Welcome to The Revolution Report — the weekly e-newsletter of our national grassroots organizing network!
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Don’t miss the last National Organize to Win Call of the year on Monday, December 14th at 8:30pm EST!
We’ll get updates from Georgia and talk about our plan to hold Biden accountable on progressive priorities like climate change and health care from Sen. Jeff Merkley, Rep. Ro Khanna, Our Revolution Chair Larry Cohen, newly elected District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez of Athens, Georgia and former Bernie 2020 co-chair Nina Turner!
RSVP HERE
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In this week’s REVOLUTION REPORT: Sen. Ed Markey on why Georgia is must-win, Rep. Jamie Raskin on marijuana legalization, updates from Georgia and more!
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Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts joined over 100,000 Our Revolution activists on this week’s National Organize to Win Call to talk about why we need to go all out to win the two Georgia Senate races up for grabs on Jan. 5th. But first, he started by thanking Our Revolution for organizing to help him win his primary. “Our Revolution was there, having my back, as I ran on Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and justice for all.” He predicted the Georgia races will be “excruciatingly close” but believes we have a “very real chance” of winning both seats, as long as Our Revolution volunteers get involved and get out the vote. “You’ve already done so much this year and made such a difference. But there’s so much riding on this. We do not want Mitch McConnell to block hearings on all the issues we care about.” You can answer Sen. Markey’s call to volunteer by helping to make Georgia GOTV calls here!
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GEORGIA PLAN TO WIN
Our Revolution is carrying out our strategic plan to win Georgia. 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 are focused on getting-out-the-vote with progressives through our canvassing, phone and text banking operations. Read more below about our canvassing operation in Georgia!
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GEORGIA GROUND GAME
A key part of our Georgia organizing strategy is the ground game. The Washington Post recently wrote that “Democrats would have won bigger [in 2020] if they knocked on doors.” Our Revolution won’t let the political consultant class make the same mistake twice. That’s why Our Revolution onboarded experienced local organizers in Georgia to lead teams of volunteers to conduct safe daily canvasses. We’re knocking on every door in targeted rural and urban areas to boost turnout to record levels. Early voting starts on Monday, and Joe Biden is campaigning there next week. With new polls showing Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock - the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church - leading GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler, and Democrat Jon Ossoff ahead of Sen. David Perdue by very slim margins - we’ll need every vote to get both candidates over the finish line.
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Our Revolution Georgia volunteers are knocking on doors in Gwinnett and Fulton Counties - the two most populous counties in the state - to get out the vote for Jan. 5th. Michelle Sanchez reported on our National Organize to Win Call that she’s been leading Covid-safe canvasses and knocked on over 5,000 doors so far, handing out fliers and reminding Georgians that there's another critical election coming up. “A lot of people thought the election was over,” Michelle said. “That’s why it’s so important for us to be on the doors to clear up confusion and to let people know that early voting starts next week. We’re also educating voters about what’s at stake - we’ve spoken with lifelong Republicans who are voting Democratic for the first time because they agree with us that the stakes are too high to vote for a party that doesn’t believe in American democracy.“
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Our Revolution Massachusetts (ORMA) member Henry Wortis says Georgia is “one fight we have to win.” That’s why he joined with other ORMA leaders to launch a fundraising campaign to encourage local members to chip in and “adopt an Our Revolution organizer” to do on-the-ground organizing in Georgia. To date, ORMA members have raised over $3,000 to mobilize voters in the Peach State!
Thank you, Our Revolution Massachusetts!
You can support ORMA's "adopt an Our Revolution organizer" fundraiser by contributing here!
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GEORGIA GOTV PHONE BANK
In addition to our ground game, hundreds of Our Revolution volunteers have been hitting the phones to have deep organizing conversations with Georgia voters about issues that matter to them and help them register to vote, request absentee ballots, and educate them about the voting process. In just three weeks, we’ve called over 65,000 Georgians! Meet a few of our phone bankers below.
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Join us and volunteer to help make Get-Out-the-Vote phone calls everyday starting Sunday, December 13th from 6:30 - 8:30pm EST!
SIGN UP HERE!
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DONATE NOW to help us ramp-up our phone bank and canvass operations in Georgia!
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Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin joined our Monday Organize to Win Call with an update on the MORE Act, a historic bill passed by the House last week that decriminalizes cannabis. Noting that two-thirds of Americans favor decriminalization or legalization of cannabis, and that most Americans live in states that have already legalized or decriminalized it, Rep. Raskin said, “House Democrats are finally catching up with the rest of the country, while the vast majority of Republicans continue to stand with the failed war on drugs and oppose any marijuana drug law reform.” Our Revolution partnered with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to generate tens of thousands of constituent letters to members of Congress and helped get several more Democrats to sign-on and support the legislation!
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Our Revolution is working with Rep. Rashida Tlaib to demand Congress include #DirectCashRelief to people and families in upcoming COVID relief legislation. Nearly 800,000 people are applying for unemployment each week. And as with the public health crisis, our economic crisis is hitting Black and brown communities especially hard. Since April, Republicans in the Senate have blocked the many COVID relief bills that Democrats have passed in the House to address these connected crises. Right now, Congress is working toward an agreement that could actually pass the Senate - and we are demanding that any deal must include direct cash relief for working families.
