From navigating through the trials of default crises to the anxieties of potential government shutdowns, we have nurtured our gardens of activism over the past year. Now, it’s time to come together once more and fortify our collective strength at the Indivisible Rural Caucus 2023 Summit, where we will “Grow Your Power.”
Event Details:
Date: November 18th
Start Time: 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT
End Time: 6:30 PM ET / 3:30 PM PT
Join us for this exciting summit by registering here:
We are unbelievably excited to announce our keynote speakers for this year’s Rural Summit: Jess Piper, Executive Director of Blue Missouri and host of the Dirt Road Democrat podcast, and Rep. Zooey Zephyr, Montana State Representative and trans rights champion. Jess and Zooey personify what it means to stand strong in our values in red states and rural areas.
Summit Highlights:
Reigniting the Press: Indivisible’s Press Team will be on hand to redefine the art of getting press coverage in rural areas. We’ll refresh on best practices and spotlight local groups that have taken the initiative to create their own press outlets. Learn how to amplify your voice and make your message heard.
Debunking Myths: Join the Indivisible Truth Brigade as they dissect myths and narratives about rural America in pop culture and country music. It’s time to challenge misconceptions and build a more accurate understanding of our communities.
Creating “Good Trouble”: The Indivisible Training Team will present a new strategy for creating “Good Trouble” that has the potential to reduce harm in red districts where detrimental legislation threatens vulnerable populations. Learn how to be a positive force for change in your community.
Networking Opportunities: We will provide networking moments throughout the summit, allowing you to connect with like-minded individuals who are doing remarkable things in small spaces. Share ideas, collaborate, and expand your network.
Join the Raucous Rural Caucus on November 18th, as we harvest the fruits of this year and sow the seeds for 2024!
Thanks,
The Rural Caucus Team (Rachelle, Molly, Natalie, Cameron and Scott)
Indivisible Project PO Box 43884 Washington, DC 20010 United States
First – I wanted to let you know that we will be closing our office next week in celebration of Thanksgiving and to give our team a well deserved break to rest and recharge after a successful election cycle and in advance of 2024! Whether you are traveling far, or staying right here in Washington State we want to wish you a happy and restful Thanksgiving with friends, family, and the people you care about most. 2024 will be a sprint and it’s important we all charge our batteries now so we can be ready to support Democrats at every level!
Second – With over 99% of ballots counted, we are very close to having a final picture of this year’s results – and we wanted to walk you through outcomes for our most closely watched races.
A few words on turnout. At this point we are showing a statewide turnout of 36.13% which will trend slightly higher when all is said and done. While not the record breaking turnout we aim for every cycle, this is solid performance for an odd-numbered year and tracks closely with the past several election cycles. With that being said, we need to pick up the pace heading into 2024 and are doing all we can to launch a robust and effective turnout program statewide!
Here’s where results stand in major elections – we’ve noted where races have been called, as well as results we expect will hold:
In Spokane – I’m pleased to announce that Lisa Brown has won with 51.7% of the vote and will be the next Mayor of Spokane and the first Democrat to hold that seat since 2011! Betsy Wilkerson, Paul Dillon, and Kitty Klitzke have also secured strong victories. Every vote matters!
In Pierce County – We’re so excited that Jamika Scott and Olgy Diaz (former WA Dems staff) have secured victory on the Tacoma City Council!
In Snohomish County – Susanna Johnson has defeated her MAGA opponent in the Sheriff’s race, with 51.5% of total votes
In SW Washington – Most of our targeted Democratic candidates have won handily, with Democratic stalwart Don Orange bringing in a particularly strong 68.9% in his race for re-election for Port of Vancouver. Democratic enthusiasm is alive and well in Clark County and we are ready to utilize every ounce of momentum in next year’s contest for CD 3!
In Central WA – while we were unable to carry the Yakima City Council for Democrats, we have two bright spots in Sunnyside, where Keren Vazquez and Julie Hart are winning by 153 and 121 votes respectively. While this may not sound like much, races in this city frequently come down to margins in the single digits – these are huge victories for our Democrats!
