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Indivisibles,

On Monday, Rachel Maddow praised Indivisible activists for doing “some of
the most practical, strategically interesting organizing in the country.”

Specifically, she was talking about the campaign we officially launched on
Tuesday: [ [link removed] ]The Unrepresentative 18.

In short, it’s our blueprint for shining a light on MAGA extremism in the
House and those quietly enabling it -- in order to defeat vulnerable
Republicans and ultimately restore our Democratic trifecta (then abolish
the filibuster, codify Roe, pass democracy reform, etc).

But this is a big campaign, so a short explanation will hardly do. That’s
why we encourage you to read Ezra’s launch email below if you missed it on
Tuesday. And once you’re done (or right now, if you’re ready!), we hope
you’ll do two things:

 1. [ [link removed] ]Visit our new campaign site and sign up to get involved. This
campaign focuses on the 18 districts Biden won that are currently held
by Republicans. But you don’t need to live in one of those districts
to play a part. We’ll provide opportunities to get involved throughout
the campaign, no matter which district you call home.
 2. [ [link removed] ]Chip in to help us get this campaign off the ground. We’re trying
to make the ‘Unrepresentative 18’ famous in their districts for siding
with megadonors and MAGA whackadoodles over their constituents. That’s
going to require a lot of on the ground organizing, events that get
earned media, and -- frankly -- funding. Please chip in to give our
groups in these districts the resources they need to do this work.

OK, on to Ezra’s email (and the Maddow clip, which is very worth
watching)!

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ezra Levin
Date: Tue, Mar 7, 2023
Subject: The Unrepresentative 18

Indivisibles,

It's Launch Day here at Indivisible, and I couldn't be more excited to
bring you in on our plans to defeat the MAGA Majority and retake the House
in 2024. You may have already heard me share the news last night on Rachel
Maddow, but today, we are officially launching [ [link removed] ]The Unrepresentatives --
our plan to take on the 18 most vulnerable Republican representatives by
exposing their extremism, holding them accountable and defeating them.

[ [link removed] ]A splitscreen from the Rachel Maddow Show. On the left Rachel maddow is
speaking, on the right Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin is listening. A
chyron at the bottom of the screen reads: Indivisible to launch campign on
Unrepresentative 18

For a succinct version of our campaign, watch Rachel, then visit our new
campaign site [ [link removed] ]unrepresentative18.org and if you’re able, [ [link removed] ]chip in to
help support the work. But if you want to get into the nuts and bolts,
read on!

Meet the 18

Marjorie Taylor Greene and similar MAGAs grab much of the press. Most of
the national media attention these days focuses on those right-wing
wackadoodles like Marjorie Taylor Greene. Fox News and other GOP
propaganda operations are full of politicians like Greene from safely
gerrymandered Republican districts trying to out-MAGA each other. The
national media eats it up because these people are ridiculous, must-watch
TV! If you read an article or see a broadcast of a congressional
Republican spouting an outlandish quote on the issue of the day, nine
times out of ten, it’s gonna be from one of these safe district MAGAs.

Meanwhile, the actual majority-makers of the MAGA House hide from the
headlines.

While Greene’s rants to Tucker Carlson give us a sense of the dystopian
clown show driving Kevin McCarthy’s majority, that’s not the whole story.
The members who are actually propping up the GOP House majority are hiding
behind the curtain -- politically scared, maybe a little nauseous,
desperately avoiding attention, and just as responsible for the mess we’re
in as are the MTGs of the world. 

To understand this, you really just need simple math. There are not enough
Marjorie Taylor Greenes from safe GOP districts to produce a House
majority. Kevin McCarthy’s speakership is built on a small but significant
number of Republicans representing Democratic-leaning districts. We can
put a precise number on that -- we call them the Unrepresentative 18. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a dangerous but entertaining headline-chasing
bozo. But it’s these Unrepresentative 18 who give her the power to
actually endanger our democracy, menace our economy, and threaten our
freedoms. After all, on average, they vote with her 95% of the time.
9️⃣5️⃣%!

To get reelected, the Unrepresentative 18 have to keep their own
constituents in the dark. These 18 Unrepresentatives are spread across
eight geographically, demographically, and politically diverse states, but
they all share one basic political reality: Biden won their districts in
2020. Each of these Republicans is running for reelection in a district
heavily favored to vote Democratic next year. And each of them shares the
same three-step strategy for reelection:

 1. Raise a ton of money from right-wing donors
 2. Vote the way these donors want (otherwise you don’t get the money,
silly!)
 3. Fool their constituents into believing that they have nothing to do
with extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene

Here’s a fun challenge for you: look through [ [link removed] ]the list of the
Unrepresentative 18 and without Googling tell me if you recognize more
than one. I bet you’ve heard of George Santos -- he’s all over the news
for his ridiculously corrupt shenanigans -- click, watch, retweet (I know
I have!). But the rest of the 18 are not household names. Few Americans
have ever even heard of them. And that’s by design. 

