Welcome to The Revolution Report — the weekly e-newsletter of our national grassroots organizing network!
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Our Revolution wishes you and your family a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday next week!
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This week’s REVOLUTION REPORT features updates from Georgia, our Top 3 Takeaways from the 2020 elections, breaking election victories and more!
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This week, over 700,000 absentee ballots are hitting mailboxes in Georgia, where the Jan. 5th runoff results will determine control of the US Senate. That’s why Our Revolution is kicking off our Georgia Ground Game Campaign by deploying dozens of grassroots organizers to hit the doors in both urban and rural areas. This weekend, Our Revolution Georgia will be safely canvassing in South Fulton, Georgia — a city that is 90% Black — with Councilman khalid, to boost turnout in this critical election and ditch Mitch!
On Monday, Councilman khalid joined over 80,000 Our Revolution members on our Weekly Organize to Win National Call to discuss our Georgia Ground Game Campaign and what we’re doing to mobilize massive voter turnout. “Black voters matter and we’re going all out to win. Our Revolution Georgia will be partnering with the Movement for Black Lives, unions and other allies to launch a strong field campaign to knock doors, make phone calls and send texts, to register everyone we can and turn out the vote.”
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In addition to on the ground canvassing, Our Revolution has launched our virtual Get Out the Vote phone and text banking operation. The map above represents the distribution of over 50,000 Our Revolution supporters in Georgia - between now and January 5th, our army of grassroots volunteers will be focused on making sure we contact every progressive voter and ramp-up turnout to record levels!
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Volunteer to help make Get-Out-the-Vote phone calls to Georgia! We’ll be holding our next virtual phone bank on this Sunday, Nov. 22nd from 6.30 - 8.30pm EST!
SIGN UP HERE!
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Donate to help us ramp up our GROUND GAME in GEORGIA so we can win the Senate!
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The reality is that more than the Senate hangs in the balance in Georgia. There are important down ballot races, including Daniel Blackman’s run for the Georgia Public Service Commission. Daniel spoke on our Organize to Win National Call about how he’s running to bring a Green New Deal to Georgia and lower energy costs for ratepayers. “Georgia has the 5th highest utility bills in the country, while 1.9 million of its residents are living at or below the poverty line. We must treat environmental issues as social justice issues.”
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Bloomberg’s City Lab writes that while a “blue wave” didn’t sweep over the national elections, progressives scored big wins in down ballot contests. The article quotes University of Virginia Prof. Richard Schragger on his take on the 2020 election - “There’s a dramatic progressive turn taking place on the local level.” We totally agree. During the 2020 election cycle, Our Revolution endorsed 450 progressive champions - 88% of in down ballot races - and over 74% prevailed!
We analyzed our strong win rate and identified our Top 3 Takeaways from the 2020 elections that demonstrate that the progressive movement has momentum.
Takeaway #1 is that progressives are beating Democratic establishment picks in tight races. In San Francisco, for example, Our Revolution: San Francisco Berniecrats volunteers helped Connie Chan win her race against the mayor’s machine candidate by just 123 votes, and Our Revolution in Contra Costa CA powered Ellie Householder’s bid to take out an 8-year incumbent to become the next Antioch City Clerk with only 29 votes to spare. These tight margins indicate that when it comes to taking on corporate-backed candidates, our grassroots organizing plays a decisive role.
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Takeaway #2 is that our progressive candidates are beating Republicans at the local level. For example, Our Revolution Maine helped 28-year-old Chloe Maxim defeat a two-term Republican incumbent in a rural state senate district, and Our Illinois Revolution helped Eric Rhinehardt beat the sitting Republican “tough on crime” State’s Attorney in Lake County. In addition, progressives who flipped GOP districts in 2018 - like State Rep. Courtney Neron in Oregon and State Rep. Anne Stava-Murray in Illinois - held on to their seats in 2020 with comfortable margins.
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And Takeaway #3 is that our progressive policies are more popular than ever, even in states that went red this election cycle. In Florida, for example, even though Trump carried the state with 51% of the vote, a measure raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour passed with 61% of the vote; in Colorado, paid leave won more votes than Biden; and drug decriminalization measures also proved to be more popular than presidential candidates in places like Arizona and Montana.
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The right wing commentariat is having a full meltdown as we score down ballot victories. This week, The Heartland Institute’s post-election report sounded the alarm that Our Revolution and the rest of “the far-left progressive and socialist wings of the Democratic Party gained significant ground in 2020 compared to previous elections, and that a greater proportion than ever of legislative seats will be filled by far-left progressives or socialists in 2021 and 2022.”
Stop it, Heartland Institute, you are making us blush.
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Our Revolution Arizona helped elect Gabriella Cázares-Kelly to be the first new county recorder in Pima in almost three decades, and the first indigenous woman to hold elected office in the county’s history. She campaigned on making voting more accessible and addressing systemic issues around voter access, suppression and disenfranchisement, especially in communities of color.
Across the nation, 57% of our candidates won their races for city and county positions.
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Our Revolution Florida helped criminal justice reformer Monique Worrell beat her “law and order” opponent in the race for Orange-Osceola state attorney. “Now, the real work begins,” she said in a statement on Facebook. “Reshaping our justice system is a huge undertaking that will require your ongoing support and enthusiasm. Please stay involved and help me build the fair and just system we deserve.”
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Our Revolution Ohio helped Charmaine McGuffey defeat a pro-Trump sheriff with 52% of the vote. During her campaign, McGuffey described herself as a progressive who would focus on “rehabilitative, rather than punitive strategies” to reduce recidivism. She will become the first openly gay sheriff in department history.
Overall, Our Revolution’s slate of criminal justice reform champions won 75% of their races!
