond Society, celebrated the ruling saying that the decision proves:

The freedom to marry the person you love is a guarantee under Nepal’s Constitution, and LGBTQIA+ couples and their families must be afforded the dignity, respect, and protections that only marriage can provide.

As we know in the states, the worst discrimination comes with state sanctioned confusion, and now with discriminatory language removed from the code, that confusion has been cleared up.

So happy for Nepal!

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Israel

Sun, June 21 - Mesarvot is a refusnik organization in Israel. These are conscientious objectors who refuse to join the IDF draft.

Last month, at the end of the school year, Mesarvot members put leaflets in lockers of graduating students encouraging them to refuse their upcoming military service.

As they said on their social media:

Sometimes the right thing to do isn’t to obey, but rather to resist. This action was meant to show that there is an alternative. That there are youth that chose to act on their morals, that especially at times like this chose to say: We refuse to take part in this cycle of bloodshed.

You might think, oh this isn’t a big deal. But it is.

Many in Israel see the draft as sacred. They believe refusing it is breaking a fundamental values of the country. So these kids are risking a lot.

And one of these students is risking suspension from Ohel Shem in Ramat Gan when school starts again in the fall.

Ohel Shem has a history of being shitty about progressive ideals. Famously back in December, students protested against Education Minister Yoav Kisch, who’s son goes to the school. The students protesting were harassed and told they belong in ghettos (this is worse than if the Holocaust is used to bully someone in the US). The school said the incident was “very unfortunate” but it’s the protesters faults for not asking permission to protest from the school.

So Mesarvot’s actions are bold and powerful and meaningful and we should be supporting them with everything we have.

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International

Thu, July 9 - “May contain” labeling world wide, not in the US, will soon include “gluten.” If you’re not gluten free, you probably didn’t notice that that wasn’t included, but currently the only “may contain” label required is “wheat” which doesn’t include rye and barley, which are also grains where gluten is found.

This means it’s fully possible that Celiacs have been getting unknowingly glutenated by a lack of labeling.

Well, this year, at the 49th Session of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, that changed.

The Celiac Disease Foundation explained:

This update recognizes that gluten cross-contact should be evaluated using science specific to celiac disease, accounting for total gluten exposure from wheat, barley, rye, and related grains combined and the long-term cumulative exposure risks unique to celiac disease.

Now, the US is not part of this, but it does give the Foundation a new argument to pose to the FDA, which they have already started:

The Celiac Disease Foundation has submitted formal comments to FDA urging the agency to incorporate gluten and celiac disease into its risk-based allergen threshold framework, and to adopt the 4 mg FAO/WHO reference dose as the basis for any precautionary labeling standard. The Foundation has also urged FDA to require declaration of barley- and rye-derived ingredients consistent with major allergen requirements for wheat.

As a Celiac this is very exciting, and I hope these rules change soon in the US too.

So those are three wins you should know about internationally.

Remember, our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

Follow for more nuance, anti-doomerism content and calls to action!

Turn on my notifications and get a paid subscription to my newsletter so all these stories come right to your inbox!

And join my group Election Day Is Every Tuesday, so you’re informed for every election, cause that’s how we start changing things

If you made it to the end of the post, comment with a 👨🏻‍⚖️(justice) cause I wish ours were making decisions like this on in Nepal.

They lost because social media doesn’t win elections.

I don’t mean that social media isn’t important, it is, but it’s not a barometer for how popular a candidate is in the district.

Not typically anyway.

Social media is incredible for getting people excited about a candidate and helping them get the funding needed for more ads, mailers, events, you name it.

But, the goal of raising money is being able to do thing on the ground.

Money can’t vote. So if their message only resonates with out of state or district donors, that’s not someone who can get elected.

However, when we stop focusing on the follower count, there are ways social media can make an impact.

And I think the best example is Y’all Vote, the new organization from , and .

Read more

There are also two midterm primaries. which you probably haven’t heard anything about since they are in Guam and the Virgin Islands.

And finally there’s a referendum in a county in SC and a city council runoff in Lubbock TX.

So if you are registered to vote in any of the places mentioned above, please find a way to vote before polls close.

Remember, every single election matters, no matter how local.

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Early voting this week!

HI 8/8 — MP — EIP 7/27-8/8
KS 8/4 — MP — EIP 7/28-8/3 @Noon
MI 8/4 — MP — EIP 7/25-8/2
MN 8/11 — MP — EIP thru 8/10
MO 8/4 — MP — EIP thru 8/3
OH 8/4 — Special Election — EIP thru 8/2
TN 8/6 — MP — EIP thru 8/1
VT 8/11 — MP — EIP thru 8/10
Virgin Islands 8/1 — MP — EIP thru 7/29 (ELECTION ENDS THIS WEEK)
VA 8/4 — MP — EIP thru 8/1
WA 8/4 — MP — ballots have been mailed out — EIP thru 8/3
WI 8/11 — MP — EIP thru 7/28-8/9
WY 8/18 — MP — EIP thru 8/17

Tue July 28

Georgia

US Congress District 13 Special Election

Everton Blair Jr DEM – Gwinnett Co. School Board District IV, math teacher, member of WH Initiative on Educational Excellent during Obama administration Priorities: Medicare for All, universal childcare, quality public education, affordable housing, increasing minimum wage, fair taxes, data centers, private equity, workforce innovation, civil rights reproductive healthcare, Green New Deal, clean energy, utility bills Endorsements: Lilliana Bakhtiari – council member; Jonathan Bonner – community leader; Sherry Boston – District Attorney; Kirkland Carden – county commissioner; Eshe’ Collins – council member; Josh McLaurin – State Senator SD-14; Randall Woodfin – Mayor Birmingham; RaShaun Kemp – GA State Senator SD-38

Carlos Moore DEM – retired municipal judge, attorney, president – National Bar Association; Priorities: costs, wages, healthcare, childcare, criminal justice, safety net,