In Walla Walla – WA Dems Party leader Jeff Robinson handily won his race for City Council, bringing in 51.8% of the vote.
In Prosser – Dems are leading in all competitive races and look poised for big victories citywide!
In Whatcom County – It was a great day for Democrats, with young voters showing up in droves to support our candidates (30% of voters 18-24 turned out, double the state average). Notably, Sheriff-elect Donnell “Tank” Tanksley won with a strong 51.9% of the vote over his conservative opponent. We anticipate some of 2024’s tightest races will be up in Whatcom, and we are gearing up for success!
And on School Boards Statewide – We beat back nearly all school board candidates endorsed by extremist hate group Moms for Liberty, showing that Washington voters of all stripes want to keep the far right out of our classrooms.
All in all – this election was a rousing success for Democrats in Washington State and we’re thrilled with what we have accomplished.
Thank you for everything each of you did to lead us to victory in so many critical races. We never could have gotten here without massive investments of time, money, energy, and commitment from Democrats statewide and we can’t overstate how grateful we are to have such a strong team across Washington State!
We have so much to be proud of this November, but 2023 is just the beginning and we need to remain vigilant and energetic, with our eyes locked firmly on the prizes we must win in 2024. And so, we hope you will join us in kicking off the next year with a bang at our Holiday Party on December 12th!
WA Democrats Holiday Party
Tuesday, December 12th
4:30pm Sponsor Reception | 5:30pm Main Event
1932 1st Ave, Seattle, WA
Tickets
$30 – General Admission | $55 – VIP
Individual Sponsors
$100 – Grassroots Sponsor (1 VIP Ticket + Special Recognition)
$250 – Grassroots Champion (2 VIP Tickets + Special Recognition)
Thanks so much – we hope you will be able to join us!
NEXT STEPS AND TIMELY ACTION
With the end of the year rapidly approaching, and calendar rapidly filling up with holiday travel and activity we ask that you carve out some time to take one or more of the following actions in support of our statewide mission:
lease consider investing now to help us make key organizing hires and hit the ground running in 2024! Early organizing allows us to maximize our voter contacts statewide and can make all the difference in the tightest races! The easiest way to give is online here
Sign up to volunteer now – we need to build a talented roster of volunteers statewide to execute GOTV at a massive scale come election season. It’s “all hands on deck” next year and we would love to have you on board!
If you’re not already involved, please reach out to your local Party organization, get on their contact list, and attend a meeting if you can! Local Parties are the best source of on-the-ground, timely action opportunities to support our candidates and are critical to sharing our message with voters statewide and leading terrific candidates to victory!
Thanks again so very much for your support and continued engagement. We accomplished so much this year and we’re on track to do so much more in 2024!
Your investment and energy is the lifeblood of our Party and our work. We hope you have a terrific Thanksgiving with friends and family next week and we look forward to reconnecting with you later this month!
With many Republicans refusing to back more government spending, Democrats supplied the bulk of the votes for the speaker’s bill to extend federal funding through early 2024.
On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 786, bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives Rick Larsen (WA-02), Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and Tony Gonzales (TX-23) that would add Mount Vernon as a court location in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington by voice vote.
U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA, 9th) today introduced the Pre-Apprenticeship Wrap-Around Support Services Fund Act, which would help fund transportation, housing, and childcare stipends, pay for lost hourly wages, and cover certification costs for those enrolled in pre-apprenticeships.
With gratitude,
Chair Shasti Conrad
Washington State Democratic Party
The work we do today wins elections tomorrow. If you’re ready to elect Democrats in every race and every place in Washington state, invest in our efforts and make a contribution now.
Want to support our work year round? Join Blue Washington, our monthly giving program! It is the most effective way to help candidates, volunteers, organizers, activists, and staff because it gives us the certainty we need to scale up our program with confidence. Your monthly investment ensures we can defend our strong legislative majorities, flip key congressional seats from red to blue, and fight for progressive values. Help us lead the way to victories at all levels of government today!
