Dan Dan Revolution
From the desk of Bibek, Senior Digital Strategist
Alaska’s Senate ballot this November will feature Democrat Mary Peltola and two men named Dan Sullivan. Not a typo. There’s the incumbent, Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, and there’s Dan J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg – whom Republicans are convinced is a plot to confuse voters. Two Dans Sullivan, one ballot.
Then the plot thickened. Last week a third Dan Sullivan, the former mayor of Anchorage, hopped on Facebook to endorse the senator. “As the OG Dan Sullivan, I urge Alaskans to vote for Sen. Dan S. Sullivan,” he wrote. So we now have Dan Sullivan endorsing Dan Sullivan over Dan Sullivan.
As dumb as this is, it’s also not that much of an outlier in American politics. We keep seeing the same guy in office. Back in 2016, Trump’s economic team had six men named Steve and zero women. Today, Congress is only 28% women and 26% people of color, in a country that’s over 50% women and 42% people of color. Washington doesn’t look like the country it runs, and it won’t until the people willing to run look different first.
You can’t change who wins until you change who files. So if you’ve ever stared at a ballot of interchangeable Dans and figured you could do better, you’re probably right. Start with our course catalog and put a new name on it. Yours, maybe?
💻UPCOMING LIVE TRAININGS
How to Canvass, Phone Bank, and Text Bank
(in partnership with ActBlue)
08.31
10 am PT
What is Get Out the Vote?
09.09
10 am PT
Explore upcoming events + trainings coming up this month.
NDTC Learner Spotlight
NDTC learner Gavin Lobmeyer won his primary and is on to the general for Wyoming State Representative, District 7. He’s running so young people picture a future in Wyoming rather than an exit plan, and he’s proof that Democrats do file in red district.
SUBSTACK
What I’d Tell Political Interns (As a 3X Manager)
Our very own Content and Web Marketing Manager Kelly Sherman on what three A+ interns taught her about hiring and managing.
ICYMI
Have You Checked Out Our Hit Volunteer Course Yet?
Running the volunteer operation and making it up as you go? This learning plan is for volunteers and the staff who wrangle them. Inside: phone and text banking scripts, how to actually read a canvassing walk list, and a plain breakdown of what a Get Out the Vote push looks like on the ground.
THIS WEEK’S WINS
While the news may seem bleak, here’s what we can win when we organize and show up
This raise landed because SEIU members organized and kept showing up for years, and because a mayor they helped elect actually signed the order. Every raise like this started with someone running for the office that made it possible.
Drivers spent a decade organizing to win a law the legislature had to be elected to pass. Federal law shuts gig workers out, so the people California put in office wrote a better rule.
Fifty-two attorneys general made this happen, and every one of them won an election to get the standing to sue. This is what down-ballot races get you when the people in those seats show up.
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