Marcye Scott DEM – daughter of David Scott Priorities: critical infrastructure, law enforcement, transportation solutions, parks and community spaces, senior services, veteran services, neighborhood improvements, receiving federal funding, strengthening economic opportunity

Caesar Gonzales REP

Fayth Park REP

South Carolina

Darlington County

• Palmetto Rural Fire District Referendum

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Sat Aug 1

Guam

Midterm Primary elections

Guam Election Guide – Vote Smart

Texas

Lubbock County

Lubbock

• City Council

  • District 4 runoff

    Tim Green firefighter, home builder- Priorities: public safety, growth, infrastructure Endorsements: Dan Pope – former Mayor, Steve Massengale – former council member; Phyllis Basley – former council member; Lubbock Professional Firefighters Association, West Texas Home Builders Association

    Gary Boren Likely REP G. Boren Services owner, city council member Priorities: taxes, crime, water, Sharia Law Endorsements: Carl Isett – State Rep; Paul Beane – former city councilman; Mike Liner

Virgin Islands

Midterm Primary elections

• Governor

So those are this week’s elections. Whether you have an election ending this week or have a chance to early vote for an election ending later, I hope this guide is helpful.

If you don’t see much info about your election, sign up for my voting group so that I can see that I have voters in that district!

And if you know anyone in these states or territories, please share this guide with them as well!

Remember, your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower, but only when you use it!

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You’re being lied to.

Everywhere you look, you’re being told that Democrats aren’t doing the work, making noise, fighting back,

But that’s just not true.

And the only people this assumption helps are Republicans, David Ellison, Donald Trump

So why help them?

Imagine how much power we could have if instead we just talked about why Dems are worth supporting.

And I don’t just mean the Democrats that you agree with 100% of the time…

Well, those don’t exist, but you know what I mean.

Read more

She didn’t let anything go to the floor unless she knew that she had the votes to pass it. It was masterful.

But you don’t really hear people talk about her when she was minority leader, right?

That’s because she didn’t really have much power.

She didn’t get to choose when something came to the floor.

She couldn’t…

Read more

Do you honestly think she would be working with Bibi to harm Palestinians further?

Okay fine, for arguments sake, let’s say you’re right.

So how would Palestinians be worse off exactly?

If she would do literally everything Trump is doing now, how would that be worse?

And more importantly, would nothing else matter?

So she’s as bad as Trump on Palestine. How about ICE? Would she have signed a bill to give them $75 billion more in funding?

Would she be opening detention centers all over the country?

Would she be letting agents get away with murdering people?

How about Medicaid and Medicare and ACA?

Would she have signed a bill to cut their funding?

Would the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have disbanded cause they lost all funding?

And elections. Would she be trying to pass a bill to make it harder for people, especially women to vote?

Would she be putting an additional 50% tariff on all goods from Canada for daring to have a wildfire that brought smoke to the US?

Would she have stopped FEMA from helping places recover from natural disasters that didn’t vote for her?

I could keep going and going and going.

If she would have been exactly as bad on Palestine as Trump, then how was it the right thing to help him take office?

Because no matter how bad you think she would have been on Palestine, these things matter too, right?

Healthcare is important, non-state media is important, elections are important, protecting immigrants is important, right?

When I say “vote blue no matter who” this is the only thing I’m talking about. I’m saying these things matter. I’m saying no matter how bad a given Democrat is, they are united against these things, and more.

Isn’t that enough?

Perfection doesn’t exist, but progress does.

Ignoring these things isn’t going to make that progress happen. In fact it’s going to make perfection even further out of reach.

I know this little essay won’t be seen by the people who need to see it most, but I can only hope it makes those who are on the fence, those who thought the logic made sense but didn’t think to hard about it, really think.

We have a chance to begin to heal democracy in November. But that just can’t happen if we won’t settle for anything other than perfection.

Vote for whoever you want in the primary, but in the general, it’s gotta be the Democrat (except in certain circumstances like Nebraska Senator, but if you have one of those, you know who you are.)

Your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower. Don’t use your voice to say you’re okay with what’s happening now if the alternative isn’t everything you ever hoped and dreamed.

And, if, hopefully when, Dems take back power, they’re gonna have to reverse the damage Republicans created before they can focus on making things better. They’re not gonna make progress at the speed you want, but that doesn’t mean voting for them was the wrong choice.

Please understand that, I BEG you.

York, Pennsylvania

Thu, June 18 - The York Revolutions hosted Pride Night, unfortunately less than 9 players on the team were willing to wear the Pride Night jerseys so the team forfeited. This is one of, if not the first time, that has had to happen because of Pride Night.

But even though the players are homophobic, the team is not and they continued with Pride Night sans game.

They said:

To be clear; this action by the players is completely inconsistent with our vision as the Most Welcoming Place in York. As a small token of our regret for the last-minute change of plans and support for our LGBTQIA+ representing partners we are making a $10,000 donation to the Rainbow Rose Center to support and further their work in making sure the York community is as inclusive as we strive to make WellSpan Park in York, Pennsylvania.

Most players stayed home but first baseman, Jacob Teter, showed up anyway. He wore his Pride Night Jersey and signed anything people wanted him to sign:

I think representation matters. I think that this is a night for people who are often misrepresented or underrepresented to have a great time at the ballpark. And if somebody likes baseball, then me and that person already have something in common.

Being an organizer and making a statement are both very important, but sometimes, the most important thing you can do is just show up. I think we all need that reminder sometimes. Especially when it comes to our own actions.

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Norway

Fri, June 19 - The government has proposed a new law that would place sanctions on the Israeli settlements.

Epsen Barth Eidie, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said:

The Israeli settlements in Palestine are in breach of international law. They contribute to displacement, extreme violence and a situation that makes a peaceful solution impossible. We intend to prohibit trade with the unlawful settlements.

The press release specifies that this includes import and export of goods as well as real estate and that violators would be “subject to criminal liability.”

