Dear fellow MoveOn member,
Early voting has already begun in 15 states, including Arizona, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, four presidential battleground states where Trump-backed election deniers are running to take over the key state-level office that oversees elections.1,2
This week, voting will begin in Nevada and Ohio, two more states with MAGA election deniers running for secretary of state.
I can't overstate how extreme and dangerous these candidates are.
We're talking about people who participated in the January 6 insurrection and are openly saying they would not have certified the 2020 presidential election. In some cases, they've already said they will throw out votes and appoint fake electors in 2024 to help Trump steal the White House.3
But because the mainstream media is giving these down-ballot races so little attention, too many voters won't have any idea who these candidates are when they head to the polls. That's why my friends at MoveOn have launched a major ad campaign, including phone banks, text messages, new-school digital ads, and old-school snail mail flyers to alert voters to these critical races.
Here's the problem: I've just gotten word from MoveOn's budget team that they've fallen short of the amount of money they planned to raise to fully fund this effort, and they need a major influx of donations right now.
So please, before it's too late, will you start a $3 weekly donation through Election Day to help stop Trump's election deniers from taking over our elections? (MoveOn will bill your weekly donation to your credit card once a month starting today and will contact you shortly after the election to see if you want to modify or cancel your weekly donation.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't chip in weekly.
Friends, in my 50 years in politics, I've never been more terrified for our democracy.
I don't know how to put it more clearly: January 6 wasn't an isolated incident. It was a dress rehearsal. It will happen again.
In fact, it's already happening in slow motion right in front of us, with Trump's election deniers running to take over the offices that count votes and will certify the results of the 2024 election.
In Arizona, secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, a proud member of the white supremacist Oath Keepers militia, attended the January 6 insurrection and introduced a resolution to decertify President Biden's victory in the state.4
In Nevada, secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant claims that elections in the state have been rigged for decades by a "deep state cabal" and has openly said that he would use fake electors to overturn a Democratic victory in the 2024 election.5
In Michigan, Republicans are running Kristina Karamo, who signed onto a lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election based on baseless voter fraud claims.6 In Pennsylvania, where the governor appoints the secretary of state, the Republican candidate for governor paid for buses to take insurrectionists to Washington, D.C., on January 6 and introduced legislation to overturn the election.7
We must alert voters to this threat to democracy. If even one or two of these anti-democracy candidates is able to take over the administration of our elections, it will put the legitimacy of the 2024 presidential election in severe danger.
Will you chip in $3 a week through Election Day to help fund MoveOn's campaign to save our democracy and stop Trump's election deniers from stealing the 2024 election? (MoveOn will bill your weekly donation to your credit card once a month starting today and will contact you shortly after the election to see if you want to modify or cancel your weekly donation.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't chip in weekly.
MoveOn's plan to warn voters about these candidates is brilliant because it covers all the bases.
We know, for instance, that young voters get most of their news online, and so they've put together highly targeted digital ads to reach voters through apps, websites, and social media. But many older voters are still best reached through the good old U.S. Postal Service, so MoveOn is using snail mail as well.
Similarly, they're using phone banks to call older voters who still answer landline phones and text messages for the growing number of younger voters who use only cell phones and screen calls.
But with voting already underway, we have no time to waste.
Seven in 10 Republicans believe that Donald Trump was the legitimate winner in 2020.8 Last Sunday, Trump bragged at a rally about the crowd size on January 6, and his audience cheered.9 This is how a democracy dies.
With the mainstream media largely ignoring these critical secretary of state races, it's up to us to alert the voters.
Please donate $3 a week—or whatever you can—through Election Day to help stop Trump's election deniers from taking over our democracy. (MoveOn will bill your weekly donation to your credit card once a month starting today and will contact you shortly after the election to see if you want to modify or cancel your weekly donation.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't chip in weekly.
Thanks for all you do.
–Robert Reich
Sources:
1. "Early In-Person Voting," National Conference of State Legislatures, August 30, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/168971?t=8&akid=335966%2E40999114%2ERX8g1h
2. "Election Deniers in Secretary of State Races," States United Democracy Center, October 1, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/168732?t=10&akid=335966%2E40999114%2ERX8g1h
3. "At least 11 Republican nominees for state elections chief have disputed the legitimacy of the 2020 election," CNN, August 19, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/166771?t=12&akid=335966%2E40999114%2ERX8g1h
4. "Arizona House bill to 'decertify' 2020 results 'could effectively recall the Biden electors.'" PolitiFact, February 11, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/168972?t=14&akid=335966%2E40999114%2ERX8g1h
5. "At least 11 Republican nominees for state elections chief have disputed the legitimacy of the 2020 election," CNN, August 19, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/166771?t=16&akid=335966%2E40999114%2ERX8g1h
6. Ibid.
7. "In Mastriano's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, a chilling template for future races," The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 14, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/168973?t=18&akid=335966%2E40999114%2ERX8g1h
8. "Most Republicans still falsely believe Trump's stolen election claims," PolitiFact, June 14, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/168974?t=20&akid=335966%2E40999114%2ERX8g1h
9. "Donald Trump Praises Jan. 6 Crowd as 'Biggest I've Ever Seen' During Rally," Newsweek, October 9, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/168975?t=22&akid=335966%2E40999114%2ERX8g1h
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No, I'm sorry, I can't chip in weekly.
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