Friend,

Elections should be about lifting up the candidates with the best ideas and leadership capacity to move our communities forward, not the ones with the biggest pocketbook. And yet, last year, billionaires spent $2.6 billion to influence elections nationwide -- drowning out the voices of everyday voters.(1)

Right now, we have an opportunity to change all in our state by passing the California Fair Elections Act (SB 42), which would put the question of repealing the ban on public financing of elections in California on the November 2026 general election ballot.

Can you take a moment to tell your Assemblymember to vote “YES” on SB 42 and allow a vogte on public financing of California elections?

Nationwide, 14 states and 26 municipalities have public financing of elections. And the real-world application shows that it works. This form of election financing:

• puts people’s voices ahead of big donors.
• gives every qualified candidate a fair shot -- even against billionaire‑backed opponents.
• allows officials spend more time serving the public, not chasing Big Money.

In New York City, public financing allowed Zohran Mamdani to run a successful primary campaign against billionaire-backed Andrew Cuomo.(2) In Seattle, voters just re-affirmed their popular Democracy Voucher program.(3)

Time and again, public financing has led to more participation and created an even playing field, so passing this legislation should be a no brainer. But, SB 42 is currently up for a vote in the same committee that killed it last year

Anti-democracy organizers are hoping they can kill this critical bill again, but we have an opportunity to make our voices heard. If enough of us speak out about the importance of public election financing, we can push this bill out of committee and onto the November 2026 ballot.

Thank you for being in the fight!

–Irene, along with Annie, Angela, Isidra, Cecilia, Jen, and Lindsay (the Courage team)

Footnotes:
1. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/01/billionaires-record-spending-2024-election
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/nyregion/mamdani-adams-cuomo-money.html
3. https://boltsmag.org/seattle-democracy-vouchers-renewing/