This is just a proposal for now, and public comment is open till Sept 19. So if you are Norwegian and can find the public comment link, cause I have been looking for the last five minutes and can’t find it, let them know how you feel before the deadline.

Personally I really appreciate this proposal, cause the settlements are horrific, and always have been, no matter how you look at it. For any chance of any sort of solution, the settlements have to end. Sanctioning like this is a great start, so I hope this proposal is successful. We’ll know soon, and I’ll keep you posted.

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Gilroy, California

Mon, July 13 - DHS has agreed to a voluntary stoppage on construction of their Gilroy detention center, that even still, they are insisting isn’t actually a detention center.

If it sounds like I’m giving them credit, don’t worry, I’m not. This agreement is because of a lawsuit from Attorney General Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County Counsel, Tony LoPresti.

The lawsuit argues that the land can only be used for farming: “that has limited the Holsclaw Property to agricultural uses since 1967.”

And that ICE gave no notice, which is against DHS’ own rules:

Defendants’ actions fly in the face of DHS’s own guidance stating that agencies must “schedule sufficient time and make diligent efforts to ensure that potentially interested parties are identified and notified and have an opportunity to provide input in a manner that could have a practical influence on proposed DHS actions before decisions are made.”

DHS knew they couldn’t argue with that, so when Bonta and LoPresti filed a temporary injunction, they acted first.

DHS now has till Sept 30 to respond to the lawsuit, a month longer than they did before they agreed to stop work, and till August 12 for the injunction.

There’s still work to be done and there are still protests to have in order to stops this for good. This is a temporary work stoppage, but it was a masterful job by Bonta and LoPresti.

I hope these stories help remind you to keep fighting back!

If you made it to the end of this post, comment ⚾️ (a baseball)

Follow for more nuance, anti-doomerism and calls to action!

Turn on my notifications and subscribe to this newsletter so these stories come right to your inbox!

And join my group Election Day Is Every Tuesday, so you’re informed for every election, cause that’s how we start changing things

And remember, our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

Democrats can’t be fighting back, because if it wasn’t covered by your favorite political creator, it’s obviously not happening.

Considering the consequences to one’s actions is no longer okay. Sure the Member of Congress could go to jail and we’d lose a seat, but that doesn’t matter when them being arrested would be plastered all over social media.

There’s no middle ground anymore. There’s no room for measured approaches or consideration of all the facts.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is literally saying that he isn’t sure the Republican law forcing a special election for a vacant Senate seat doesn’t violate the state constitution.

He told Al Sharpton on Politics Nation a week ago:

[It] says I appoint all state officers when there’s a vacancy. The question is, does that apply to federal offices? Well, before there was ever a law in Kentucky on how this would work, multiple appointments were made by governors, assumingly under that provision.

That’s huge.

That’s Governor Beshear saying he’s going to go toe to toe with Republicans over something that most of us working in political journalism were very much considering settled.

He has a State Assembly and Senate with Republican supermajorities. They can pretty much do whatever they want. And yet, he’s ready to challenge that. He’s publicly and loudly saying he’s ready to challenge that.

And yet. All I see is people complaining that he’s not barging into McConnell’s hospital room demanding a nurse tell him exactly what’s on his chart. (exaggeration, but you get the point.)

It’s like if something isn’t performative enough, the actual action that is happening couldn’t matter less.

And this kind of thinking WILL cost us vital elections.

There is no such thing as the perfect candidate. The only candidate that is perfect to you, the only candidate that could ever say everything you want to hear and nothing you don’t, is literally you.

So barring you running for office, every single politican, yes, including Mayor Mamdani, is going to end up doing something you don’t fully agree with at some point.

It’s not a matter of “if,” it’s a matter of “when.”

So it’s important to take each thing that does go right, and that you do agree with, and celebrate it. If we are just waiting to be let down, that will happen 100% of the time.

Andy Beshear is one of the best Democrats we have — and that’s not even based on his policies, though, as an example he’s loudly pro trans in a state that very much isn’t.

Kentucky is very red, very very red, but even WITH his incredibly progressive policies, he’s still very popular in red Kentucky.

That is not someone we want to oust from office. That is someone we want to be around as long as possible.

People from Kentucky realize that. Most people on social media do not.

And those voices end up drowning out the Kentucky voters who are just begging people to stop treating him like the bad guy.

What he is doing with McConnell’s seat is HUGE. It’s a really big deal to go against a Republican super majority. I wish social media would celebrate it, instead of finding a way it’s not good enough.

This mob mentality isn’t good for anyone. Stop, for just a second, and think about if this is the best way to have an impact.

And if you come to the conclusion that it’s not, please focus on the Midterm, where we DO have a fantastic Dem candidate for McConnell’s seat named Charles Booker. If we put as much focus on him as people are currently putting on ragging on Beshear, he might just flip that seat.

If we keep going down this path, that’s not gonna happen.

So let’s get Booker elected, and celebrate what Beshear is already doing.

Who’s with me?

Missouri

Thu, June 18 - For the first time, a total abortion ban has been reversed.

Within two hours of the Dobbs ruling, Missouri had banned all abortions in the state. And even before that, medication abortions were banned under a restriction that required aborted tissue to be “submitted within five days to a board-eligible or certified pathologist for gross and histopathological examination.”

Which is just so gross.

Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang made the temporary injunction from 2024 that ended the restriction permanent. She wrote:

The Court in its previous preliminary injunction order noted that this would seemingly prohibit a physician from prescribing the medication after an in- person appointment and having the patient subsequently take the medication at home, or even in a medical facility in the presence of a nurse or other medical professional. The Court finds the language of this statute conflicts with the language of Amendment 3 and finds in favor of Plaintiffs.

And so, for the first time in 8 years, most abortions are 100% legal in Missouri.

And it’s all thanks to Amendment 3, The Right to Reproductive Freedom (RRF), which passed in 2024.

