Huge protest last Friday (Jan 30) with over 200 people and we handed out 700 flyers!!

This Friday will also be large as people take to the streets in solidarity with Minneapolis. Official time is 4:15–5:15 but some stay later since it is staying light longer.

Looking for something else to do? How about joining in the economic boycott? Here is one version of it (among many)

https://www.resistandunsubscribe.com

Meetings resume on Feb 15th and we are hoping for RSVPs so that we can have a head count.

Everything seems to be heating up a little, including resistance to the Orange Fascists. We can win the election in November, but first we have to make it that far.

Protests continue every Friday, including today, College & Ashby, 4:15–5:15 pm. We will move them later once we have more daylight. Last week we gave out 600 flyers. I ordered more for this week.

Those of you who don’t know where meetings are held, send me an email.

UPDATE: By popular demand, the current flyer. (We have it printed double-sided and sliced.) Note that the next major No Kings rallies will be March 28.

1. We had a great showing for our Friday protest. Handed out over 500 flyers and about 90 folks were there. Enough to annoy a Trump troll from Moraga on NextDoor who claimed we only had 25. Spread the word about next week’s protest 4:15-5:15 pm since people want to participate and we need everyone. We can email a copy of our flyer to anyone who wants to make their own copies for distribution.
2. For additional protests, check out the main Indivisible website (Indivisible.org). Many take place this weekend including one at noon near the Grand Lake tomorrow (Sunday).
3. Besides the protest, the main action item is to pressure Dems not to include any funding for ICE in the budget they will be negotiating. 5calls.org is an easy way to do this.
4. Do not feel discouraged. People were so grateful yesterday it cheered us. If you are feeling discouraged, join us. It will lift your spirits.

From our colleagues at CVM:

California gave our country hope on Nov. 4th — and now the country needs us to step up again! Central Valley Matters (CVM) volunteers were thrilled to see the great turnout by young people and Latinos across the nation. We are laser focused on CD-22 — a congressional district that is young (median age 30 years old) and 73% Latino, where folks on the ground are angry and energized now more than ever! On December 4th at 5:30 PST please join CVM to hear the latest updates from powerhouse Central Valley insiders to learn why your support truly matters.

District 22 is held by David Valadao. With the Prop 50 redistricting, it’s a toss-up, but if we get people registered and to the polls, demographically it’s Blue. Link to sign up for the fundraiser. Alternatively, link to ActBlue for donations.

Indivisible Elmwood takes a holiday break…

We met in good spirits from the Prop 50 win and Virginia election results. As a quick recap, everyone we worked for in Virginia won: Michael Feggans by about 15 points, May Nivar by over 10, and Jessica Anderson by about 5. Those last two are part of the 13[!] flips in their House of Delegates.

I went over the Prop 50 implications. Republican Young Kim’s seat (CA–40) is now a Republican sink, no longer competitive. In return, Doug LaMalfa (CA–01) and Kevin Kiley (CA–03) are now in bright blue districts; they are toast. So is Ken Calvert (CA–41), whose district is completely redrawn and who now finds himself in Kim’s district. The competitive districts we have to work to flip are Darrell Issa (CA–48) and David Valadao (CA–22). Democrat Adam Gray (CA–13), who barely won in 2024, has been helped a little, but it is only leaning Democratic. Josh Harder (CA–09) is safe. His district moved from Lean to Solid Democratic. Save your money.

I promised the link to the Thursday national Indivisible zooms. Here.

There was some rain on the parade, when the Coward Caucus in the Democratic Party gave up on the shutdown. As Coward Angus King said, “Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work.” Truly Churchillian in its adamance. Here are phone numbers of this crew, so you can express your appreciation. Coward Jeanne Shaheen was apparently the leader, and speaks of looking forward to working with the Republicans on the ACA extensions. Today the Republicans said the starting point would be abortion bans. Shaheen’s own daughter, who is running for Congress, called the cave a big mistake [gift link]. Thanksgiving at their house is gonna be a blast.

Here are their excuses, and a list of all senators’ phone numbers. (The numbers all start 202-224, which is abbreviated to 4).

I’ll review the effects of Prop 50 on Congressional races. And we’ll all have some bubbly.

Today’s results repudiate MAGA and the Republican Party. The high-propensity voters for an odd-year election pushed future governors Abigail Spanberger (VA) and Mikie Sherrill (NJ) to double-digit wins. Prop 50 may win by 30 points. Zohran Mamdani is on track for just over 50%: he would have won even under a ranked-choice system. I do hope he appoints Republican loser Curtis Sliwa to run the city’s zoos: the man has six cats and can’t be all bad. We won the Georgia Public Utilities Commission seats by about 25 points. We won the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention elections by almost 50, notwithstanding the desperate pleas for totally-unnecessary contributions some group demanded this morning.

Our work for the Virginia House of Delegates paid off. Entering tonight we held a 51–49 majority. We flipped 13 seats, including 6 of the 14 labeled “Lean Republican”. Michael Feggans won by double digits. Jessica Anderson (we sent postcards) and May Nivar (we sent money) were two of the flips, defeating Republican incumbents.

It wasn’t all good news, though. Republicans flipped the mayor of Berlin, New Hampshire, population 9248, by thirteen votes, pending a recount.

We still have terrible problems, both structurally and tactically. But tonight we punched MAGA in the face. Champagne will be served at the next IE meeting.

And not Oct 28, as the original version said. Just trying to make time fly!?

Please email me for the location.

alternative actions

1. join the Friday protests 5:00-6:00 at College and Ashby
2. eleenson2@gmail.com is looking for people to take shifts on campus for student GOTV for Prop 50
3. We have lawyer postcards. Let us know and we’ll put some in our Ridwell box for you.
4. Canvas your neighbors to make sure everyone is turning in their Prop 50 ballots. The sooner the better.
5. Voteforward (votefwd.org) has lots of suggestions. We can print letters for you if needed.
6. Encourage your friends to listen to and support Substack news including The Bulwark and The Contrarian.