Moved later with the coming of Daylight Savings Time. We will be at College & Ashby, 5:00–6:00 pm. Bring signs and optimism. Eat chocolate.
Two slates
Our friends at Focus for Democracy (Aaron Frank) and States Win (né Sister District) have each promoted a slate of candidates with very different objectives. Focus for Democracy’s list [donation link]:
- Josh Turek (IA-SEN)
- Rebecca Bennett (NJ-07)
- Lindsay James (IA-02)
- Sam Forstag (MT-01)
- Bob Brooks (PA-07)
- Denise Powell (NE-02)
- Bill Hill (AK-AL)
- 2026 CO-08 Nominee Fund: $3,500 [primary June 30]
No big surprises here. These are all would-be flips. Powell is probably favored at this point. The others are toss-ups or still leaning Republican.
Focus for Democracy also pitched Project Bullhorn, a 501(c)3 working to spread our message on social media.
As usual, States Win has reached downballot for a list of State Legislature candidates whose victory would break a GOP supermajority.
- Indiana House
- Tiffany Stoner is a small business owner and military spouse who ran for Indiana House District 25 in 2024 and lost by just 64 votes. After coming within a razor’s edge of victory, she’s back to finish the job.
- Kim Townsend is a public servant, community leader, and advocate with a record of securing resources and delivering results for Indiana communities that have been left behind. Now, she’s ready to take that record to Indianapolis.
- Kansas House
- Brenda Bandy is an award-winning public health advocate who has fought to protect a mother’s right to breastfeed, built coalitions, and delivered results. She’s ready to hit the ground running in the Kansas House on day one.
- Allison Hougland is a real estate agent, mother, and grandmother running to reclaim Kansas House District 15. She previously won this seat but lost in 2024 by just 106 votes, proving this district is winnable.
- New Hampshire Senate
- Leonard Bell is a Navy veteran who served this country for 20 years before dedicating his post-military career to helping veterans and working families. Now, he’s ready to take that fight to the New Hampshire Senate.
- Ohio House
- Krista Allison spent a decade fighting for Ohio’s kids and families at the state Department of Education. Now, she’s running to flip her district and keep up the fight for families in the state House.
- Rose Lounsbury is a former public school teacher, small business owner, and suburban mom who ran previously for this district. She knows this community and has deep roots in it to compete for it.
Unsurprisingly, I have never heard of any of them, and I have to take States Win’s word for it that they are competitive. Donation link.
Meeting June 21, 4:00–5:00, usual place
The Reflecting Pool as a metaphor for the United States: It had some problems, and then Trump came and made them much worse.
Meeting June 7, 4:00–5:00, usual place
There should be more clarity about the election results by then. The SF Chronicle ran a ridiculous story about the possibility that CA–06 (Kevin Kiley) would have no Democrats because Dr. Richard Pan was one point out of second place in the first batch of reports. As expected, later-counted ballots are more Democratic, and he has overtaken a Republican and will face Kiley in the fall. Dr. Pan is responsible for tightening California school vaccination requirements. Good for him.
Randy Villegas is about five points ahead of Jasmeet Bains for the second slot in CA-22.
I don’t think there is enough data to predict if Tom Steyer will pass Steve Hilton for the second slot in the governor’s race. Xavier Becerra is safely in first. Similarly, wacko Spencer Platt’s second-place margin for L.A. mayor has been falling with every update; that may be an all-Democratic race in November.
Mark your calendars: June 14, at 4:30 pm PDT, we have the Rise Up Sing Out anti-Trump concert.
We had over sixty soaking up the sun at today’s protest!
A Cal journalism student sent me some photos of our May 22 protest. Here are two.
Meeting May 24, 4:00–5:00 pm
We should have some special postcards to write!
May 3 1:30 Villegas fundraiser
The one with UAW President Shawn Fain mentioned in the minutes. You can donate and register for the event at this ActBlue page. Alternatively, I have the address in Downtown Oakland and you can ask me for it. Villegas continues to collect endorsements from the sorts of Democrats we like.
Minutes from 4/26 meeting
CA–22: Central Valley Matters has been busy. There’s canvassing every remaining weekend and GOTV May 29-June 2. Phone banking with Jane Fonda (!) on Wednesday, April 29, 6:00–8:00 pm. That’s this Wednesday! UAW President Shawn Fain is in Oakland Sunday, May 3 for a Villegas fundraiser, but for some reason, the flyer doesn’t give a location. And we gave out Villegas postcards with a script at the meeting; if you took some, write them and chuck them in the mail ASAP. If all you want is a donation link, here it is.