This still isn’t going to be easy though. There are two ballot measures this year to reverse this win.

Amendment 3….yeah I know, which would reverse RRF, and has an added anti-trans addition this time.

And Amendment 4 would make it significantly harder for a citizen led measure to get the votes needed to become law.

And as an added fun thing, Governor Mike Kehoe just signed a new law saying that committing infanticide would result in the death penalty for the provider.

For the record, infanticide is already very much illegal, but the wording of this new law is murky and it could make providers nervous to provide abortions in situations they are most needed, like the life of the person carrying the fetus or in fetal fatality cases.

But even with these attempts, Zhang’s ruling is going to make getting an abortion much safer for those who need it.

The fight isn’t over yet but this is a big win.

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Washington

Thu, June 18 - Meta has lost in court for a third time for their inability to disclose 822 political ads on Facebook during the 2020 election.

This time in the Washington State Supreme Court. The nine justices were evenly split three ways as to how much Meta must pay in penalties (three thought the lower court had the right amount, three thought it was right right amount in theory but still asking too much of a company, and three thought it should be less.)

Justice Helen Whitener wrote for the lead opinion (the one agreeing with the lower court ruling):

Here, the court faced a willful repeat offender with vast resources that conceded it is able to comply with FCPA requests but chose not to provide nonspeculative reasons for its decision not to do so.

And, because of the stalemate, the Appeals Court ruling from 2022 stands and Meta was ordered to pay $24.6 million plus attorney fees, coming out to $35m.

According to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission this penalty is “believed to be the largest ever imposed for campaign finance violations in United States history.”

With everything going on in this country right now in terms of elections and voting, this is monumental and incredibly encouraging.

Meta can’t get away with campaign finance violations now matter how big they are and how many times they try to fight it.

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Antrim County, Michigan

Mon, July 6 - On Fri June 12, Antrim County Clerk, Victoria Bishop, has had her access to the county’s Qualified Voter Files (QVF) revoked after she began altering voter rolls earlier this year.

Jonathan Brater, Director for Bureau of Elections sent her a letter stating:

A review of your QVF activity indicates that you were not identifying deceased individuals for city/township clerk review…but rather making other changes to QVF records that county clerks are not authorized to complete except at the request of the city or township clerk.

This was the third time Brater has tried to get her to stop these actions.

Antrim was a breeding ground for Trump’s stolen election claims because of a tabulation error that had Biden winning the county. The error was fixed in days, but it provided a great jumping off point for Trump and his lies. And gave Bishop the perfect opportunity to run for clerk in 2024.

Michigan was already frustrated with this situation, but now, voters are too.

On July 6, a petition was filed to get Bishop recalled.

This Friday, the Board of State Canvassers will determine if the recall efforts can go forward or not. But based on everything leading up to this point, and especially the harshness of Brater’s letter, I think chances are high.

This is a very red area, but even the vast majority of Republicans aren’t thrilled with their voter registration being messed with.

I’m so glad she’s not just able to get away with this, as I’m expecting many would assume she could.

And in this critical election year, that’s important to see.

So those are today’s stories. These are all great reminders that Republicans and billionaires try to have control, but we still have the law on our side, and they lose that way a whole lot.

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Never forget that our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

Arizona is a very purple state and this is the moment voters have a chance to really change things for the better. In Marana, Chandler and Mesa especially. And then South Tuscon progressives are facing some pretty heavy opposition from Republicans.

There’s so much at stake in Arizona, so I hope, if you are registered there, that this guide can help. Cause we gotta make sure we vote in every single election and take back this country one race at a time.

As always, we begin with…

EARLY VOTING:

Guam 8/1 — Midterm Primary (MP) — Early in person (EIP) thru 7/25
MI 8/4 — MP — EIP 7/25-8/2
MN 8/11 — MP — EIP thru 8/10
MO 8/4 — MP — EIP thru 8/3
OH 8/4 — Special Election — EIP thru 8/2
TN 8/6 — MP — EIP thru 8/1
VT 8/11 — MP — EIP thru 8/10
VA 8/4 — MP — EIP thru 8/1
WA 8/4 — MP — ballots have been mailed out — EIP thru 8/3
WY 8/18 — MP — EIP thru 8/17

July 21

Arizona

Statewide Primary

AZ Clean Elections Voter Guide

Ballot Ready Voter Guide

Progressive Voters Guide

Pima County

Luminaria - Pima County Voter Guide

• Justice of the Peace

  • Precinct 3

    Juanita Escalante DEM

    Sara Williams Incumbent DEM

  • Precinct 6

    Morgan Miholich DEM

    David Miller DEM Incumbent

  • Precinct 7

    Raymond Carroll REP Incumbent

    Kara Egbert REP

  • Precinct 8

    Kristel Foster DEM Incumbent

    William Parven REP

• Constable

  • Precinct 3

    Letitia Martin DEM

    Eric Krznarich REP

• South Tucson Voter Guide

  • Council Member (3)

    Cesar Aguirre Incumbent

    Eduardo Baca

    Zeke Cook

    Christopher Dodson

    Debbie Federico

    Brian Flagg

    Diana Moreno-Sears

    Roxanna Valenzuela

• Marana

  Blue Voter Guide

  • Council Member (4)

    Herb Kai

    Jackie McGuire

    Teri Murphy

    John Officer

    Julie Prince

    Sue Ritz

  • Mayor

    Greg Johnsen

    Jon Post

• Oro Valley

  • Mayor

    Melanie Barrett

    Mark Napier

  • Council Member (3)

    Rosa Dailey

    Chris Desimone

    Jake Herrington

    Rhonda Pina

    Matt Wood

• Suhuarita

  • Council Member (3)

