Tag: 2018

Re-elect Washington, D.C. Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, Because She is Awesome (Good Update July 2019)
Candidates · Choose Your Core Four

Re-elect Washington, D.C. Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, Because She is Awesome (Good Update July 2019)

otycd

Update July 2019: Democrat Norton, the longtime incumbent, won re-election in 2018.

 

She next faces re-election in two years. Please keep her in mind when choosing your Core Four for 2020.

 

Re-elect Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, Congresswoman for the District of Columbia, because she is awesome.

 

Norton is in her fourteenth Congressional term. Because she represents the District of Columbia, she is a non-voting member of the House, which means she cannot join votes on the floor of the House. This does not stop her from being awesome and fierce. She serves on several House committees and can speak on the House floor.

 

She continues to pursue legislation that would give Washington, D.C. a vote in the House of Representatives. She belongs to the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus.

 

 

If you’re thinking, “I know she’s awesome, but I can’t remember how I know that,” let us refresh your memory. You saw her on The Colbert Report back in the day:

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/6quypd/the-colbert-report-better-know-a-district—district-of-columbia—eleanor-holmes-norton

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/zf1m9m/the-colbert-report-d-c–voting-rights—eleanor-holmes-norton

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/ez9npn/the-colbert-report-eleanor-holmes-norton

 

Yeah. Give her support and campaign donations, please.

 

 

See Norton’s Congressional webpage:

https://norton.house.gov

 

 

See Norton’s 2018 campaign website:

http://www.nortonforcongress.org/home.html

 

 

Donate to Norton’s campaign:

http://www.nortonforcongress.org/donation.html

 

 

Choose her for your Core Four:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Like her on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CongresswomanNorton/?ref=s

 

 

Follow her on Twitter:

@EleanorNorton

 

 

Norton appears on Luvvie’s list of black woman candidates running for office in 2018. See Luvvie’s full list and our post about the list:

http://database.blackwomeninpolitics.com/candidate/custom?q=federal

https://onethingyoucando.com/2018/01/13/look-over-luvvies-list-of-black-women-who-are-running-for-office-and-support-them/

Re-elect Democrat Seth Moulton, House Rep for Massachusetts’s 6th District (Mixed Update May 2019)
Candidates · Choose Your Core Four · Elections

Re-elect Democrat Seth Moulton, House Rep for Massachusetts’s 6th District (Mixed Update May 2019)

otycd

Update, May 11, 2019: Moulton successfully defended his seat in November 2018. He’ll be up again in 2020. Maybe consider him for your next Core Four.

 

But! But but but! He was among those who opposed re-electing Nancy Pelosi to the Democratic House leadership after the Dems won the house in the 2018 midterms, and he has since joined the crowded field of Democratic candidates running for president in 2020. Which, ugh. We are oversubscribed. No thank you, sir.

 

Help re-elect Seth Moulton, a Democrat who represents Massachusetts’s 6th District.

 

Moulton was first elected in 2014. He is a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and Harvard University, where he earned a bachelor’s in physics and an MBA as well as an MPA. Between his undergraduate years and graduate school, he served four tours in Iraq with the U.S Marine Corps.

 

While serving, he earned a Bronze Star as well as Navy and Marine Corps Commendations for his valor. He told no one about these awards, not even his parents. News of his decade-old heroism broke in October 2014, not long before he was first elected.

 

Moulton is a progressive who believes in legalizing marijuana. He supports same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, and better gun laws.

 

 

He also administered a nooice Twitter burn to President Trump over his mid-May 2017 complaints of being the subject of what he called “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”

Moulton won the Internet for the day when he countered:

As the Representative of Salem, MA, I can confirm that this is false.

 

 

Moulton won’t face any party competition in the September 4, 2018 primary, but there will be a Republican and a Libertarian running against him. The Cook Political Report rates the Massachusetts 6th District race as Solid Democrat.

