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.

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