    JK Cubillo

    Robin Earl

    Chelsea Hundal

    Deborah Morales

    Tom Murphy

Maricopa County

Blue Voter Guide

• Justice of the Peace

  • El Centro Precinct

    Jennifer Hernandez Sama – DEM Incumbent

    Enrique Medina-Ochoa – DEM

• Chandler

  Blue Voter Guide

  • Mayor

    Jeff Weninger

    Matt Orlando

  • Councilmember (3) Candidate Guide

    Angel Encinas

    Cicely Rocha-Miller

    Jane Poston

    Joe Granado

    Lisa Askey

    Ron Hardin

  • Ballot Measure

    Resolution No. 5973

• Gilbert

  • Council member (4) – Candidate Article

    Chuck Bongiovanni incumbent

    Bobbi Buchli incumbent

    Joel Coen

    Beth Goulden

    Bus Obayomi

    Bill Spense

    Jim Torgeson incumbent

• Glendale

  • Councilmember

    • Barrell District

      Lisa Baker

      Michael Calles

    • Ocotillo District

      Leandro Baldenegro

      Rory Goree

• Mesa

  • Councilmember

    • 4^th District

      Ray Johnson Attorney Priorities: affordability, parks, downtown, events, safety, schools Endorsements: Mesa Police Association, Arizona Fraternal Order of Police

      Nick Willis Likely DEM Former State Senator Priorities: housing, first responders, walkable neighborhoods, transparent rate structures Endorsements: Chris Glover – former councilmember, Claudia Walters, David Luna – former councilmember, Jenn Duff – Councilwoman, Lacy Chaffee & Courtney Davis– Public Schools Board Members, Yasser Sanchez - Attorney

    • 5^th District

      Alicia Goforth Incumbent REP

      Danny Hart DEM Lawyer, substitute teacher, cancer survivor

• Scottsdale

  • City Council At-Large (3)

    Barry Graham – Incumbent Likely REP

    Solange Whitehead – Incumbent DEM Electrical engineer, conservationist Priorities: short term rentals, conserving water, preserving Old Town, noise ordinances, infrastructure, budget, environmental protections, anti-discrimination Endorsements: Maryann McAllen – Councilwoman, Sonnie Kirtley – community leader, Carla – Preserve Pioneer, Budget Review Commissioner

    Crystal Carroll Likely REP

    Ethan Knowlden DEM Financial Analyst Lawyer, President of DC Ranch Community Council, Priorities: limit development, transportation, first responders, water supply, protect the Preserve, wildfire risk Endorsements: Police Association, Maryann McAllen – Councilwoman, Herb Baum – WWII Veteran, Scottsdale Realtors, Lauren Kuby – AZ State Senator

    Bob Littlefield REP

    Eric Sloan REP

    Michelle Ugenti-Rita REP

    Raoul Zubia DEM Human Service Commissioner, Vice Chair of Protect and Preserve Scottsdale Task Force, President of Partners for Paiute. Priorities: short term rentals, local control, shade, tree cover, water supplies, signal timing, bike lanes, senior mobility, crisis response teams Endorsements: Scottsdale firefighters, Scottsdale Women Rising, Deb Gullett - former State Rep (R-LD11), John Ainlay, Donna Lewis – Unified Governing Board Member, Maryann McAllen - Councilwoman

    ---

I hope, if you’re registered in Arizona and vote on Election Day or know someone who is, that this guide helped!

Remember your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower, but only when you use it!

This is the phrase Mark Warner kept using in our briefing this morning.

We have to make the claims seem ridiculous NOW so he can’t use them after the fact.

We need to be on offense and get ahead of his messaging before he even starts spreading it.

Last night we got a taste of that messaging.

His whole goal is to get people to distrust voting. Whether he can convince them through foreign interference claims or domestic interference claims, he’ll try it all.

So here are some things to note.

First, the only presidential election he’s claiming was stolen was the one HE was in charge of. It was his people who were in charge of making that a safe, free and fair election, and actually, thanks to Russian interference in 2016, it was one of the safest.

During Trump’s first term, Mark Warner co-led the Russia Investigation along with Republican Richard Burr. The findings from that investigation strengthened our elections. All these tools that were created under Trump then, he is trying to dismantle now.

That is the most important point. He did all this. This was all 100% with his supervision.

Second, the job of the Election Assistance Commission, which no longer has a quorum or any members for that matter, was to focus on election security.

One way they did this was through yearly hackathons through a program called Voting Village. Hackers would hack into our voting machines so that we could find every possible loophole and patch it before the election took place.

With the empty EAC, those are no longer happening. So Trump might say he cares about election security, but he’s taking away the very tools that keep elections secure in the first place.

And this isn’t news, we know he doesn’t actually care about election security. He wants elections less secure not more.

But he’s warped the brains of his followers so they don’t see it. It’s on us to show them.

And that’s easier than you think. This argument is pretty powerful no matter who you voted for. This isn’t about his policies. This is purely about safe and secure elections. Most people, when they hear it in these terms, don’t want Trump’s or foreign interference, even if they voted for him.

But most people reading this essay, or that will talk to people who read it, know that. We know Trump is corrupt, we know he is trying to make elections less secure, this isn’t a useful argument for us.

So, what’s the prebuttal for our communities?

We must vote.

Not voting helps Trump just as much as falling for his election security lie. As Senator Warner said today “if you want to follow his expectations and do his bidding, then don’t vote.” It’s really that simple.

He knows that with a big enough turnout against him and Republicans, it doesn’t really matter what he does, he WILL lose. That’s why he’s doing this.

So that means voting in every single district, in every single race, even if you think it doesn’t matter.

That means holding your nose and voting for the Dem on your ballot even if they don’t meet your needs.

That means voting early, if you can, cause most of his shenanigans will be on Election Day. He tries to mess with early voting before the fact, but once it starts he pretty much leaves it alone.

It means signing up to be a poll worker if you are able.

It means that red state Dems need to hold your elected officials accountable. Don’t stop shitting on them if they hand over their voter rolls to DHS and pressure them not to if they haven’t already.