 

 

See House Rep Seth Moulton’s homepage:

https://moulton.house.gov

 

 

Choose Seth Moulton for your Core Four:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Donate to Moulton’s campaign:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/moultonleadership-web

 

 

Like Moulton on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/RepMoulton/

 

 

Follow him on Twitter:

@sethmoulton

 

 

Moulton is endorsed by 314 Action, an organization devoted to electing more people with STEM backgrounds to office. See his page there:

http://www.314action.org/seth-moulton

 

 

See his Ballotpedia page:

https://ballotpedia.org/Seth_Moulton

 

 

Read about how Moulton downplayed his combat medals rather than making political hay from them:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/17/moulton-underplays-military-service/lY9FfmOrviwL2LAFHr61dO/story.html

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2014/10/18/mass-congressional-hopeful-seth-moulton-kept-his-military-awards-a-secret

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/reporter-exposes-candidates-secret-valor-345543235726

 

 

GOOD NEWS! Democrat Chrissy Houlahan WON the Race for Pennsylvania’s 6th District in 2018
Candidates · Choose Your Core Four · Elections

GOOD NEWS! Democrat Chrissy Houlahan WON the Race for Pennsylvania’s 6th District in 2018

otycd2 Comments

Update, March 24, 2018: Houlahan won the Pennsylvania 6th District seat on November 6, 2018, defeating Republican Greg McCauley with 58.9 percent of the vote to his 41.1 percent of the vote. Please consider her for your 2020 Core Four.

 

Update, May 26, 2018: Houlahan ran unopposed in the May 15 primary and will meet Republican Greg McCauley in the general election on November 6.

 

Support Chrissy Houlahan, a Democratic candidate for a house seat in Pennsylvania’s 6th District in 2018.

 

Houlahan is an Air Force veteran who earned her Stanford engineering degree by participating in ROTC. She later earned an M.S. in technology and policy from MIT. She’s been a COO for businesses as well as a nonprofit. She taught chemistry in Philadelphia. She’s the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and a naval officer, and the mother of two grown children. She was moved to run by the outcome of the November 2016 presidential election.

 

She believes health care, public safety, and public education are all basic rights, and she would legislate accordingly. She wants campaign finance reform. She’d fight climate change and attacks on scientific facts as well.

 

Houlahan is endorsed by 314 Action, a nonprofit that is devoted to promoting a pro-science agenda on all levels of government, and electing more candidates with STEM backgrounds to office. She’s also endorsed by Emily’s List, VoteVets.org, and End Citizens United, among others. She is committed to defending Planned Parenthood and would resist attempts to undermine Roe v Wade. She supports getting veterans what they need to transition to civilian life and treat their injuries.

 

The Democratic primary takes place on May 15, 2018. Two other Democrats are running against her. If Houlahan wins the primary, she would face Republican Ryan Costello, who is in his second term as a house rep.

 

Update March 25, 2018: Costello announced that he would retire from Congress. The candidate filing deadline passed on March 20, so it looks like Houlahan will face Republican Greg McCauley. The two other Democrats have since dropped out, so Houlahan will be the sole candidate on the primary ballot in May.

 

In 2016, Ballotpedia considered Pennsylvania’s 6th district race safely Republican. Costello won 57.2 percent of the vote to his Democratic challenger’s 42.8 percent.

 

 

Visit Chrissy Houlahan’s campaign website:

https://www.chrissyhoulahanforcongress.com

 

 

See her Priorities page:

https://www.chrissyhoulahanforcongress.com/priorities-2/

 

 

*Consider her for your Core Four for 2018:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Donate to Houlahan’s campaign:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/314action_houlahan?refcode=314website

 

 

Like her on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/HoulahanForPA/

 

 

Follow her on Twitter:

@HoulahanForPA

 

 

Visit the Mission page for 314 Action:

http://www.314action.org/mission-1

 

 

Follow 314 Action on Twitter:

@314Action

 

 

Like 314 Action on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/314Action/

 

 

Read pieces about Houlahan and her campaign:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/congressional/key-womens-group-backs-dem-congressional-challenger-houlahan-20170612.html

http://www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20170411/NEWS/170419965

 

 

Read Ballotpedia’s page on Pennsylvania’s 6th District:

https://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania%27s_6th_Congressional_District

 

 

*Sarah Jane Smith, lead writer and editor at OTYCD, chose Houlahan for her Core Four.

Support Democrat Mike Levin, Who’s Running for Darrell Issa’s House Seat in California’s 49th District (GOOD UPDATE March 2019)
Elections

Support Democrat Mike Levin, Who’s Running for Darrell Issa’s House Seat in California’s 49th District (GOOD UPDATE March 2019)

otycd1 Comment

Update March 24, 2019: YES YES YES! Democrat Mike Levin won the seat vacated by Darrell Issa in California’s 49th District. He defeated Republican challenger Diane Harkey  by getting 56.4 percent of the vote to her 43.6 percent.

