Friend,

Communities like ours showed up for our nation. Young, Black, brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized Americans turned out in record numbers to vote for a government that reflects the will of the people.

But instead of acknowledging and supporting our base, Democratic Party leaders are calling for unity with Republicans—who are literally in the middle of attempting a coup.

It's up to our progressive movement to show that we’re not interested in a false unity that asks people to keep sacrificing their freedom and their rights.

And it's critical to act now, while the Biden-Harris transition team picks the leaders and plans for their administration.

Let’s get to work now, pushing the Democractic Party to represent the communities that elected them. Will you chip in now to tell the party that we will not be silenced or compromise our values?

Our party’s leaders are dismissing the fact that we won the presidency due to movements and organizations led by Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC).

During the largest-ever uprisings in our history this summer, where people protested police brutality and defended Black lives, Democratic voter registration spiked. Then, BIPOC-led groups mobilized voters for Biden/Harris on the ground in key swing states, delivering the margin of victory that Biden needed.

Yet a number of Democratic Party leaders are incorrectly claiming that in order to win Georgia’s crucial Senate runoff elections in January, we must reject Black activists’ demands like defunding the police to refund our neighborhoods and instead shift more to the right, which was rejected by the people, as Trump is made into a one-term President.

Turning our backs on our base to appeal to conservatives is a tired Democratic Party strategy that has cost us the public’s trust, betrayed our values, squandered our power and possibilities for change, and lost us elections.

Those of us who put people over profit have our work cut out for us. But we’ve built power to be ready for this moment. We knew there would be obstacles, even within our party. Together, we’re going to fight for the people of this country, no matter what it takes.

Can you chip in for the fight ahead? Together, we must push our party and our country to listen to and represent marginalized communities, and build a future where everyone can thrive.

Right now, "moderate" and conservative Democrats, along with Republican advisors to Biden like former Republican Governor John Kasich, are blaming progressives for the recent loss of several Democratic Congressmembers’ seats in swing districts.

This accusation is false. In fact, Democratic candidates in swing districts who openly supported progressive policies, like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, won their races.

Here’s why: People want change. People need a government that actually represents the popular will.

Even states that went to Trump passed progressive ballot measures like a $15 minimum wage and legal marijuana. Recent polls from Fox News show that 72% of voters favor "changing to a government-run healthcare plan.”

People want progressive policies, but they haven’t seen such policies get passed.

Many Americans, as activist Bree Newsome Bass said, “are completely disengaged from the electoral process because they feel that regardless of who is in power, their needs are not met; regardless of who is in power, the police continue to kill us; regardless of who is in power, we do not have access to proper healthcare, we do not have access to housing.”¹

By calling for unity with Republicans—who are actively dismantling our democracy and our rights—Democratic Party leaders are now reinforcing people’s disappointment with the electoral process.

Ignoring our base is a losing strategy, and an immoral one.

Why would we blunt the momentum of our electoral wins by pivoting immediately to unifying with policies that water down crucial policies to save our people's health, livelihoods, and environment?

After Republicans have undermined our democracy for years in favor of racism and concentrated wealth in the hands of the few... After they’ve continually demonstrated their contempt for our Constitution and the American people.

Unity with Republicans means continuing to silence and disenfranchise marginalized Americans who’ve been waiting too long to be heard, like my community.

Here in Michigan’s majority-Black 13th district, people turned out in massive numbers to vote out Trump. My community was in crisis mode before the pandemic, so people here need bold changes, and fast.

That’s what they voted for: change, not more of the same unjust status quo.

As Democracy for America’s CEO Yvette Simpson said: “I want the kind of unity that brings the change that people have been waiting for… We need to serve people first, and that needs to be a unifying message: The Republicans need to be on board with actually taking care of people.”²

Yes!

We’ve got to focus on working class people. We need to acknowledge and address the public’s lack of trust in government, by showing people that their votes and participation matter. That’s what real democracy is about: listening to and actually representing people’s needs.

We are done waiting to be heard or prioritized by the federal government. I won’t let leaders of either party silence my residents’ voices any longer.

That’s why we’ve been working to elect more progressives to the House this year, and to grow our progressive movement. Our squad is growing, inside and outside the halls of Congress.

Together, we’ll push our government to not only tackle the crises the last administration created, but—for the first time in our history—make our country a place of freedom and justice for all. We must also make this planet a habitable place to live for our kids and grandkids.

I will never stop fighting for you, and for what’s possible. Can you chip in to the fight ahead?

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Always serving you,

Rashida