Washington State Democrats
PO Box 4027
Seattle, WA 98194
United States
Wishing a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the hundreds of NDTC-trained winners from the November elections!
We’re firm believers that there are no “off years,” and our winners are shining examples of that! From the first LGBTQIA+ member of the Mississippi state legislature to unseating long-time Republican incumbents for city supervisor in New York, we’re still gathering stories from all the amazing victories.
All this work means we’re also taking a well-deserved rest this Thanksgiving. And you should too! We have a few more upcoming training events in 2023 (which we’ll preview below), but we’re taking a week off from this newsletter in the meantime. Enjoy your turkey trots, some delicious food, and quality time with loved ones!
In this training, you’ll learn the steps necessary to run for office, how to choose which office to run for, and how to share this important decision with friends and family. Plus our trainer will be able to ask any and all questions you may have about your future run for office!
No better way to get prepared for 2024 than considering how you might go about your own run for office!
The best Thanksgiving meal involves plenty of planning – so does your field strategy!
Precinct prioritization ensures that your campaign’s resources are used effectively to reach the most important voters. It’s never too early to get started on collecting and analyzing the data you need to use these strategies.
And it doesn’t stop there! You can always visit the Online Academy’s Course Catalog, set up a free account, and keep track of your progress while taking advantage of our extensive course offerings.
There were some incredible wins for progressives across the country in this year’s elections. Ohio voters enshrined the freedom to make their own reproductive health choices – including abortion – into their state constitution, Kentucky’s Democratic Governor Andy Beshear won re-election in a deep red state, and Democrats swept both houses of Virginia’s state legislature, denying MAGA Governor Glenn Youngkin a Republican trifecta.
Even in some very red areas, Democratic voters turned out to stop Moms for Liberty candidates, keep election overthrowers out of auditor offices, and defied the mainstream media’s manufactured panics about enthusiasm and the booming economy.
It was also a great night for Fuse’s top priority races where we focused our resources across the state. From taking back the Spokane Mayorship to defending the democratic majority in Bellevue, our investments in advertising, mobilization, and Get Out The Vote efforts made a big impact.
There were more mixed results in school board races across the state, complicated by a mix of wins, losses, and still-unclear results in contests that featured right-wing Moms For Liberty candidates. Progressives also had a tougher time in Seattle, where more centrist candidates who were backed by a late infusion of $1 Million from business-backed PACs are winning most of their races.
Spokane After 12 years of conservative mayors, Spokane has elected a Democrat to lead the city! Lisa Brown holds what appears to be a reliable 3% lead in the race, and offers the chance to transform city and local government in Spokane. Spokane voters rejected MAGA Republican incumbent Nadine Woodward, due in part to her embrace of domestic terrorist and former state Rep. Matt Shea in August.
Betsy Wilkerson, with her 6% win over Republican Kim Plese, has become the first-ever Black president of the Spokane City Council! We’re excited to have helped elect Wilkerson as part of our Spokane independent expenditure campaign. We know she’ll get right to work on her top priorities, like finding ways to encourage homeownership for families of color with more accessible down payment assistance and educational programs to address racial disparities.
City Council candidate Paul Dillon canvasses with Fuse staff in Spokane
The Spokane City Council provided plenty more good news, as longtime Planned Parenthood VP and Fuse partner Paul Dillon defeated Katey Randall Treloar, and former U.S. Army reserve medic Kitty Klitzke won her race for District 3, bringing to the council a strong advocate for making our streets safer for everyone walking and rolling. Although Lindsay Shaw fell short in her race to unseat incumbent conservative Michael Cathcart in District 1, we know she’ll continue to be a powerful progressive leader in the community.