 

Because he’s a member of the House of Representatives, Levin will be up for re-election in 2020. Please consider him for your next Core Four.

 

Update, June 9, 2018: Congratulations to Mike Levin, who placed second in the top-two primary held on June 5 in California’s 49th District! Please support his campaign so that Democrats can win this House seat in the fall.

 

Support Mike Levin, a Democrat who’s running against incumbent Republican Darrell Issa for the House of Representatives seat in California’s 49th District. 

 

Darrell Issa was long considered vulnerable to defeat in 2018. He won reelection in 2016 by just one point. Nate Cohn, writing for The Upshot in the New York Times, deemed him “probably the nation’s most vulnerable incumbent.”

 

Issa, evidently seeing the writing on the wall, announced on January 10, 2018, that he would not run for a tenth term.

 

Mike Levin, a California lawyer and a married father of two, entered the race before Issa retired. He’s a democrat who embraces sustainable energy and has long experience with it, having co-founded Sustain OC (Orange County) and serving on the board of the San Diego-based Center for Sustainable Energy.

 

Levin also supports campaign finance reform, defends public education, and wants to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health. He favors shoring up the ACA with an eye toward shifting to Medicare for all in the future. He is pro-choice and pro-LGBT rights.

 

Issa’s departure invited a scrum of candidates to sign up for the June 5, 2018 primary. Remember also that California uses a top two primary system, which means the top two vote-getters proceed to the general.

 

As of late May, 2018, there were three other Democrats in the race, as well as eight Republicans, representatives from three other parties, and someone who bills himself as ‘nonpartisan’. The Cook Political Report rates California’s 49th Congressional District as Lean Democrat.

 

 

See Levin’s website:

http://mikelevin.org

 

 

See his ‘Priorities’ page and his ‘About’ page:

http://mikelevin.org/priorities/

http://mikelevin.org/about/

 

 

Consider Levin for your Core Four for 2018:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the blue button on the upper right or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Donate to Levin’s campaign:

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/mikelevin

 

 

Follow Levin on Twitter:

@MikeLevinCA

 

 

Read about House races where Republicans are regarded as vulnerable:

 

Read about how Issa and his Republican House colleague Dana Rohrabacher are already being targeted by ambitious Democratic challengers:

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/04/17/congressional-challengers-in-o-c-already-raising-big-money/

 

 

VOTE. HELP YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY VOTE. TODAY IS THE DAY. THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS ARE HERE.
Elections · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms · Voting Rights, Fighting Voter Suppression

VOTE. HELP YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY VOTE. TODAY IS THE DAY. THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS ARE HERE.

otycd

The time has come.

 

It’s worth all caps.

 

VOTE. HELP YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY VOTE. TODAY IS THE DAY. THE MIDTERMS ARE HERE!

 

Know also: Some Democrats will lose some races. We at OTYCD would be delighted if every Democrat wins every race everywhere, but come on, that’s not gonna happen.

 

Know also: Trump, notoriously, has done nothing to secure America’s voting infrastructure against onslaughts from Russian cyber-attacks.

 

Whatever happens, stay strong, stay realistic, and stay here and carry on the fight.

 

Work Like Never Before: Countdown to the Midterms
Action Alerts · Candidates · Choose Your Core Four · Community Activism · Read, Educate Yourself, Prepare · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends · Vote with your Dollars · Voting Rights, Fighting Voter Suppression

Work Like Never Before: Countdown to the Midterms

otycd

Sarah Jane here. I’m the lead writer and editor on the One Thing You Can Do blog.

 

We’re post-Kavanaugh. We’re angry and exhausted but anger is winning out.

 

Here is the silver lining: The pushback against Kavanaugh scared the crap out of the GOP, and while they won (which is bad, don’t get me wrong), they won by a hair, a sneeze, a twitch, a wiggle, a blink, and they had to fight like hell and take damage and break shitloads of rules and norms and traditions to eke out that whisper of a win.

