Good morning, folks. And a good morning it is. My apologies for any typos. This is a completely dictated, unedited email. I am trying to launch an ad campaign, a massive polling series, and parent 4 kids…
But! Pressure is building against leadership. In the United States Senate, we’re seeing more and more senators go on the record saying no to Chuck Schumer. It ain’t over but the efforts are working.
Now, the tough nut to crack, of course, is the House of Representatives and Hakeem Jeffries. The people are speaking up. The polling is clear but representatives have a hard time listening once they’re in the swamp. Amazingly, two people: Don Leonard and Angela Gonzalez-Torres have taken the courageous step of saying no to Hakeem.
As many of you know, I was the communications director for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during her first campaign and then her first term on the Hill. One of the things that made her able to be the independent-minded representative that she was is financial support from a massive number of people. She could not be threatened with having her campaign support removed. She could not be threatened with not getting a committee assignment that gets her enough airtime that she can raise more money. She had a base of people willing to financially support her.
We need to recreate that for these people that are taking a stand. I need you to donate to these people. Here, you can split your money between them. And there are some people that are going to give a lot of money, and some people that are going to give a little. It really doesn’t matter how much you put in. In D.C., money talks, period. And your money can speak volumes.
excitingly, we are going to be able to run the polling that I told you about yesterday. We’re also going to be able to run ads in D.C., making sure that these representatives know what’s happening outside of the bubble that they find themselves in during freshman orientation.
This leadership fight in the House and in the Senate is one of the first opportunities we have to make sure that the people’s voices are not only heard but heeded. So we’re all going to have to come together and do some of the work. What can you do? Well, let me tell you what you can do. Here’s a list:
Sign the petition started to draft Ayanna Pressley for Speaker. It doesn’t matter if you prefer her or not. What we need is somebody brave enough to step up and run. Then the emperor will be shown to be wearing no clothes.
Click the image to use the tool to contact your Democratic Reps or call the switchboard at (202) 224-3121
Right now, the voters are being loud. We’re speaking up. We’re signing petitions, calling Representatives and Senators, and applying pressure. If we keep this up, what we can show is that democracy still matters in the Democratic Party, that voters still matter, that our opinions matter.
Win, lose, or draw, these fights are important because they’re allowing us to build the muscle memory and the systems to have these battles. This is going to be the first of many. So if you want change, if you want Medicare for all, if you want a health care system that provides services for people at a reasonable price and rapid speed, if you want an economy where people can afford housing and health care, childcare, where we’re not subject to the whims of a few, but the needs of the many are what drives our policy, then we’re going to go through fights just like this over and over until the people have more power.
But again, the most important thing we can do is empower the people that stand up and give them a safety net that allows them to take a stand for us the against the powerful people in the party. So please click this link and donate to Angela Gonzales - Torres and Don Leonard.
Thank you for being here,
Corbin Trent