Across Spokane County, voters rejected the expensive new jail measure by an overwhelming 63%, capping off a successful campaign by Fuse and our partners to defeat this $1.7 billion boondoggle. Spokane residents deserve proven, cost-effective approaches to public safety, not pointless new jails rejected by legal experts.
Fuse helped fuel these wins by organizing a powerful coalition of partners in Spokane that raised over $450,000 to run a comprehensive Get Out The Vote campaign targeting infrequent progressive voters and exposing the right-wing candidates’ extreme positions.
Bellevue Progressive city council members Janice Zahn and John Stokes were re-elected by voters, protecting Bellevue’s narrow 4-3 democratic majority! Eastside Progress, our Bellevue-based PAC for Eastside races, organized a $50,000 independent expenditure campaign in support of Stokes and Zahn. Despite receiving maximum donations from billionaire developer Kemper Freeman and other prominent Republicans, conservative candidates Paul Clark and Betsi Hummer were soundly defeated.
Bellevue City Councilmember Janice Zahn campaigns with Fuse staff members
King County Current Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda is on track to be elected to the King County Council with 52% of the vote. Mosqueda, a former member of the Fuse board of directors, defeated Burien Mayor Sofia Aragon, who was embroiled in several recent controversies including removing the Burien Planning Commission chair, which led to nearly a dozen resignations in protest.
Pierce County School board races featuring Moms For Liberty candidates produced some mixed results, with the Puyallup candidates who were caught on secret video celebrating being a hate group having won their races. But in Sumner-Bonney Lake, Moms For Liberty candidates Denis Caron and Paul Monsen have both been defeated by Kevin Lewis and Bill Gaines, respectively. Other high-profile Moms For Liberty candidates in the area also lost, with Janet Caldwell defeating Noa Bunting in Clover Park, and Megan Bearor defeating Mark Pampe in the Dieringer School District.
Countywide Sheriffs winning in NW Washington Two more progressive sheriffs were victorious over their MAGA opponents. Susanna Johnson defeated incumbent Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney, who infamously hired Proud Boys and police who lied under oath to his office. Meanwhile, in Whatcom County, Donnell “Tank” Tanksley is set to win his race for the open sheriff seat against the Republican-endorsed undersheriff, Doug Chadwick.
Progressive Voters Guide results The Progressive Voters Guide (PVG) reached a new milestone as we surpassed 300 PVG candidate recommendations for the first time in Fuse history! We ran guides in six states, teaming up with our progressive partner organizations in each state to pair local political expertise with our successful tech infrastructure.
Dots showing voters who used the Progressive Voters Guide across Washington
We saw strong interest in our data for who used the PVG, including 12% of all voters in Seattle and Tacoma, and 10% of all voters in Spokane and Bellingham! You may also have noticed that the guide is longer and more comprehensive than ever before, which came in response to your requests in our annual member survey last year. Thanks to Stephanie and Abigail for their tireless work researching candidates and ballot measures this year!
Civic Voices Fellows We were thrilled to have six fellows on the ground in Southwest Washington this year for our Civic Voices Fellowship. Fellows Tammy Pham, Lee Weselmann, Ashlye Triebs, Luis Huerta Hernandez, Diana and Jorge Luis-Contreras all worked very hard at the campuses of WSU Vancouver and Clark College, and in their community, to register students and community members to vote. The fellows talked to students in their classrooms, organized campus events, tabled at community events, and worked on creative art and media projects. Some of their chosen art and media projects included creating TikToks, letters to the editor, memes, and even a zine!
2023 Fuse Civic Voices Fellows
The fellows also learned more about elections, policy, and important issues in their community in our education sessions with them. In these sessions they also got to meet organizations and individuals that are doing this work, expanding their network and career opportunities. The fellows are wrapping up their work now and we are super proud of them!
What’s next? Tuesday was a true testament to how our strength comes from our members across the state. While we celebrate some important wins you made possible, we’re also pivoting quickly to build support for meaningful policy changes in the 2024 state legislative session.