It means looking up who the Dems are running for Secretary of State and Attorney General in your state and lifting them up as much as possible.

I’ll leave you with one other thing Warner said: “If we allow the president to steal it, shame on us.”

Your vote and your voice is your superpower, but only when you use it. So prebut the hell out of these ridiculous arguments and let’s save democracy!

Who’s with me?

Montana

Tue, June 16 - The Montana Plan has surpassed enough signatures to get on the November ballot.

This measure would “curb election spending by “artificial persons,” eliminate anonymous money, and put Montanans’ voices back at the center of our democracy,” according to their website.

Essentially, The Montana Plan is an attempt to circumvent Citizens United in the state. Or more like, bring back their old laws. Back in 1912, Montana passed the Corrupt Practices Act which banned corporations from being treated as individuals in elections, but it was ruled unconstitutional 100 years later thanks to Citizens United.

Now, of course, there is very little chance that SCOTUS will okay this plan if it goes into effect, but, like with most things, the goal is to get people angry enough that they act.

Rick Hansen, of the Election Law Blog explained:

There is a political benefit in pushing such a measure and in galvanizing public support against the Supreme Court’s damaging approach to issues of money in politics. . . .

Passing such a measure and having the Court strike it down is a way of reminding the public that the Supreme Court is the entity standing in the way of achieving a fair balance between robust political competition and not allowing the ultra-wealthy to have disproportionate political power in society.

So even though this has very little chance of staying law, if it becomes law, I think it’s still incredibly worth while and it’s very exciting that they managed to get almost 50k signatures, well over the 30k threshold in their very short 13 week time frame with only grassroots organizing and volunteers.

The more angry we can get people at the Supreme Court, the better, in my view.

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Social Circle, Georgia

Thu, June 18 - Back in June, DHS announced that they were scrapping several new detention centers, and one of these was in Social Circle.

This detention center had been in the news, mostly because, in a town of 5k that voted 73% for Trump, and pretty much unanimously rebuked this center.

City Manager Eric Taylor said:

The feedback from the very beginning was that the community didn’t want it, and this community was unified against it.

The biggest concern is that we don’t actually know why this was canceled, and DHS hasn’t communicated with Taylor or anyone in the local government about it at all. But it was, so we’ll take the win.

And as usual, this was only possible because of the work put in, especially by local Indivisible group Boldly Blue, to make it possible.

Member Gereth Fenley said:

It’s a joyous day in showing that sometimes the little guy can win against the really big federal government.

And that’s exactly what happened. This small town was able to come together and convince DHS, at least for the time being, that they aren’t welcome.

As Senator Raphael Warnock said in a statement about Social Circle and Oakwood, another town that also had their center scrapped:

When we stand up and speak out, the power of the people is more powerful than the people in power.

And that’s true across the entire country. If we keep fighting back, they can’t win.

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Box Elder County, Utah

Tue, June 23 - Two Republican County Commissioners were not reelected thanks to their support of the massive Kevin O’Leary Data Center.

Boyd Bingham was ousted by Vance Smith with 52% of the vote. Smith will go on to face Alan Williams in the general.

Meanwhile Lee Perry lost to Nathan Tueller with 53% of the vote, and Tueller will be unopposed in the general.

Before the election Bingham posted in a since deleted Facebook post that his hands were tied, and he had no choice but to support the gargantuan center:

We approved a project area that if we had voted no to, would have brought lawsuits that our county would lose. Taxpayer dollars would have been spent, not insurance money since we had no legal basis to stand on for a no vote.

But Perry argued, after the election that if he had known this would cost him reelection, he might have handled it differently if he could go back:

I wouldn’t vote differently, but I would push back against the state and make them come out publicly and tell everybody why they’re forcing it down our throat.

Good lesson for any elected official considering just going along with data centers.

And, as always, this just proves that voting, in every election, no matter how small, is one of the most important things we can do.

So those are today’s stories. I hope you learned something and it makes you ready to find your place to fight back!

Remember our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

Follow for more nuance, anti-doomerism content and calls to action!

Turn on my notifications and subscribe to this newsletter so these stories come right to your inbox!

And join my group Election Day Is Every Tuesday, so you’re informed for every election, cause that’s how we start changing things

If you made it to the end of this post, comment with 🦈 (a shark [tank]) cause, last I checked, sharks are not part of the Utah ecosystem.

And I just have to be okay with that. Cause, at the very least, all this information needs to be available in one place for someone to reference.

We have to talk about Lindsey Graham.

Graham was the last surviving member of the Three Amigos, one of the closest groups of friends in DC. They consisted of, former Democrat and Vice Presidential nominee, Joe Lieberman, Former Presidential nominee, John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

They did everything together, not just in the Senate, but in life too.

In an interview with the Kunhardt Film Foundation in 2017, Lieberman said:

I mean it’s such a—the three of us are so diverse in the states we come from, Connecticut, South Carolina, Arizona, our religious backgrounds, our life experiences, and yet we hold some values and policies in common and it drew us together. We also I think just enjoyed each other’s company.

This isn’t me saying that Graham was a good person when he died, or that you should mourn his death, but to hopefully explain why some Democrats are, and why that’s not the worst thing to happen this week, by a long shot.

Graham was a deal maker. He was the Republican that Democrats interacted with the most.

Dick Durbin explained to the Guardian:

Lindsey was part of every important policy issue and an indispensable player in every Senate ‘gang’. He was a fierce Republican partisan one day and a key bipartisan ally the next.

And I keep bringing up Ukraine because that was one issue he fought tirelessly in support of on our side. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, to PBS, I believe, that he “was here with our people when it was most needed. Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.”

Graham abandoned most of his values in favor of not getting on Trump’s bad side, but Ukraine was one he wouldn’t budge on. And he is the ONLY reason the US is still their ally at all.