ADD YOUR NAME HERE
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Between the Lines, a nationally syndicated radio show, interviewed Our Revolution Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese on the “battle” over Biden’s naming centrist corporate-backed candidates to key posts in his new Administration: “The Democratic party is funded by corporate donations and you’re seeing a revolving door. When we look at Biden’s appointments, people who worked for Black Rock or large military contractors are going into government. Democrats should be on the side of draining the swamp and not aligning ourselves with corporate interests that want to privatize and plunder our government. And what we’re doing at Our Revolution is really trying to push back and hold Biden accountable.”
LISTEN HERE
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After a “blue wave” failed to materialize in November and as millions of Americans continue to struggle in the Covid economy, Our Revolution and other progressive groups are calling on Democrats to focus on economic issues. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Our Revolution Campaigns and Communications Director Paco Fabián about how the election results show that progressive economic policies are popular. In Florida, which went for Trump, voters passed a $15 minimum wage and in Arizona, where Biden narrowly won, voters approved a wealth tax to raise teacher salaries. For down-ballot Democrats, “the results could have been different if Biden wasn’t focused on just running against Trump and Covid but talking about pocketbook issues.”
READ MORE HERE
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While a “blue wave” didn’t sweep over the national elections, Our Revolution scored big wins in down ballot contests according to Fox News. The story was based on research by the conservative think tank Heartland Institute, which found that “far-left progressives and socialists gained ‘significant’ ground in the 2020 election compared to the midterms.” The institute tracked candidates endorsed by Our Revolution and two other progressive groups and concluded: “Of the 266 far-left or socialist candidates evaluated in the races, nearly 90% won.” Our own analysis confirms that progressives are gaining ground at the local level. During the 2020 election cycle, Our Revolution endorsed 450 progressive champions - 88% of in down ballot races - and over 74% prevailed!
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Suzanna Ibarra, co-chair of Our Illinois Revolution and her group, Will County Progressives, helped oust a 28-year incumbent and get a slate of progressives nominated in a primary caucus to lead the Township of Joliet, Illinois. Despite shenanigans by the incumbents to depress their turnout, volunteers were able to deliver 3 times more people to the caucus than the establishment machine and win over 60% of the vote. Our Revolution members nominated for office — and our first endorsements for 2021 — include Angel Contreras (township supervisor); Alicia Morales (township clerk); Vincent Alessio (township highway commissioner); and Ranisha Brown, Cesar Escutia, Karl Ferrell, and Suzanna Ibarra (township trustees). The group’s message: “We beat the establishment, and if we can do it here, we can do it at the county and state levels, too.”
READ MORE HERE
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This week, Our Revolution New Jersey joined with a statewide progressive coalition to launch the Better Ballots NJ campaign – to redesign the state’s primary ballots and give non-establishment candidates a fair shot. Currently, New Jersey’s primary ballots are designed to favor candidates listed on a “county line” - a list of party-endorsed candidates that has a prime location on the ballot. According to a Rutgers University study, candidates listed on the “county line” had an average 35 percentage point advantage in New Jersey’s 2020 primary. Very few progressive challengers can overcome such a large deficit, which helps explain why no New Jersey congressional incumbent with the line has lost a primary in at least 50 years.
READ MORE HERE
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Texas is number one in the nation for uninsured residents, and Our Revolution Texas is working to change that by leading the fight to pass Healthy Texas, a statewide Medicare for All initiative. On a recent ORTX call, our members launched a campaign to recruit state representatives to co-sponsor the bill. They were joined by Texas House Reps. Anna Maria Ramos, Terry Meza, and Jasmine Crockett.
To learn more, visit HealthyTexasAct.org
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Thomas Quay Williams, an Our Revolution Colorado activist, has begun the filing process to put a complete fracking ban on the ballot for 2022. Williams says the arguments of 2018 — that it’ll cost the state millions in lost revenue as well as thousands of jobs — don’t stand up anymore. “Our economy is based so much on tourism, high tech and quality of life that the oil and gas industry is threatening the rest of the economy,” he says. “They have no leg to stand on; not economics, not environmentally and not science.”
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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On Thursday, Our Revolution Maryland's Lower Shore Progressive Caucus held its Delmarva Rising event with Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewksi, Maryland House Majority Leader Eric Luedtke, and State Delegates Brooke Lierman and David Moon. A major topic was bridging the so-called “urban/rural divide” and how progressives can compete in rural and agricultural areas like Maryland's Eastern Shore. Michele Gregory, a member of the Salisbury City Council and an Our Revolution Maryland/Lower Shore Progressive Caucus leader, said "Rural issues are progressive issues. The things that rural Americans are dealing with on a daily basis are what progressives are fighting for every single day."
WATCH THE EVENT HERE
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Get involved and help us build the political revolution!
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Join Our Wisconsin Revolution’s Statewide Organize to Win Meeting this coming Tuesday! Topics will include “Wall Street vs. Main Street” and how we’re going to bring the political revolution to the Badger State in 2021.
RSVP HERE
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With New York City elections happening in 2021, Our Revolution / New York Progressive Action Network (NYPAN) is joining with other groups to host the Manhattan Borough President Candidate Forum this Wednesday!
RSVP HERE
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We are thankful to all our volunteers and donors for your solidarity and commitment to transformational movement building. Together, we are building a powerful independent political organization that is organizing to win in 2021 and beyond!
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