We're NOT Doomed: April 15, 2026
Fighting back doesn't work EVERY time, but it does more than you're seeing.
If California had a regular schmegular primary, I would publicly endorse Tony Thurmond. I’m not gonna tell you why, because, we don’t. We have a jungle primary system and too many Democrats running that we run an actual risk of two Republicans going to the general election.
That’s because of our stupid dangerous Jungle Primary system.
It is not called that as a compliment. A Jungle Primary is a non partisan race, where every candidate runs together: Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, EVERYONE. And it’s chaotic, like a jungle (not that jungles are actually chaotic but, you know what I mean)
There are eight Democrats and two Republicans, and yes Swalwell is still going to be one of those 8, because the candidate filing period ended last month.
Tony Thurmond is nowhere near the top 3, so for the sake of California not having a MAGA governor, I’m not voting for him.
In fact, I don’t know who I’m voting for. That doesn’t mean I’m waiting to endorse. I’m quite literally voting 9 days before Election Day (something I NEVER do) for whichever Democrat has the highest polling numbers.
And I hope you will do the same.
That means you can’t care about how much of a billionaire or how little experience Tom Steyer has, or how hard Katie Porter is to work with or that she actually accused a fellow Dem of rigging an election against her, or that Becerra doesn’t have a history of being super great on criminal justice.
If we don’t like the highest polling candidate, we will hold our noses and vote for them anyway because, Steyer, Porter and Becerra are all lightyears better than Hilton or Bianco.
California does not have write-in candidates in the gubernatorial general election. If Hilton and Bianco go to the general, that’s it.
We can likely easily recall them, but how much damage will they be able to do in the meantime? You have to have a reason to recall from their time in office and then get the necessary signatures and then set an election date and vote. That’s a few months, at least. That’s not a plan.
We have one shot at this and that starts when we receive our primary ballots at the beginning of May.
So, I implore you, consider waiting to vote. Not till Election Day, if there are gonna be shenanigans those will be on Election Day, but maybe a 1-2 weeks before?
Even though Swalwell has dropped out, remember, he is on the ballot, so, he IS going to take votes from a more deserving candidate. And while Yee, Thurmond Mahan, and Villaraigosa are polling super low, they will siphon some votes as well.
Enough to keep a Dem off the general election ballot? I don’t know, but I do know we REALLY can’t risk it. The Republicans are both BAD news.
Chad Bianco is the current Riverside Sheriff and he’s trying to do an election probe into the ballots he gathered in 2025, because of imaginary fraud that doesn’t exist.
Steve Hilton has “protect parental rights” on his website, and we’re all smart enough to know what that means without him including the words “trans,” and “gay,” right? We’ve seen the school board votes? Not to mention, he literally has Trump’s endorsement.
So let’s not even risk it. You can have your favorite Dem, that’s fine, but I’m endorsing “wait to vote and then vote for the highest polling Dem candidate.”
We can’t mess around. We have to do everything in our power to keep the general election from being two Republicans against each other.
Who’s with me?
National
Mon, March 23 - A group of election lawyers, from both sides have launched the Bipartisan American Election Project. This project is simply about protecting elections and the democratic process.
The press release states:
Chief among the principles and norms that BAEP was formed to uphold and defend are the professional, nonpartisan conduct of elections, the testing of outcomes in close races through the procedures provided by state laws, such as recount, contests and litigation, and the acceptance of the results.
It continues:
BAEP will intervene at the federal, state, and local levels through public communications, filings with administrators, and participation in judicial proceedings, including amicus curiae briefs.
I think that second part is especially important. They will get involved in every way they possibly can when they hear about something fishy.
People constantly say, all over my feeds, that we’re not gonna have elections, there will be no midterms, it’s a lost cause, etc.
But the more of this we have, the more that’s just not true. While you are panicking, the people who have the expertise are working to make sure we do have elections and they are fair and safe.
MAGA is gonna try to make the elections go in their favor through any means necessary, but the election experts have thought of all contingency plans and are ready.
That matters. And that makes me feel less Doomed!
Wisconsin
Mon, March 30 - Republicans in the legislature passed a bill that would add Wisconsin to the states participating in the National School Voucher program outlined in the Big Ugly Bill.
Governor Evers, a former educator, at all levels of the education system, announced he was vetoing it “in its entirety. He wrote:
Public funds should go to public schools. Period. Proponents of this nationwide voucher expansion have implored me to support and opt into this program, insisting the program will benefit public school students, families, and schools, too.
This is why it’s important to have elected officials who have previously had careers in a variety of industries. Many people, especially Democrats know how bad school vouchers are, but a former teacher is uniquely qualified to break it down.
Only a former teachers has the experience to say:
As a former science teacher, principal, superintendent, state superintendent, and a son of the state that created the nation’s first-ever private school voucher program, I have spent decades of my life watching the impacts that draining public funds from public schools to fund private voucher school programs instead has had on kids, schools, and public education in Wisconsin.
There’s power in that. He’s not just vetoing it because it’s the right thing to do, but also because his personal experience has shown that fact over and over again.
And I feel less Doomed seeing a veto like this, hopefully you do too.
Boston, Massachusetts
Mon, April 8 - In March, Boston University demanded pride flags be removed from public spaces, because it could be seen as not being fair or respectful to bigots (actually they said not being “content neutral,” but, ya know, same thing.)
On March 16, dozens of faculty members decried the decision in a letter to the school. On April 2, there was a rally outside of President Melissa Gilliam’s office against the decision. And all this noise paid off.
On Mon, April 8, Gilliam wrote a letter to staff, faculty, teachers and students putting a “pause” on the decision.
She wrote:
In this moment, however, it is critical that we can hold these matters separate. One is a discussion about a policy; the other is a discussion about our core values and respect for members of our community. I am troubled that they became conflated. It signals to me that we need more time and opportunity to consider these matters.
Oh yeah, super hard to conflate them when you make teachers and staff and students remove pride flags, or in the case of Professor Nathan Phillips, remove it for him.
Naturally, Terrier Courage, who are leading the charge against this policy are celebrating the win but fighting for a change in policy not just a pause:
We call for a revised posting policy, applicable to students, faculty, and staff, that permits the display of signs, banners, flags, or posters on doors, windows, and walls of individual offices, residential bedrooms, or private work areas regardless of whether any such item may be visible from outside of the space in which it appears.
Even though this is only a pause, it’s still an incredibly important reminder of our power. If the university community had stayed silent, this policy would have stayed in place as is. Instead, it’s being reevaluated and will hopefully result in a better outcome for all.
WE are why we’re not Doomed. Stories like this. Not taking no for an answer.
So I hope that this post helped you feel like you can’t give up and we must continue to fight back, cause it works so much more often than you are seeing!
Remember, our voices are our superpower, but ONLY when we use them!