When we simplify Graham to the most evil person to ever be evil, there’s a lot of context missing. And I personally don’t think it’s helpful. ESPECIALLY when it has become another excuse to shit on elected Democrats.

Don’t get me wrong, he was pretty terrible at the end, yes, I promise, even with this whole essay, I still feel that way.

As Dan Baer, a former State Department official under President Barack Obama told PBS, “His moral flexibility over the last few years has been disappointing to many who saw him as a principled patriot.”

That’s a cult for you. Kroenig added in that same article, “As a good politician, he recognized Trump commanded the Republican Party and the Republican base and if you tried to work against him you'd get nothing done."

I wonder who Graham would have been in the end if Trump wasn’t a cult leader. It’s honestly sad to think about.

So hate him, I do.

But also understand that most elected Democrats probably don’t.

He was the main person that gave them any shot of ever getting through to Trump on anything, and sometimes, like with Ukraine, he succeeded.

Doesn’t mean that he didn’t cause immeasurable harm.

He did.

There are many communities that he really harmed. And even though many insist he was just playing the game, that doesn’t excuse what he did in the name of that game. It is never okay to diminish the harm someone caused in favor of moderating their views. But knowing the full picture is important too.

And speaking of the full picture, the most normal thing Trump has ever done was demand that South Carolina Governor, Henry McMaster to appoint Graham’s sister, Darlene Graham Nordone to his Senate seat.

That’s very normal. It’s usually a spouse or child, as they know their family member and their values best. And yes Nordone was his sister, but he was also her guardian. He raised her after their parents died when he was 22 and she was 13. So it’s more like his child replaced him than his sister.

And if she decides to run for his seat for the special primary? She hasn’t given any indication that she wants to, but that’s normal too. Rep Adelita Grijalva won the special election to replace her dad when he died in 2025. Rep Debbie Dingell replaced her husband when he retired in 2014. It’s normal.

And finally, for the love of god, stop mentioning Stephen Colbert. Republicans have a special primary. We do not. We have the incredible Dr. Annie Andrews running for Senate. Lift her up. Talk about her. Don’t diminish her by talking about Colbert. We need her to be as strong as possible.

I was not a fan of Lindsey Graham, but there’s some nuance here that many spent the weekend refusing to acknowledge. I hope this changes that.

And remember, your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower, but ONLY when you use it!

Reno, Nevada

Mon, June 1 - What started as a 30 day data center moratorium back in May, became a data center moratorium till August 2027 after a 9 hour special city council meeting that mostly consisted of public comment against data centers.

The most important name you need to know here is Councilmember Meghan Ebert, who, like many her colleagues is running for reelection this year.

While this extended moratorium was introduced by Council Member Devon Reese, it was Ebert who made sure the decision included language explicitly stating that the moratorium cannot end until there are actual regulations in place.

She is also concerned that Reese is only doing this because he is running for Mayor and that he will immediately flip on this if he wins. She told Nevada Current:

My community does not have trust that this body will follow through on any promises. So I need to have something in code, and I need to show my community that they will be protected, and that this isn’t a political stunt

And it’s important to mention one other player, Councilmember Kathleen Taylor, who was not just against the August 2027 moratorium but also the only member of the city council who voted against the original 30 day moratorium. And she’s also running for mayor.

And, the one negative, the smaller data centers that are already in progress, will still be completed. Which sucks, but those larger ones really won’t be happening anytime soon.

So this is a reminder of the power of a good elected official, and of fighting back against injustice. I can almost guarantee you, no moratorium would have happened at all without people fighting back.

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Chelmsford, England

Fri, June 12 - Chelmsford is a city in Essex and on June 20, Essex held their Pride parade. Leading up to that, the city council commissioned several artists to draw queer art across the city in shop windows.

Some of it was TERF friendly, as in, it didn’t mention trans people, and some of it very much wasn’t.

Hayley Wells painted “There is no LGB without the T” on Toast, a local coffee house.

And Bucky Ringsell drew a tiger with top surgery scars that said “Proud of my Stripes” inside the local Lush store window.

Of course, terfs were outraged by Ringsell’s design. As far as I can tell, the only thing Chlemsford did to quiet them was remove Rigsell’s design from their Facebook posts showcasing the murals. I’ve seen nothing to suggest it was actually removed in person.

And Ringsell even posted on Instagram:

The mural is part of a city-wide Pride campaign. I designed and painted this tiger to support and represent trans folks who have undergone top surgery
— myself included. Being proud of your scars (aka stripes) is something everyone can take inspiration from, regardless of your journey.

Would I love if Chlemsford City Council hadn’t removed the photo from their Facebook page? Yes, of course. But if that’s all they did, and the artwork was still up in person, that’s still a very loud statement, especially in England. And that matters.

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Kentucky

Mon, June 15 - Instead of focusing on something Governor Andy Beshear has no control over, let’s focus on something he does.

Ahead of Juneteenth, he signed an executive order creating the Freedom Trails Pardon List. This pardons 43 people and counting who had been criminalized for helping free those enduring enslavement in the 1800s.

He signed the order with Rev. Andrew Baskin, professor emeritus, specifically in the African and African American Studies department at Berea College and James Prichard, a historian focusing on Kentucky during the Civil War Era.

As he was signing it, he explained to the girl standing next to him, who I can only assume is Baskin’s daughter:

We get to make a pretty loud statement that what they did was right, they shouldn’t have been prosecuted for it, and while we can’t go back in time and change that, we can certainly recognize their actions as heroic today.

This is not a complete list either. Beshear wants to pardon everyone he can. So if you know someone or have a family member who should be on this list, you can email the governor at FreedomTrailPardons@ky.gov.

This is an ongoing process, and, as Prichard said during the signing, at a time:

when there seems to be an effort to sanitize our past, that this part of our history is no longer swept under the rug and becomes a part of Kentucky’s soil.

That’s what makes this story so incredibly powerful. Not just that Beshear is doing this at all, but that he’s doing this when the federal government wishes he was doing literally anything else.

