Hopeful News! (5/21/23)
This Week’s Hopeful News:
Democrat Donna Deegan wins Jacksonville’s Mayoral Race, flipping that seat from red to blue
Heather Boyd wins the special election. Dems keep control of PA House
Colorado Springs elects by 15 points, Yemi Mobolade, the first non-Republican mayor of Colorado Springs since 1979
Zak Malamed of The Next 50 launches his campaign for Congress in NY-03 and raises $225,000 on the first day
We met and were inspired by 19-year-old Sam Schwartz, a gun violence activist who is planning a weeklong sit-in at the Capitol calling for a ban on assault weapons
We helped launch Blue Tennessee and raised $14,311 and counting
As Democrats, we sometimes need to be reminded to celebrate the good news. So we hope you all celebrated. Of course, no week contains only cheerful news and this one is no exception. Among the news that made our blood boil: In North Carolina, we saw the GOP-led General Assembly override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s 12-week abortion ban veto and we saw more cruel anti-transgender laws enacted in Florida and Texas. But this week is one to inspire hope and optimism. And, given that the Republicans keep losing elections and doubling down on unpopular positions, in the words of Simon Rosenberg, "We'd rather be us than them."
When Florida’s largest city elects a Democratic woman as its mayor for the first time, that is something to sit up and take notice of. It’s a really big deal! Florida is a mess and there is a lot of ground to make up there but let Donna Deegan’s election give all of us hope that grassroots organizing works. We can’t give up on Florida.
In PA we have worked diligently to help flip their House blue over multiple cycles. We are familiar with how fragile that slim majority is and how important keeping it blue is to the welfare of the citizens of PA and our democracy. We wrote tons of postcards for Heather Boyd, donated, phone banked, and text banked for her. Her decisive victory should give us hope and confirm again that grassroots organizing works.
Zak Malamed is part of the MFD family. He truly is one of our own. As the founder of The Next 50, whose goal is to build a more representative democracy and identify the next generation of political leadership and political philanthropy, he is a proven leader. Many of our favorite candidates came to us from Zak and The Next 50. To see him launch his own campaign for Congress to knock out the horrible George Santos, should give all of us the feels.
Sam Schwartz visited us last week to talk about the sit-in that he is organizing at the U.S. Capitol to demand an assault weapons ban. His activism is motivated by the murder of his cousin and best friend, Alex Schachter, in the Parkland massacre. We were all impressed with his determination and many donated to his GoFundMe. After his visit, he wrote to Jenny A: "We raised $2,500 yesterday. Jenny, thank you SO very much. Please pass on my thanks for the group for their incredible activism and support. I really believe that you did yesterday for me will make the sit in so much more powerful."
Wednesday night, we co-hosted the launch for Blue Tennessee. Watch the recording of the event here. Our member, Lisa D., who lives in Tennessee, decided to start Blue Tennessee after hearing Jess Piper and Michelle Hornish talk about Blue Missouri on one of our Zooms. Because we believe in supporting our community, we helped to organize the event, reaching out to our friends David Pepper and Jessica Craven to participate and amplify. On Wednesday night, over 100 people gathered on Zoom to try to repair democracy in Tennessee. This is the grassroots in action.
Let the hope and optimism of this week propel us to keep writing, donating, and doing our part. Let it inspire us to call a friend and invite them to join us. Zak and Sam are both young men who have walked the walk since they were kids. Their generation is stepping up. They are representative of the young who are doing things where we have failed. Our event launching Blue Tennesse demonstrates the power of grassroots groups and activists to make change when they work together. As Robert Hubbell always says, “We have every reason to be hopeful but no reason to be complacent”!