Yes, these members side with Marjorie Taylor Greene on almost every vote.
But they don’t advertise that fact. They don’t go on Fox News to embrace a
national default or a federal abortion ban, or to spout pro-Putin talking
points. They keep a low profile. They raise a boatload of money. And they
try to distance themselves -- in style and presentation, if not with their
votes -- from Marjorie Taylor Greene and her virulently MAGA buddies. You
probably haven’t heard of them because they don’t want you to hear about
them.

Our Strategy: A Case Study from NY-17

One of the men behind the curtain: [ [link removed] ]the Unrepresentative Mike Lawler
(NY-17). Let’s pluck one example out from the 18 -- New York's 17th
congressional district, just north of New York City. It’s a district
that’s been represented by Democrats for about 40 years. Biden won it,
Hillary Clinton won it, Obama won it twice, Kerry won it, Gore won it,
Bill Clinton won it twice. It’s not a “swing” district by most
definitions.

But in 2022, a Republican won the district by the skin of his teeth -- a
Republican by the name of Mike Lawler. What’s that? You’ve never heard of
Mike Lawler? Of course you haven’t! He doesn’t want you to know his name,
because Lawler isn’t a complete idiot. He knows he has to run for
reelection next year in a district Biden won by more than 10 points. He
knows he’s got only one path for political survival: to lay low, raise a
ton of money from right-wing donors, vote the way those donors want, and
then do his damndest to convince his constituents to ignore his voting
record.

Lawler, like the rest of the 18 Unrepresentatives, has to build his
reelection strategy around keeping his constituents in the dark, hiding
the fact that his votes directly empower MAGA extremists to do terrible,
unpopular things. 

Defeat the dark with some light: a case study in effective, local, public
pressure. So how do we cure Congress of these ills? Sunlight is the best
disinfectant. And we saw a real world example of that just this past
weekend.

This past Saturday, Speaker McCarthy flew into New York 17th for a big
fundraiser. Lawler joined him. This was not a public event -- Lawler was
just trying to raise a lot of money behind closed doors. But rather than a
quiet fundraiser that escaped any public attention, Lawler had some
unwelcome visitors: his own damn constituents. Indivisible members from
Rockland United, Indivisible YorktownNY, Indivisible Westchester joined
together with some stellar organizers from [ [link removed] ]NY Working Families Party.
They brought signs asking Lawler to not default on the debt, and to not
cut Social Security or Medicare. It was a simple, effective message -- so
much so that it made the local news: [ [link removed] ]Potential cuts to government
spending draws protesters to Armonk fundraiser.

As a result of the work and their press coverage, more of Lawler’s
constituents know that he’s buddying up with Kevin McCarthy for
high-dollar fundraisers with right-wing donors. It was so bad for him that
Lawler had to release a statement saying he would refuse to vote for cuts
to Social Security or Medicare. Score one for team constituent pressure.

Rinse and repeat to limit MAGA damage and rebuild the Democratic trifecta.
This is exactly the kind of local attention that the 18 Unrepresentatives
want to avoid. They don’t want to be held accountable for empowering MAGA.
But if we’re going to limit the harm done by Kevin McCarthy’s House and
ultimately retake control of Congress, that’s exactly what we have to do:
shine a light on what they want to keep in the dark. That means asking the
tough questions at the right time to the right people.

* Will the United States go into default this summer? Ask the 18
Unrepresentatives.
* Will the federal government shut down this fall? Ask the 18
Unrepresentatives.
* Will the House pass a national abortion ban? Ask the 18
Unrepresentatives.
* Will Congress cut Social Security or Medicare? Ask the 18
Unrepresentatives.

Ready to join us?

This won’t happen unless we make it happen -- and everybody can help. We
can’t just hope these questions are asked, we have to actively do the
work. For our part, Indivisible launched the Unrepresentative 18 to make
sure these questions get asked loudly, repeatedly, and authentically by
the folks who have the most ability to impact things: the constituents in
these districts. We’ll be working with local Indivisible groups to bring a
little bit of light to the darkness that MAGA would like to spread in
these districts. 

So if you’re in one of these 18 Unrepresentative districts, [ [link removed] ]time to
get busy! And if you’re not in one of these districts but want to help,
[ [link removed] ]it’s still time to get busy. Huge thanks to all of you who have
already chipped in -- since last night's announcement, we've received a
swell of support from hundreds of donors around the country. 

This is one of Indivisible’s top campaigns for the next two years, and
we’re going to need all the help we can get to hold these
Unrepresentatives accountable. So if you have the capacity to chip in and
help launch this campaign, [ [link removed] ]please give what you can. Let’s shine some
light in the dark together.

In solidarity,

Ezra

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