A new message from your friends at People For the American Way.

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[1]Virginia FLIPPED!

PFAW Member,

What a victory!

Before breaking it down a bit, let me start with a big THANK YOU for
everything you contributed! Hundreds of PFAW members volunteered – not
just in Virginia but all around the country. Thousands of you donated to
PFAW’s comprehensive statewide campaign to turn Virginia blue as well as
directly to many of our endorsed candidates.  

We’re thrilled to celebrate the BIG progressive wins in Virginia with you,
where PFAW pulled out all the stops to FLIP both chambers of Virginia’s
General Assembly, giving Democrats control of that state’s legislature for
the first time in nearly a quarter century and paving the way for a new
era of progressive policy and reforms to benefit the people of both
Virginia and the country as a whole. Virginia is now the shining example
of what can happen in the South with sustained investment and work.

Yesterday’s other major victory was Democrat Andy Beshear winning the
governor’s race in Kentucky. This is a state that went for Trump by 30
points … where the Republican incumbent, Matt Bevin, was as Trumpian of a
candidate as you can get … where Trump himself campaigned for Bevin … and
where Republicans themselves tried to make the election a referendum on
impeachment. Trump begged Republican voters in Kentucky to turn out for
Bevin because of how the race would reflect on him personally, saying,
"You can't let that happen to me!"

Trump has until now been largely successful in rallying his base to prop
up Republicans at the state level with pre-election campaign stops in the
deep red states where he is most popular … but Bevin’s far-right attacks
on health care and on teachers made him unpopular, even in deep red
Kentucky, and provided the setting for a critical repudiation of the
“Trump Effect.” Last night’s result in Kentucky has Republicans sweating
today – both because of what it means for the potential weakening of
Trump’s base and because of what it could mean for another disastrously
unpopular Republican who is up for reelection in that state next year:
Mitch McConnell (who just moved up on our 2020 target list!).

Now, back to Virginia!

Yesterday’s victory was years in the making. It was more than just turning
a map from red to blue. It was monumental in what it will mean for the
lives of Virginians and for our national political landscape – with
massive consequences for voting rights, health care, common-sense gun
reform, gerrymandering, abortion access, and so much more. And it was also
historic and drenched in important symbolism.

Virginia wasn’t just a reliably red state going back every modern election
cycle until 2008, it was the capital of the Confederacy … the home of the
ban on interracial marriage that needed to be overturned in Loving v.
Virginia … the home of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and other iconic
members of the radical Religious Right pantheon, as well as their many
universities and institutions … the home of some of the worst attacks on
women and LGBTQ people in the country, including attempted legislation
like the infamous transvaginal ultrasound law and an anti-trans bathroom
ban…

We at PFAW recognized many years ago the potential to create in Virginia a
template for long-term progressive change in America – even in the South.
And we all are eternally grateful that you stood with us, and believed and
invested in this vision. Last night, all the hard work paid off and now
every statewide elected office and the entire legislature in Virginia are
controlled by Democrats. You helped make history.

Thanks to the support of our members like you, we’ve been shining a light
on Virginia every year for many years.

PFAW’s Right Wing Watch had covered extreme right-wing activist E.W.
Jackson for years before he made it onto the Republican ticket as the
GOP’s candidate for lieutenant governor – our research helped defeat him.

When he ran for governor, we exposed Republican Ken Cuccinelli’s ugly
anti-Latino racism that he thought he could get away with because no one
was looking. WE were looking, though, and we were instrumental in
defeating him – in part by turning out the Latino vote.

In the last gubernatorial election, we exposed and defeated Republican
candidate Ed Gillespie who thought he could win by running as just Trump
enough – putting on an establishment, mainstream face for some audiences
while aiming to rile up his base with racist anti-immigrant ads right out
of the Trump playbook.

There will be lots of analysis in the coming days, but let’s be clear,
what we saw last night is that progressivism – especially in the form of a
backlash to Trumpism – is contagious and it even sells in places the
prevailing “conventional wisdom” might not predict. Last night’s results
helped prove that progressives and Democrats need to compete EVERYWHERE.
Democrats ran candidates in far more races than Republicans, in what were
thought of as “safe” districts, and it paid off.

PFAW’s Latinos Vote! program engaged mightily with targeted
Spanish-language radio ads on seven stations, we ran digital ads in 30
competitive districts, we fielded staff and volunteers all over the state,
and hosted phone banks both in our DC office and online for activists
across the country. We’ll be sending more in the coming days on specific
numbers … we’ll tell you about how effective our ads were; how we reached
thousands of voters in the most crucial races by knocking on doors and on
the phone; how we invested in longshot young, progressive candidates who
now will help lead our movement for a generation; how we helped bring
national attention to Virginia’s elections and fire up Democratic
volunteers and donors, including bringing in some celebrity help like with
a visit by PFAW board member Alec Baldwin…

Of course, Virginia is the biggest but not the only great story.
Altogether, we had more than 130 PFAW-endorsed candidates on ballots in 21
states yesterday.

