John,

This week, Congresswoman Cori Bush lost her re-election, which was the second-most expensive congressional primary election in U.S history. Anti-Palestinian group AIPAC spent more than $10 million to defeat her, largely from pro-Trump billionaire donors who wanted to silence our movement and remove one of the loudest pro-ceasefire voices from Congress.

My campaign team was recently down in St. Louis to knock on doors and campaign for Cori’s re-election. That work was funded by our Rooted in Community Leadership PAC, which I founded in order to support and elect progressive candidates who have the lived experience to understand how urgently our communities need transformational changes.

AIPAC has already spent over $25 million to defeat Cori and our fellow Squad member Congressman Jamaal Bowman this summer. These two Black members of Congress reflected the majority of the American people’s stances on Palestine, demanding that we stop spending billions on genocide and instead invest in our communities.

We know our movement’s power is growing, and that’s why anti-democratic special interests are spending more than ever to silence us. We can’t stop pushing for the world we deserve.

Even this week we got another sign that our grassroots movement is making elected officials listen: Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, rather than other potential picks who denounced pro-Palestine protests. As a coalition of Palestinian rights groups said this week: this is “a step in the right direction, but there is more work to do.”

Donate to my Rooted in Community Leadership PAC today to keep fighting for a future where we all have equal rights, where our households and schools have clean water and don’t have to fear utility shutoffs, where we hold billionaires and corporate monopolies accountable to the American people, and more.

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Every moment that I’m in Congress I know that you’re by my side. Together we are fighting for a truly multi-racial democracy where our government works for all people.

In love and solidarity,

Rashida

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rashida Tlaib
Date: Wed, Aug 7, 2024
Subject: Cori Bush lost her re-election after being targeted by right-wing billionaires
To: [email protected]

John,

I can't believe this is where we are in our country.

Yesterday, multiple states held their state and congressional primary elections, including Michigan and Missouri. Without a primary opponent, my re-election campaign is advancing to the general election.

But my Sister in Service Congresswoman Cori Bush lost her re-election after being targeted by a U.S.-based Israeli lobby group that suppresses free speech and funds insurrectionists, anti-abortion candidates, and anyone who is as obsessed as they are with ethnically cleansing Palestinians. AIPAC spent over $25 million to defeat Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman this summer, making their primary elections the two most expensive in U.S. history.

Cori Bush is so real that she shook Congress. She walked into the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 completely unafraid and only had one mission: save lives now. She isn't just a Congresswoman. She is a wife, a mother, a nurse, and someone who knows how important access to abortion care and housing is because our systems failed her too.

Cori never hesitated to call out state-funded violence here at home and abroad. We are approaching the 10th anniversary of the tragic murder of Michael Brown, and his memory sparked the Ferguson uprisings where Cori got her start in activism. She met Palestinian activists in Ferguson and learned about the oppression they faced as well.

Thank you for supporting Cori’s re-election—many of you donated and volunteered to connect with voters. Unfortunately, far-right billionaires drowned out the people’s voices because they’re afraid of our growing power. AIPAC has been involved in politics for decades, but it wasn’t until after I won with other members of the Squad in 2018 that AIPAC started a Super PAC and began spending big to take down pro-Palestine progressives.

We can’t let big money stop our movement. We must continue to work to elect candidates up and down the ballot who will dare to say that Palestinians deserve to live and that our government must stop funding war crimes.

Even in the face of Cori’s electoral defeat, there is still hope and we are still building power. For example, two of our endorsed pro-ceasefire candidates won their primaries yesterday in Michigan.

Tonya Myers Phillips is an attorney for economic and social justice who protects tenants’ rights in Detroit and across the state. Tonya won her Democratic primary election for State Representative and will move on to the general election.

State Representative Dylan Wegela also won his Democratic primary. Dylan is a school teacher and one of only 24 Michigan legislators who sent a letter to President Biden last November demanding a permanent ceasefire. In a state where 93% of state lawmakers have taken money from the utility monopoly DTE, Dylan is championing legislation to ban utility corporations from giving political contributions.

I founded our Rooted in Community Leadership PAC to support fearless working class and progressive candidates who want to run for office to champion the rights of marginalized people.

We need your support today to fight back against right-wing billionaires who are trying to rig our democracy in the face of a growing movement for Palestinians’ rights and the rights of all marginalized people. Donate to our Rooted in Community Leadership PAC today to send progressive champions to serve in office and build a government that works for all of us.