May 1: A little under-organized compared to No Kings 3, but No Work, No School, No Shopping. Not sure how this intersects with our daily café visits. We will have fresh posters for the usual Friday protest emphasizing workers. There are other Bay Area events. (Another map of events.)
Governor’s race: Everyone worries about Dems getting frozen out. Most of us in attendance were talking about the surprising endorsements billionaire Tom Steyer has received (e.g., Ro Khanna).
Arizona State House of Representatives: States Win (the former Sister District) has paired us with Dr. Raquel “Rockee” Armstrong. Her campaign website is here; she also made a video for States Win. There is a primary and a second candidate, but Arizona has two-member House districts so both will advance. The other candidate is a veteran with endorsements from other veterans; Armstrong has unions and Run for Something. From 2022 to 2024, one seat was held by a Democrat and one by a Republican. In 2024, the two Republicans finished about two points ahead of the Democrats. Overall we lost four seats in 2024, and need four to flip it back to Democratic control. More on Armstrong later; I assume we will do some combination of fundraising, outreach, and maybe even canvassing. The district lies east of Phoenix.
Focus for Democracy: Aaron Frank’s next round of candidates will be revealed Tuesday, April 28, on a 5:00 pm Zoom. Anyone who is interested should ask me for the Zoom link (not supposed to be posted publicly). Focus for Democracy is looking for bang-for-buck races up and down the ballot.
No meeting on Mother’s Day, May 10
Meeting April 26, 4:00–5:00 pm, usual place
Besides some self-congratulation and analysis of the Virginia referendum—the Virginia Supreme Court will hear an appeal of the order of a right-wing judge to disallow the results on Monday, and most expect a speedy decision in our favor—I have asked for some more addresses for Randy Villegas in CA–22.
May 1st is the next mass protest. No work, No school, No shopping. Besides the Ashby protest, there are numerous marches planned, including from Embarcadero Center in San Francisco at 4:00.
Indivisible’s May Day Participation Guide
https://indivisible.org/campaigns/may-day-participation-guide/
May Day Strong Coalition [link has map of all events]
https://maydaystrong.org
Meeting April 12, 4:00–5:00, usual place
Results of the Hungarian election might be available. A defeat for fascism in one country is a defeat for fascism everywhere.
Indivisible California held a poll to determine which candidates for Governor should be leaned on to withdraw. The candidates with the least support among those polled were Matt Mahan, Tony Thurmond, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Betty Yee. The most popular candidates, in descending order, were Eric Swalwell, Katie Porter, Xavier Becerra, and Tom Steyer. Of course, this is all before Swalwell’s campaign and life imploded under multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. One accusation could, in theory, be meretricious (think Tara Reid and Joe Biden), but four is something very, very bad. Swalwell’s endorsements have been retracted and his support must be evaporating. I don’t know where it will go. Especially if the tail-enders polling in single digits stay in the race, we may need to vote strategically based on who appears most likely to finish second. (Republican Steve Hilton will finish first.)
For tomorrow’s meeting, focus will be on (again) on the Virginia special election on gerrymandering. Everyone is concerned and working for a victory here. We will have some Vote Forward letters and Tony the Democrat postcards. We will have our choice how to write!
If you prefer Wednesday to Friday…
Indivisible Berkeley has a weekly protest on Wednesday afternoons, 5:00–6:00 pm, MLK Jr. Way & Russell. [note time change]
Reminders: All out for the No Kings protests on Saturday, March 28. There are events all over the Bay Area: updated list here. Remember sunscreen! And, no meeting the following day.
Two more links from 3/15
Project Saltbox has been tracking ICE’s warehouse acquisitions for detention centers. Remember, there are too many to be restricted to deportees in transit. 🤔 (This was started by some ordinary people in Baltimore. Have we any ideas that good?)
And Judy brought to our attention an upcoming Zoom on the election by the Wellstone Democratic Club. I decided not to post the link since it is intended mostly for Wellstone members, but I am excerpting other links from their meeting call.
Wellstone members can share viewpoints and questions online. If you’re not already part of the conversation, send an email to wdrc+subscribe@groups.io. Become a Wellstone member today!
Indivisible Elmwood 