I hope these stories invigorate you and make it easier for you to fight back! Remember, our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

Follow for more nuanced anti-doomerism content and calls to action!

Turn on my notifications and subscribe so these stories come right to your inbox!

And join my group Election Day Is Every Tuesday, so you’re informed for every election, cause that’s how we start changing things

And if you read to the end, comment 🐯(a tiger) cause I can’t get enough of that window art.

I can’t believe I still have to say that, but I do.

So let me say it again.

There WILL be midterms.

And Democrats are working around the clock to make sure they are as fair and free as they possibly can be — given that Republicans are trying to make it harder and harder to vote every single day, and they weren’t exactly fair or free with the voter suppression and disenfranchisement already in place.

But your expertise is probably not in election law, and you’re probably not in the room when our incredible Dems, on elections task forces across various offices, are running their drills.

That’s okay. They have that part handled, we have different jobs.

And one of the most important one is becoming a poll worker.

Poll workers who care about fair and free elections are how we keep our democracy intact.

Trump and Republicans know this, which is why they keep attacking these civilian volunteers.

Poll workers are your neighbors, your colleagues, and hopefully you.

You can become a poll worker to help keep this election season safe and it is the absolute best way for a regular American, who isn’t a government official, to do so.

Poll workers are needed for early voting, on Election Day and for tabulation.

You get a small stipend, so it’s great for anyone who is out of work or working part time. And it is the most hands on way to protect democracy.

Most poll workers are older women, so the younger you are, the better. We need to show that democracy includes everyone. In Georgia and Idaho, you can become a poll worker at 16. And most states have youth programs.

But no matter where you are, if your state uses volunteers, you can be a poll worker as soon as you register to vote.

Signing up is really easy, just go to Power To The Polls.

Republicans are trying to recruit their own poll workers who don’t want to make elections fair or free, so we gotta take this seriously.

And if you can’t sign up, send this to someone who can.

We all keep talking about protecting democracy, but this is a tangible action many of us can take.

Remember, your voice is your superpower, and becoming a poll worker is absolutely using that voice.

South Carolina

Thu, June 11 - Trump cannot get rid of any grant he wants, as much as he’s gonna keep trying. He loses cases over and over again.

This one is about the environment.

Obama appointee, Judge Richard Gergel ruled that the EPA must restore the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program.

The grant was created as part of the Inflation Reduction Act and awards funding to community organizations and groups working to mitigate the climate crisis, and protect their community from its effects. You can see why Trump would hate that.

In his ruling, Judge Gergel said:

To reiterate, the President and federal agencies may not ignore statutory mandates or prohibitions merely because of policy disagreement with Congress.

Even though it feels like Biden’s legacy is being destroyed, it’s nice to see that, at least for now, this part isn’t.

As Southern Environmental Law Center said in their press release:

The ruling sends a clear message: no administration is above the law, and the White House’s political agenda cannot be used to deny communities the resources they were promised and sorely need.

And THAT gives me hope.

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St Johns County, Florida

Mon, June 15 - Shepard Sclaf was just starting his first year of teaching in St Johns County School District when he was fired for being intersex.

The school had their hands tied and had to let him go based on a decision from the district, who never even told him why he was fired. He only learned after the fact that it was because a parent accused him of being trans. He was assigned female at birth, and it was on his employment papers but now identifies as male and the school had easily respected that. But the district didn’t care. One parent’s complaint was enough.

Now ACLU and ACLU Florida have filed a charges of discrimination against the school district to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission demanding he get his job back.

They said that the school’s “actions were deliberate and discriminatory based on its perception that Mr. Scalf is transgender” and is “a direct violation of his rights under Title VII”

Obviously, given that this is going to the US anything, I’m a bit skeptical Scalf and the ACLU will win, but I’m sure if they don’t, this will go straight to court.

And remember, half the battle is just making sure we keep fighting even when it doesn’t feel very likely we will succeed.

Every single time we choose fight should give you hope, regardless of the outcome.

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Cleveland, Ohio

Thu, June 25 - “Not With Our Money” is a massive boycott around the country to withdraw all funds from Citizens Bank because they fund GEO Group and CoreCivic.

In early June, Jersey City, New Jersey became the first city to stop working with them.

In late June the Greater Cleveland Congregation, a group of 37 communities of worship around Cleveland, Ohio pledged to withdraw $1.3m from the bank.

In their press release, the group said:

Our message to Citizens Bank was clear: stop financing CoreCivic and GEO Group, the private companies running ICE detention centers across the country — including one holding 500 people right now in Youngstown. 

This is how change happens. When a bunch of groups are very loud and say no, change happens.

I have confidence Citizens Bank will soon realize that they cannot keep operating if they continue to finance ICE detention centers. If they do, they will just keep losing customers.

I hope to have an update saying as such soon!

So those are today’s stories. I hope they brought you some inspiration.

If these made you wanna fight harder, comment 🏧 (ATM) cause hopefully, soon, no one will be using Citizens Bank’s.

Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!

This is a video, but if you don’t wanna watch me yap, that’s okay, you can just read the transcript below, so it’s like a regular post instead. (but please at least play the video, you don’t have to watch, just…

Read more

Some days I am reminded of how lucky I am to do the job I do and have the friends I have.

This was one of those days.

Amanda saw a problem and with her friends and she created the solution.

We MUST make gains in the South before the 2030 census changes the congressional map. And that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Check out our full interview below!

If you watched the whole interview comment with 🍑 (a peach) cause Georgia is in the South and it’s the best I could think of off the top of my head.

Also, exciting update! I’m starting to put posts like this (everything other than We’re NOT Doomed and Election Day is Every Tuesday) behind a paywall (they’ll still be available on all other platforms!) So if you want to make sure you still get emails for these kinds of posts, please get a paid subscription to my newsletter. You’ll also get access to my Discord and discounts to my upcoming merch!

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