One example is Amelia Parker, a human rights activist and founding member
of the progressive City Council Movement, who won her election for
Knoxville, TN City Council yesterday, helping to comprise the city’s first
women-majority Council. Amelia had run an impressive, yet ultimately
unsuccessful, write-in campaign in the last election in 2017. This year,
through grit and determination, she got on the ballot and won a majority
of the vote. 

Finally, I want to include a few more quick stories from some of our many
key races yesterday:

* In 2017, Republicans held onto a bare majority in Virginia House of
Delegates by one seat in a race that ended up a TIE and needed to be
decided by randomly picking the winner’s name out of a bowl! Far-right
Republican incumbent David Yancey’s name was chosen, but two years
later in their rematch, Democrat Shelly Simonds has FLIPPED THE SEAT!

* One of the star endorsees of PFAW’s Next Up Victory Fund, Del. Danica
Roem – whom we also helped elect in 2017 as the nation’s first openly
transgender person to serve in a state legislature – won reelection
handily, overcoming a torrent of bigoted anti-trans smears from
Virginia Republicans and right-wing groups. Her Republican opponent
was a far-right extremist who had compared same-sex marriage to
slavery. (Thank you for having Danica’s back and for helping her and
PFAW beat back these attacks!)

* Another one of our amazing young progressives we helped elect to the
Virginia House in 2017, Kelly Fowler, held onto her seat after being
targeted by racist attacks from the Virginia GOP that sought to whip
up fear of immigrants and tie Kelly – who is of Latinx heritage – to
violent gang members. (Hundreds of PFAW members donated to Kelly’s
campaign in response to these attacks to help her fight back and PFAW
ran rapid response digital ads to voters in her district!)

* Two of our Next Up-endorsed candidates who flipped critical seats that
will give Democrats their new House majority were Josh Cole and Dan
Helmer, both of whom Alec Baldwin campaigned for when he joined PFAW
for a day of action in Virginia two weeks before Election Day. Josh
Cole had lost his bid for state House in 2017 by a mere 73 votes (and
might have won that year if not for an election administration error
that directed several hundred voters in that district to the wrong
precinct) – this year, your support helped score a decisive victory.
We also put a lot of effort into backing Dan Helmer in one of the most
watched races in the state, and our Next Up Victory Fund 2019 kickoff
rally – featuring Dan, 15 other PFAW-endorsed candidates, as well as
former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, Andrew Gillum, Dolores
Huerta, and others – was hosted in his campaign office!

* When the new Democratic House majority is sworn in, the new Speaker of
the House will be the first woman Speak of the House in Virginia’s
history, the likely Majority Leader will be the first African American
in that post, and the likely Democratic Caucus Chair will be the first
Latino! Once again, when progressives win, diversity wins. This is
what progress looks like. (And, once again, this is VIRGINIA!)

* We had some crucial victories in local, non-state legislative races as
well, like Steve Descano who won his election for Commonwealth’s
Attorney and last night told his supporters:

“Now together, we are bringing criminal justice reform to Fairfax
County. We aren’t going to charge for marijuana possession. We
aren’t going to hold people in jail because they can’t afford bail.
We are going to root out systemic discrimination for people based on
who they are, where they come from or the color of their skin.
Together we will make Fairfax County a more safe and just place for
everyone.”

* Progressive Ghazala Hashmi flipped a Republican-held state Senate seat
to become the first Muslim elected to the Virginia Senate and help
secure the new Democratic majority in that chamber.

* And, last but not least, another Muslim candidate for Senate, Qaism
Rashid, whom we proudly endorsed but who unfortunately fell short in
his longshot bid to flip a seat held by the GOP for decades, showed us
what class looks like as he set an example that, in an ideal world,
would be a standard for political candidates.  Upon hearing that there
was a man at one of the polling places in his district trying to tie
him to “ISIS terrorism,” Qasim stopped by the precinct to talk with
the man. This is how Qasim described the exchange in a Facebook post:

I told him my job is to serve all humanity—not just Democrats—& I
need him to join me in compassion—not fear.

I asked if he would appreciate me tying him to the KKK or Nazis just
because he’s a white male Christian. He said no, and then had no
response when I asked him to think about how I might feel when he
tries to tie me ISIS terrorism.

I told him that should I be fortunate enough to win, my door will
remain open to him. After a short chat he said he understood why his
comment was wrong & hurtful—& apologized.

Compassion through action.

We’ll continue to support amazing candidates like Qasim and all of our
progressive champions who, whether they won or lost, ran to make history
and advance progress yesterday.

THANK YOU for standing with us in this work. And THANK YOU for all of your
support and effort that made yesterday’s victories possible.

Please stay tuned for more of a breakdown of our work in this week’s
elections coming your way within the next few days.

With immense gratitude,

Michael Keegan, President

P.S. This was truly an all-hands-on-deck effort and, in addition to our
members, I wanted to make sure to thank a few key members of the PFAW
family who went above and beyond in pitching in their time and effort to
help achieve these victories. I mentioned Alec Baldwin, but I also want to
recognize the contributions of PFAW board members Dolores Huerta, Cristela
Alonso, and Khizr Khan, as well as PFAW Senior Fellow and former Florida
Democratic nominee for governor Andrew Gillum, who all helped
significantly.

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