In response to a question at our meeting on Sunday, these are the three candidates we are supporting for the Nov. 5, 2019 election in VA. They are from the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area.
House of Delegates candidates:
State Senate candidate:
We resume action this Sunday, August 25th 4:30-5:45 at our house. Lots to organize for fall action. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Make the Resistance Delicious!
Chocolate Tasting
with Alice Medrich
Sunday, September 15, 2019, 3-5 pm
Author, pastry chef, and teacher Alice Medrich is one of the country’s foremost experts on chocolate. Since 1976, when her renowned shop, Cocolat, opened and her first dessert feature appeared in a national publication, Alice’s innovative ideas and recipes have influenced a generation of confectioners, pastry chefs, and home cooks.
Why Virginia?
Alice will lead us on a journey to learn:
What a sweet way to flip Virginia!
Sunday, September 15, 2019, 3:00–5:00 pm
East Bay Activist Alliance, an affiliate of Sister District Project, is comprised of volunteer activists and organizations in San Francisco’s East Bay. We help flip and hold winnable districts red-to-blue by supporting high impact, strategic campaigns where state legislative seats, voting rights, and Congressional campaigns intersect.
After partisan gerrymandering was given a green light by the US Supreme Court in June, our hopes for federal corrective action dimmed. But there’s much to be done:
In the courts: Key players like the Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and the Campaign Legal Center are working on lawsuits in where the state constitutions or legislation give leverage against gerrymandering. They will also be challenging states where racial gerrymandering is masquerading as “political.” All these groups deserve our financial support.
With State Ballot Initiatives: 26 states allow ballot initiatives that establish independent, non-partisan commissions for redistricting. These need to be state level initiatives, but the same non-partisan groups (Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and the Campaign Legal Center) offer support, legal advice, and how-to guides. After fair vote coalitions mounted extensive grass-roots campaigns, five states passed such initiatives in 2018.
In State Electoral Campaigns: State legislatures and governors are the key actors in drawing electoral districts, as the GOP realized in launching their infamous REDMAP strategy in 2010. Democrats aren’t asleep this time, and their counter-effort is led by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), headed by Eric Holder and supported by Obama. Obama’s Organizing for Action group has joined NDRC to create the All on the Line Campaign, whose volunteers will bird-dog the redistricting process in each state. The NDRC coordinates with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) and the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) to elect Democrats who have pledged to support fair electoral maps. The NDRC record: 61% wins in 230 state races targeted in 2018. Joining these groups is Emily’s List, which is committing $20 million to 500 state legislative races.
In Federal Election Campaigns. With passage of HR-1 in the House, congressional Democrats are committed to supporting non-partisan redistricting, and the NDRC is asking all Democratic candidates from president down to sign a “Fair Districts Pledge.” Winning the Senate and Presidency would allow HR-1 to become law and at some point would lead to a different Supreme Court.
With Long-Range Reforms: There are strong arguments for enlarging congressional districts and using ranked-choice voting to select 3-5 House seats each, giving representation to every voter instead of the current winner-take-all system. This idea, backed by FairVote and others, has been put into a proposed Fair Representation Act initiated by Virginia Democrat Don Beyer. After 2020 maybe?
With Grass-roots Activism: Activists around the country that pushed for HR-1 are partnering with all the groups listed here; check out our Indivisible resources on fighting gerrymandering.
Andy’s father died early this morning so we are in Washington DC and therefore have to cancel the meeting set for tomorrow, Sunday July 28th. We will be sitting shiva one night this week and will let everyone know when it is set. Luckily we have some time before our event in August to prepare. Naomi
During this stressful and depressing week, let’s try to keep our eye on the prizes:
Check out the latest from Tony the Democrat, below:
One year ago, Postcards
to Voters tested a new postcard-writing campaign to encourage registered
Democrats in 5 Florida counties to enroll in their Vote By Mail
program. Once enrolled, they would receive a ballot in the mail for every
single election for which they were eligible to vote. For four years!
Plenty of evidence shows that voters who are mailed ballots are much more
likely to participate than those who aren’t mailed ballots. So, we
conducted a pilot effort and measured the results. The findings were
overwhelmingly convincing. You can
read the analysis by clicking HERE. So Postcards to Voters
announced a mission to write to the entire state in time for
the 2020 Presidential election. We have
more than a year to finish all 67 counties. But we can’t wait until the
last minute. CLICK
to learn about the current Pinellas County, Florida, effort.
And if you’re ready
to help writing to Democrats in Florida not already enrolled in Vote By Mail:
Indivisible Elmwood 