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Our Revolution California helped Alex Lee make history when he won California’s 25th District Assembly race on Nov. 3rd. At 25, he’ll become California’s youngest Asian American state legislator ever, the first openly bisexual state legislator and the first assembly member from Generation Z.
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Anne Stava-Murray upset an incumbent GOP state representative by less than 1,000 votes in 2018. As a legislator Stava-Murray earned the Our Illinois Revolution endorsement for her stands on issues from gun safety to healthcare as well as being a strong voice for political reform. Although she was outspent 2 to 1, Anne Stava-Murray won re-election to her seat by over 5 points in 2020 and is currently among the group of Democratic leaders in the Illinois House opposing Democratic Boss Mike Madigan’s continued tenure as Speaker of the House.
Nationwide, over 81% of Our Revolution’s candidates won in state-level races!
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While centrist Democrats lost ground in the Senate and the House, progressives won big on Election Day. We helped to send Squad members – Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) back to Congress -- and grow the Squad with victories for Cori Bush in Missouri, Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones in New York, and Marie Newman in Illinois. Overall, 76% of our federal candidates won their races!
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Our Revolution Arizona worked with the “Red for Ed” movement to pass Proposition 208, one of the most progressve tax measures in the country that will provide $1 Billion in new education funding. The ballot measure, which was approved by a very thin margin despite tens of millions of dollars spent to defeat it, adds a 3.5% surcharge to taxable income for individual filers who make more than $250,000 or for couples who bring home more than $500,000.
Nationwide, 76% of Our Revolution's endorsed ballot measures won, proving our issues are popular across the country.
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In our post-election survey, Our Revolution members overwhelmingly agree that President Joe Biden must use executive action to make key progressive changes - beginning on Day One.
88% of Our Revolution members said that Biden should bypass Congress - which may or may not swing to the Democrats - and sign executive orders to create policies that just can’t wait. From the moment he takes office, Biden should use the power of the pen to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $15 per hour, declare the climate crisis a national emergency — and more.
In addition to leading with bold executive action, our members also want President Biden to turn his promises into policy on these Top 6 issues:
#1- Climate Crisis. The survey results show that Our Revolution members are deeply concerned about our planet’s future. Our members want Joe Biden to keep his promises to end federal government fossil fuel subsidies and push for a massive jobs bill that includes significant infrastructure investments as the foundation of a Green New Deal.
#2 - Health Care. While Medicare for All is the ultimate goal of Our Revolution, the survey shows our members want to hold Biden accountable for creating a public option, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 60.
#3 - Corporate Power. Our members want Biden to lead on getting money out of politics and challenging corporate power. A key way President Biden can accomplish that is by reversing Reagan-era policies and strengthening antitrust enforcement against corporate monopolies.
#4 - Income and Wealth Inequality. Our survey showed that our members want Biden to fight against economic inequality by holding him accountable to enacting a $15 minimum wage, protecting the freedom of workers to form unions, and deliver immediate economic relief — similar to the HEROES Act — to struggling workers and their families.
#5 - Criminal Justice Reform. Our members want criminal justice reform to be a priority for the Biden Administration, and that means using his power to end private prisons, cash bail, mandatory-minimum sentencing and the death penalty.
#6 - Immigrant Rights. The survey also showed high support for President Biden to undo the damage done to immigrants and our values as a nation by four years of Donald Trump’s shameful policies - beginning with ending the caging and separation of families and creating a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
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Our Revolution joined thousands of members of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) from coast to coast on Nov. 17th to protest Trump’s Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s ongoing attacks on the U.S. Postal Service and demand the US Senate pass a $25 Billion COVID relief package. As part of the #SaveThePostOffice Day of Action, Our Revolution members held nearly a dozen actions and press events - broadcast LIVE on our Facebook page - outside postal facilities in Washington DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Colorado, Texas, Indiana and Georgia. Before the action, APWU President Mark Dimondstein joined our Weekly Organize to Win National Call to brief our members on what’s at stake.
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Thanks to the grassroots organizing work of Our Illinois Revolution: Will County Progressives, the electrical service provider Ameren will not disconnect any services during the winter months. Our groups organized on behalf of their neighbors to make sure no one loses power because they can't pay their bills during the pandemic.
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Our Revolution Somerville is mobilizing in support of workers’ rights in Massachusetts. This summer, our members got the city to enact a new wage theft ordinance and recently helped win over $100,000 in grant funding to set-up a new Workers’ Center to educate workers about labor laws. Our members are also calling on the State Senate to pass emergency paid sick time legislation to aid 1.8 million workers.
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Days after the passage of New Jersey's Cannabis Legalization ballot measure, the State Senate tried to rush through a regulatory framework that favors corporate growers and the police, instead of communities most harmed by cannabis prohibition. Thanks to Our Revolution New Jersey’s early action - launching a petition with a clear list of demands, generating hundreds of calls to senators, and providing written testimony to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the state legislature has slowed their process and begun adding racial-justice focused amendments to the legislation.
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Led by its Lower Shore Progressive Caucus chapter, Our Revolution Maryland is leading the fight to stop the Del-Mar pipeline proposed for Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Rather than pivot to the Eastern Shore’s abundant clean green solar and wind power, Maryland Republicans - led by Governor Larry Hogan - are doubling-down on dirty fossil fuels. The pipeline would transport fracked Pennsylvania natural gas through environmentally critical wetlands and less affluent black and brown communities. Our activists organized a campaign to send over 450 emails to members of Maryland’s Board of Works warning that risks of a catastrophic leak or deadly explosion have been minimized, as well as the lost opportunity to reduce dependence on climate crisis-causing fossil fuels.
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We are thankful this season for all our volunteers and donors for your solidarity and commitment. Together, we are building a powerful independent political organization that is organizing to win in 2021 and beyond!
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