 

The GOP know how precarious it is, and they’re feeling it. The boasting at Kavanaugh’s formal confirmation ceremony (which is damn weird and wrong in context, because c’mon, we’re talking about SCOTUS here, and SCOTUS is supposed to be above politics, right?) is just as much to shore themselves up and sell themselves on what they just did as it is to perform ritual cruelty and recommit to general assholic behavior.

 

They want you to go away. GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is convinced this will all blow over.

 

Show McConnell that he is wrong. Show him this won’t blow over. Show the GOP you are not going to go away.

 

Assuming you’ve had a rest–because you should really, properly step away and rest for a bit after all this–stoke the glowing embers of your anger and light your way through the last few weeks before the midterms.

 

If you’re not using the Core Four strategy, check it out, then pick two Democrats to support in each chamber of Congress, an incumbent and a challenger for each.

 

Donate to worthy Democratic incumbents and challengers.

 

Canvass–knock on doors to talk to people in person about the merits of a candidate for office.

 

Phone-bank and text-bank–like canvassing, except it’s over the phone or via text.

 

Write get out the vote (GOTV) postcards and help underwrite Tony the Democrat’s postcard-writing army.

 

Follow Celeste Pewter (@Celeste_Pewter) on Twitter for updates on the state of the (admittedly difficult, thoroughly worth it) quest by Democrats to claim control the Senate.

 

Follow Swing Left (@swingleft) on Twitter for updates on the state of the quest by Democrats to claim control of the House of Representatives (doing well at the moment but as we’ve said before, always act like your candidates are 10 points behind, even if they aren’t).

 

Follow Flippable (@flippable_org) on Twitter for updates on efforts to flip state legislatures blue, and see what you can do for your own state’s legislature. We need to turn the state legislatures blue to, for example, remove anti-abortion laws sitting on the books that would go into effect if Roe vs. Wade is overturned.

 

Follow Tokyo Sand (@DHSTokyo) on Twitter and subscribe to the Political Charge blog for updates on state voter registration deadlines as they approach and arrive, plus vital related news about the midterms.

 

Assuming it’s not too late in your state, consider filling out and returning an absentee ballot now, to free yourself to help others get to their polling places on November 6. Take the day off work if you can and volunteer to help others vote.

 

Learn if your state is one that allows 17-year-olds to register to vote if they’ll be 18 by November 6, and help them register, if there’s still time.

 

Put campaign signs on your lawn and campaign stickers on your car.

 

Talk to friends and family about voting. Help them make a plan to vote on November 6. Help those who want to do more than just vote.

 

Be welcoming and kind to Independents, Libertarians, Republicans, and others who don’t normally vote for Democrats but are doing so in the 2018 midterms.

 

Talk to people who didn’t vote in 2016. Donate to organizations that help people register to vote.

 

Don’t compare yourself to other activists. Don’t beat yourself up for not being able to do as much as you want to do. See the value in what you are doing, and keep doing it.

 

Give as much time as you can to as many candidates as you can on the federal, state, and local levels [as well as ballot questions, if that applies in your state].

 

Months ago, we asked you to donate two hours a week to helping your preferred candidates. Now that we’re T-minus one month from the midterms, we’re asking you to take your schedules in hand and figure out how much time you can devote to the democracy bucket brigade between now and November 6.

 

Anything you do from the list above counts. Include routine self-care in there, too.

 

And, Believe It: You Matter. It’s true, and it never stops being true. You matter, your vote matters, and your activism matters.

 

Go forth and do good, people.

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!

Support Democrat Amy McGrath’s Run for a House Seat in Kentucky’ s 6th District
Elections · Vote with your Dollars

Support Democrat Amy McGrath’s Run for a House Seat in Kentucky’ s 6th District

otycd1 Comment

Support Amy McGrath, a Democrat who is running for a House of Representatives seat in Kentucky’s 6th District in 2018.

 

In all likelihood you’ve heard about McGrath already. Back in August, she released a powerful campaign ad that caused a stir. She took on the incumbent, Republican Andy Barr, as well as Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. She made it with Mark Putnam, who did campaign ads for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

 

It also caused a stir because McGrath is objectively awesome. She is the first woman   Marine to fly an F-18 on a combat mission. In the video, she also recalls writing her Congressional delegation as 13-year-old, asking how to pursue a career as a fighter jet pilot. Her rep threw cold water on her ambitions, telling her, “women ought to be protected and not allowed to serve in combat.”

