Friends,
Like J Streeters across the country, I spent last weekend knocking on doors to get out the vote.
I was in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, canvassing for J Street’s slate: Congresswoman Susan Wild, Senator Bob Casey and Vice President Kamala Harris.
There was palpable energy and optimism among the canvassers – putting on our walking shoes to defend the country and democracy from regressive, dangerous policies and authoritarianism.
Meanwhile, a mere hundred miles away, Trump and his motley MAGA crew were spewing racist and antisemitic slurs at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The contrast couldn’t have been starker.
The energy and optimism were mixed with anxiety. And I understand. The polls are tightening. Trump’s army of lawyers and loyalists are lining up to undermine election results. Tens of millions are pouring into MAGA campaigns from deep-pocketed right-wing billionaires. And too many voters are threatening to sit out the race – despite the stakes – to protest one or another aspect of the Biden-Harris record.
For me, the best antidote to anxiety is ACTION. To paraphrase Vice President Harris: Rather than focus on a list of grievances, we must focus on a to-do list for the next seven days. Let’s mobilize and activate like our lives depend on it – because, frankly, our future and our children’s future is on the line.
So join me in making a promise: Do at least one thing a day between now and Election Day to help elect the Harris-Walz ticket and pro-democracy majorities in the Senate and House.
Make final contributions (join JStreetPAC, if you can). Sign up to canvass. Activate an account on a relational organizing app. Phone bank. Call your friends with kids or grandkids in college in swing states and make sure they’re registered and voting.
J Street is beyond all in. Together, we’ve raised over $6 million (and counting) for Kamala Harris and over $8 million for allied pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy candidates in critical House and Senate races across the country.
We’re on the phones, in the streets, volunteering for election protection efforts.
We know the dangers. Here at home, a second Trump Administration – potentially with MAGA congressional majorities – would implement Project 2025 in full: Ban abortion nationwide, bulldoze democratic safeguards, supercharge climate change, hand victory to Putin in Ukraine, and inject antisemitism and bigoted conspiracy theories deeper into our society.
In Israel, a second Trump term would mean Netanyahu and his extreme-right allies would have full White House backing to restrict humanitarian aid, pursue endless war, annex the West Bank, escalate across the region and follow through on their anti-democratic judicial coup. As horrific as the violence and pain is today, millions of civilians – Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese and more – would suffer even more for years to come with Trump and Netanyahu in charge.
Just as we know the dangers of a Trump presidency, we also know the promise Kamala Harris represents.
A new generation of leadership. A focus on working families, not billionaires. To-do lists for the American people, not enemies lists. An approach to Middle East policy led by a President who explicitly rejects a binary view on Israel-Palestine. A leader who has voiced full-throated support for Palestinian rights to freedom, safety and self-determination alongside an ironclad commitment to Israel’s security – and done so to rapturous applause.
As we head into the final days of this campaign, I want to thank you, sincerely, for your continued support as we fight for the future we want to build.
Please make a commitment with me to do at least one thing every day over the next week to help Kamala Harris win and to defeat Donald Trump.
Most importantly, reach out through your networks and talk to friends and family directly. Vote early, knock doors and work the phone lines. Make sure friends and family have done the same. Have they reached out to their networks too – their kids, their family, their friends? Let’s make sure that next Tuesday night we don’t have any regrets about what more we could have done.
Together, we will win.
Yours,
Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street
