Welcome to The Revolution Report — the weekly e-newsletter of our national grassroots organizing network!
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DON’T MISS MONDAYS! Join us Monday, August 31st for our Weekly Organize to Win Call featuring Sarah Iannarone, candidate for Mayor of Portland OR, Maryland House of Delegates Member & Our Revolution Maryland leader Sheila Ruth, and Andre Walton, organizer with Our Wisconsin Revolution.
RSVP HERE
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OUR 4th ANNIVERSARY! Four years ago Bernie launched Our Revolution, and today our movement is stronger than ever - a majority of Americans support Medicare for All and a Green New Deal, we’ve elected more than 500 progressive champions up and down the ballot, and we’ve organized a national network of grassroots groups all across the USA.
Our movement is ascendant. Donate now to help us defeat Trump and organize to win a progressive America!
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Our Revolution marked our 4th anniversary last week by laying-out our 4 Point Plan to organize to win a progressive future with 4 nights of mass organizing calls during the RNC. We must beat Trump, elect more progressives to the House and flip the Senate, build a down-ballot bench, and organize a movement powerful enough to fight for change inside the halls of power and outside on the streets.
READ MORE ABOUT OUR 4 POINT PLAN BELOW!
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#1 - We must go all-out to defeat Donald Trump.
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Winning back working class voters in the Midwest is key to defeating Trump. In 2016, Trump ran as “worker champion” who would stop the offshoring of factory jobs. Trump’s false populism worked - he flipped over 100 counties in key industrial states that voted for Obama-Biden twice. That’s why on Monday, during the first night of the RNC, we launched our Midwest “Pivot County” Campaign. Between now and Nov. 3rd - we’re going all-out to mobilize workers in these swing areas to expose Trump’s lies and organize our local groups to win back working class voters. As Chuck Jones - the former Carrier union president - said on our Monday Night Organizing Call, “Trump lied his ass off, and keeps lying his ass off” to working class voters in the heartland. “If we organize in these communities, we can win them back.”
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Dave Green, the former union leader at the shuttered GM plant in Lordstown OH, talked about how Trump failed to save his factory even though he promised “jobs are coming back” in 2016. That’s why Our Revolution Ohio is ramping up our organizing in Trumbull County, the home of GM Lordstown, which went for Trump after voting Democratic since 1972.
Shannon Mulcahy, a laid-off steelworker who voted for Obama-Biden in 2012, spoke about supporting Trump in 2016 because he promised to be a “worker champion.” Shannon said she’s organizing with Our Revolution’s Midwest Pivot County Campaign to win-back workers like her who feel betrayed by Trump.
Teana Dowdell, a displaced autoworker, joined the call to talk about how - under Trump - GM closed its last plant in the city of Detroit. To win back the working class, she’s going to be organizing with Our Revolution Michigan to “expose Trump's record on offshoring and job creation.”
Help Our Revolution win-back working class voters in key battleground states!
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#2 - We must elect more progressives to the House and flip the Senate to advance policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.
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Electing strong progressive voices to Congress is key to expanding health care, fighting climate change, and getting big money out of politics. That’s why we must flip the Senate and end anti-democratic and obstructive rules like the filibuster that stop progressive legislation from becoming law. Our Tuesday Night Organizing Call - on night #2 of the RNC - featured Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey (Our Revolution Endorsed) who spoke about championing the Green New Deal in the Senate - and how we need to win a Senate majority and end the filibuster to make it reality.
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Our Revolution Endorsed) also joined the call to talk about the importance of growing “The Squad” in the House. “We want more than a seat at the table. We have to shake the table, and knock other people off their chairs so others can take their place.”
Speaking of knocking-off establishment incumbents, Our Revolution endorsed Democratic House primary winners Cori Bush (MO) and Marie Newman (IL) also joined us to discuss how expanding the Congressional Progressive Caucus with a strong left flank will empower our movement to advance our policy agenda on Capitol Hill. Marie noted that our ideas are both “popular and practical” during this time of crisis.
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Donate NOW to help us get Cori, Marie and other progressives over the finish line in November!
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#3 - We must build a bench of down-ballot progressives to fight for change from the bottom up.
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During our Wednesday Night Organizing Call - on night #3 of the RNC - we focused on electing down-ballot progressive champions who will fight to advance our policy agenda from the bottom up. State and local governments are laboratories of policy experimentation - if progressive policies succeed locally, they will get exported up nationally.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin (Our Revolution Endorsed), discussed the critical role of DAs in advancing criminal justice reform. Since his election, Chesa has taken action to end cash bail, reduce the prison population, and launched an “Economic Crimes Unit” to crack-down on wage theft and other corporate schemes that hurt workers.
New York State Senator Jessica Ramos also joined the call to speak about her proposals to tax billionaires and extend basic labor protections to gig economy workers. She noted that these policies serve as models that make the case for federal action.
And Nashville City Council Member Zulfat Suara discussed how the Nashville Metro Council used the “power of the purse” to stop giving lucrative city contracts to CoreCivic, the 2nd largest private, for profit prison company in the country. “At every level of government, we can make sure our tax dollars are invested in good companies that put people first.”
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#4 - We need a movement on the streets and inside the halls of power to win progressive change.
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Our Thursday Night Organizing Call - during the last night of the RNC - focused on the importance of building a movement outside on the streets and inside the halls of power to win transformational change. Our Revolution National Board member and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison spoke about the need to continue organizing in these tough times in order to push for the America we want to see.
Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard joined us to talk about being on the streets on Day #1 to tackle the climate emergency. “We need to continue organizing because when Biden takes office, we know we can move him. We already have moved him on environmental issues.”
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (Our Revolution Endorsed) said that Democrats need to talk more about economic issues - or risk big losses in 2022 and 2024. “People are angry at the system. It’s delivering for Silicon Valley, but not for Silicon Valley workers.” Our Revolution’s grassroots organizing, he noted, is key to building a broad-based movement to fight for economic justice.
Mark Dimonstein - President of the American Postal Workers Union - also joined our call to talk about the importance of rebuilding unions and fighting back against efforts to privatize the Post Office. He thanked Our Revolution members for standing with postal workers to defend this vital service.
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This week, Our Revolution members across the USA stood in solidarity with the postal workers during a national day of action to demand the Senate take action to #SaveThePostOffice with events in California, DC, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey and New York!
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Our Revolution HQ is doubling down on building a national network of grassroots powerhouses fighting to win progressive policies, elect progressive candidates, and transform the Democratic Party.
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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED ORGANIZING MEETINGS!
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RSVP HERE
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