 

Fortunately, she was not deterred. She flew combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and spent the morning of September 11, 2001, prepped and ready to shoot down any commercial airliners that might aim themselves at Los Angeles or San Diego. She retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel in June 2017.

 

McGrath beat five other Democrats to win the May 22 primary, but she has her work cut out for her. Barr won re-election in 2016 by more than 20 points, and by a two-to-one margin, and Ballotpedia rates Kentucky’s 6th District as “safely Republican.” But she’s got serious momentum, on the order of Randy Brice, aka Ironstache, the Democrat who’s challenging Paul Ryan for his house seat in Wisconsin.

 

 

See McGrath’s campaign website (her campaign videos are on the front page):

https://www.amymcgrathforcongress.com

 

 

Read her ‘About’ page:

https://www.amymcgrathforcongress.com/about

 

 

Consider her for your Core Four for 2018:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the blue button on the upper right or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Donate to Amy McGrath’s campaign:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/amy-mcgrath-for-congress

 

 

Like McGrath on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/AmyMcGrathKY/

 

 

Follow McGrath on Twitter:

@AmyMcGrathKY

 

 

Read about McGrath’s campaign:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/01/politics/amy-mcgrath-kentucky-announcement-video/index.html

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/344734-dem-ad-maker-cuts-new-ad-in-kentucky-for-amy-mcgrath

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/03/541223715/female-retired-marine-with-viral-campaign-ad-hopes-to-bridge-gap-in-democratic-p

 

 

And here are some articles that talk about both McGrath and Brice:

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a56756/amy-mcgrath-ad-paul-ryan-wall/

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/08/can_a_kentuckian_fighter_pilot_obliterate_democrats_effete_reputation.html

Choose Your Core Four for 2018
Candidates · Choose Your Core Four · Elections · Read, Educate Yourself, Prepare · Use Your Power, Recruit Friends

Choose Your Core Four for 2018

otycd2 Comments

This OTYCD post originally appeared in January 2018, but with the mid-terms approaching and the stakes rising, we are reposting past posts that discuss key things you can do to push back against Trump.

 

* Choose your Core Four–two Democratic senators and two Democratic house reps, an incumbent and a challenger for each chamber–to support to in 2018.

 

From late 2016 until now, we’ve been going to bat for Democratic candidates in individual special elections. Usually, we’ve supported one Democrat at a time.

 

2018 will test our collective resolve as never before.

 

Literally hundreds of races–34 senators, and all 435 House reps–are taking place, and all of them will end on November 6, 2018.

 

If the Democrats are to win control of the House of Representatives (tough, because of gerrymandering, but doable) and the Senate (tougher, but thinkable now that Alabama Democrat Doug Jones won his special election Senate race in December 2017), we’ll all need to concentrate on, and help, more than one Congressional race at the same time.

 

We at OTYCD suggest that you prepare for what’s coming by choosing your “Core Four”–four Democratic candidates who will receive the bulk of your efforts.

 

Two Democrats for the House of Representatives.

Two Democrats for the Senate.

One incumbent and one challenger for each chamber of Congress.

 

 

How to Pick Your Core Four

 

There’s no right way or wrong way to choose your Core Four, but we suggest starting in your own backyard, with the members of Congress who represent your state.

 

If you don’t know who your members of Congress are, go to this website and plug your street address into the search engine:

whoaremyrepresentatives.org

 

…then research the three names–one House rep and two Senators–that come up.

 

Do you have a good Democratic House Rep? Then embrace him or her.

 

Do you have a lousy House Rep, or is your district’s seat being vacated? Look up the Democratic challengers for the seat and choose one. Look to Ballotpedia.org for help with finding challengers in your federal district.

 

One-third of all senators will be up for re-election in 2018. It’s possible that at least one of your senators (and possibly both) is due to run (but scroll down for a list of states where neither senator has to run).

 

Is one or both of your senators up for re-election? Are they good Dems? If so, embrace them and get behind them.

 

Is your senator who’s running for re-election a lousy senator? Learn about the Democratic challengers for the seat, and be ready to help a challenger however you can. As always, Ballotpedia.org is your friend here.

 

Your help can take the form of time, money, word of mouth, or some combination of the three. But you need to choose your four Democrats, and you need to think seriously about how you will juggle the needs of all four.