Unlike political campaigns, our work doesn’t end on November 7. Planning for next year’s legislative session is already underway as progressives hope to pull key legislation from last year across the finish line. From balancing our state’s tax code to improving transportation and expanding affordable housing, we must keep pushing for progress in Washington. While the results are still trickling in from Tuesday, we’re also thinking about the 2024 elections, when control of the House of Representatives will run through Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. We’ll need to go bigger than ever to defend our vulnerable rural democrats like Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and defeat Donald Trump in swing states.
We need your help to make all this happen! Together, we can enact bold progressive reforms our communities need, and defeat the MAGA agenda in 2024.
More than 450 Fuse members donate monthly to fuel our year-round progressive organizing. Will you join the Progress Partners team by contributing $5 per month?
Dear Members of the Benton County Democratic Party,
Washingtonians for Public Banking (WPB) is a nonprofit whose mission is to establish a public bank in Washington state. As our motto states, we want a bank run of, by, and for the people. For over a decade, various groups have been fighting for a public bank in the state; so far, success has been elusive.
Recently Senator Patty Kuderer (District 48) introduced legislation (SB5509) in the state senate to create a public infrastructure bank for Washington’s local, municipal, and tribal governments. Unfortunately, the legislation was killed in committee. While the death of the legislation is frustrating, WPB is taking it as an opportunity to take a step back and develop a long-term grassroots strategy to victory.
At a recent board meeting, it was decided to spend our efforts forming a broad-based coalition among the various groups that have supported public banking. Then, in strategically important areas, use this coalition to pressure representatives in local, municipal, and tribal governments to pass resolutions supporting public banking. It is our belief that once state legislators are convinced the local governments want a public bank—and there exists a large and diverse coalition to pressure them—we will eventually see public bank legislation passed. Already, we have had some success with this strategy. In the last two months, we have had productive meetings with grassroots organizations in Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston County, including the Thurston County Democrats.
I am reaching out to representatives of the Benton County Democratic Party set up a meeting, whether in person or virtually, to discuss the necessary steps to form a powerful coalition for public banking, specifically how our organization could work together for the upcoming legislative session.
If interested, please feel free to respond to this email. We are more than happy to schedule a date and time that works around your schedule. You can also visit our website or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Our teams of lawyers, organizers, and advocates are hard at work defending and advancing civil liberties across the country:
Right now, we’re continuing to fight for educational equity by stopping unconstitutional censorship in the classroom.
At the same time, we’re fighting for reproductive freedom after a court handed down a decision that could severely limit access to mifepristone, a safe medication used in most abortion care in the United States.
And that’s not all: Our team just won a huge settlement victory for thousands of migrant families who were separated under the Trump administration.
With your support, we can also redouble our efforts to defend the right to vote, protect the rights of LGBTQ people, demand the transformation of our racist policing institutions, and so much more. Your membership can make the difference in our ability to commit to this crucial work.
We’re ready to take on all these fights nationwide – but it’s also going to take the passion, energy, and strong backing of supporters like you. That’s why we need you to become a member today.
Thanks for all you do,
Anthony D. Romero Pronouns: He, him, his Executive Director, ACLU
Women are powerful: We’re ruling economies, winning championships, and smashing box office records – but when it comes to our government, the patriarchy has been in charge for far too long. It’s time for women to take over.
But stale, pale, and male Republicans still control our legislatures, and they’re using that to pass hateful laws to control our bodies and our futures. That’s why Emerge works to recruit, train, and empower Democratic women up and down the ballot, and we just launched a new video to spread the word (Take a look!).
Emerge has made incredible progress on our mission: Our candidates have won 71 percent of their races. We’ve elected more than 1,200 people to office. And we have 200+ Emerge women on the ballot this cycle.
But we’ve got a hell of a lot more to do. If we’re going to make our government look like our country and make decisions that most Americans agree with, we need to elect way more Democratic women – especially women of the New American Majority.
That’s where you come in. We need resources to keep up support for our candidates, and we’re hoping you’ll chip in today.