 

You’ll need to sit down and plot this out as you might plot a semester’s course schedule in college. The demands of the four candidates will overlap and they’ll all come due at the same time–in the weeks and days leading up to November 6, 2018. You’ll also have to factor in appointments and life events of your own, too, of course.

 

 

Choosing your Core Four: A Test Case

 

Let’s say you live in New Hampshire.

 

Your House Rep is up for re-election because they all are. Is yours a good Democrat? Then you have your House incumbent settled.

 

If your House Rep is not a good Democrat, or is a lousy Republican, or is retiring, check Ballotpedia and see who’s challenging for the seat.

 

Let’s assume for the sake of this example that your House Rep is a good Dem. There’s one of your four settled.

 

Now look for a challenger who’s aiming to take a terrible House Republican out.

 

**How about Andrew Janz? He hopes to push House Rep Devin Nunes out of his perch in California’s 22nd District. A worthy choice. Allocate time and money to him. You’ve chosen your two House Dems, one incumbent and one challenger.

 

 

Now turn to the senators. It so happens that neither of the incumbent senators from New Hampshire are up for re-election in 2018. You are free to devote your resources elsewhere.

 

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is running for her second term in 2018. How about helping to defend her? There’s your third choice made.

 

Now look for a candidate who hopes to push out a terrible sitting Republican Senator. Hey, how about Beto O’Rourke? He hopes to send Ted Cruz of Texas packing. Hard to find a nobler cause than that.

 

 

And there’s your Core Four: Your good incumbent Democratic House Rep, Randy Bryce in Wisconsin, Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, Beto O’Rourke in Texas.

 

Of course, you can choose more than four Congressional candidates to back. But the idea here is to help you focus.

 

If you can take on more than four, do it. But four is just enough, in our opinion–more than one, but still a number small enough to count on one hand.

 

You can certainly look to orgs such as Swing Left, the Road to 2018, Emily’s List, and the like to help you make your choices. The main thing is nowrightnow is the time to think seriously about those choices.

 

 

Also, if you live in one of the states listed below, neither of your Senators is up for re-election, and you can devote your resources to incumbents and candidates in other states:

Alabama

Alaska

Arkansas

Colorado

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

New Hampshire

North Carolina

Oklahoma

Oregon

South Carolina

South Dakota

 

 

* Our ‘Core Four’ only covers federal Congress races. You might have other important races happening at the state and local level–for governor, attorney general, mayor, what have you. Please don’t neglect those races.

 

**The original suggestion we had here was Randy Bryce, aka Ironstache, a Democrat who is running in Wisconsin’s 1st District. In mid-April 2018, his lousy Republican opponent, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, announced he would not run again. We cheered for Ironstache, and then we realized we should swap in a different example of an incumbent House Rep who needs to GO. It’s a good problem to have. Here’s hoping we face it a few more times before November 6.

 

 

See the website for Ballotpedia.org:

https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page

 

Visit the website of Swing Left, which focuses on taking back the House of Representatives:

https://swingleft.org

 

Visit the website of The Road to 2018, which focuses on defending vulnerable Democratic Senators:

http://www.roadto2018.com

 

Visit the website of Emily’s List, which helps elect pro-choice Democratic women to office:

https://www.emilyslist.org

 

See OTYCD‘s past posts on picking House Reps and Senators to support in 2018, and on starting a 2018 fund:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/09/start-scouting-for-senators-who-you-can-donate-time-and-money-to-in-2018/

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/09/think-about-which-house-reps-to-support-or-oppose-in-2018/

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/09/start-a-2018-fund/

Set Aside Two Hours Per Week To Work For Your Chosen 2018 Candidates
Elections · Stand Up for Civilization · Stand Up for Norms · Uncategorized

Set Aside Two Hours Per Week To Work For Your Chosen 2018 Candidates

otycd

This OTYCD post originally appeared in February 2018, but with the mid-terms approaching and the stakes rising, we are reposting past posts that discuss key things you can do to push back against Trump.

 

2018 will test us like never before. We have to support more than one campaign at a time, and we have to pay attention to races on the federal, state, and local levels.

 

We’ve already asked you to choose your Core Four for 2018–four Democrats, two incumbents and two challengers, for each chamber of Congress:

 

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/

 

To serve those four candidates well, you’ll need to school yourself on their voting records and their backgrounds. If they’ve written books, you need to read them. You need to become expert in them so you can persuade people to vote for them and defend them to those who are skeptical or hostile.

 

Once you feel like you have those four under control, you should see whether you can add other races to your load. A total of 36 gubernatorial races happen in 2018, and several state races for Attorney General take place, too. And you might have state senators and state house representative contests to watch. Plus, your local electeds might be running, too.

 

In order to stay on top of it all, find a way to commit a minimum of two hours a week to state, local, and federal 2018 races. Money always matters, of course, but time can be even more valuable to a candidate. If you’re an excellent political volunteer, your time might be worth several times more than your dollar donations.

 

You don’t have to give your time in a two-hour block. You can chop it up as needed–four half-hours, an hour here and an hour there, twelve 20-minute blocks, twenty-four ten minute blocks, whatever works best for you.

 

Research, reading, attending speeches, going to Indivisible meetings, and talking to other people all count, as does phone-banking, canvassing, and writing GOTV postcards.

 

If you can give more than two hours a week, great! But the key thing is to aim to give at least two hours a week, and stick to it.

 

As we head toward Labor Day 2018, you might want to think about rearranging your schedule to give even more time to 2018 races. Almost all of them will end on November 6, 2018, and campaign needs will grow more intense as early November approaches.

 

It makes sense to sit down now and plan how September through November will go, particularly if you’ll have other standing obligations to work around, such as school, or your kids’ schools, or holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the blue button on the upper right or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!

Support Democrat Barbara L’Italien’s Run for a Massachusetts House of Representatives Seat #MA3
Candidates · Choose Your Core Four · Elections · Health Care

Support Democrat Barbara L’Italien’s Run for a Massachusetts House of Representatives Seat #MA3

otycd

Support Democrat Barbara L’Italien’s run for the open House of Representatives seat in Massachusetts’s 3rd District.

 

L’Italien is a Massachusetts state Senator and has been since 2014. She also served in the state’s House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011.

 

As a state legislator, she defended marriage equality and fought to improve public schools and expand access to health care. She also opposed a $3.3 billion natural gas pipeline project that would have ended in Dracut, a town that she represents in the state senate.

 

In particular, L’Italien championed a state law that require private health insurers to cover services for those diagnosed with autism, and a second law that extended the autism coverage requirement to MassHealth, the state’s public health insurance option. One of her four children has autism.

 

If she wins the September 4, 2017 primary and gets elected in November, she will be the only sitting member of the 535-member federal Congress who has parented an autistic person.

 

Massachusetts’s 3rd District seat is open because five-term representative Democrat Niki Tsongas has chosen not to run again. (L’Italien ran against Tsongas in 2008 for the federal seat and lost to her.)

 

L’Italien is one of 11 Democrats who have committed to the primary. Two Republicans are running as well.

 

The 2018 Massachusetts primary promises to be extra-challenging because of the calendar. It falls on Tuesday, September 4, 2017–the day after the Labor Day holiday, and at the end of the summer season. Both facts will likely combine to depress turnout.

 

The Cook Political Report rates Massachusetts’s 3rd District as Solid Democrat.

 

Note: Sarah Jane, lead writer of the OTYCD blog, chose L’Italien for her Core Four.

 

 

See L’Italien’s campaign website:

http://www.teambarbara.com

 

 

See her Meet Barbara page:

http://teambarbara.com/bio.html

 

 

Donate to her campaign:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/barbara-l-italien-7?refcode=website_header

 

 

Volunteer for L’Italien:

http://teambarbara.com/getinvolved.html

 

 

Choose L’Italien for your Core Four for 2018:

https://onethingyoucando.com/2017/12/24/choose-your-core-four-for-2018/

 

 

Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!

 

 

Like L’Italien on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/teambarbara

 

 

Follow her on Twitter:

@teambarbara

 

 

See her Ballotpedia page:

https://ballotpedia.org/Barbara_L%27Italien

 

 

See the Ballotpedia page on Massachusetts’ 3rd District:

https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts%27_3rd_Congressional_District_election,_2018

 

 

See L’Italien’s State Senate scorecard from Progressive Massachusetts:

http://www.progressivemass.com/189thscorecard-senate