How We Get Ourselves Out of This
From the desk of Bibek, Senior Digital Strategist
We are five days away from Election Day, and if you’re feeling pessimistic, nobody could blame you. Groceries cost what a car payment used to and rent keeps finding new ways to get outrageous. Worse, there’s one actor – and his collection of hyenas – chipping away at the election process.
But last Sunday, voters in Brazil and Serbia gave us a real reason to hope. Brazilians reelected Lula, the former metalworker turned left-wing titan who has spent his whole life fighting for the whttps://traindems.org/course-catalogorking class, and he did it coming from behind against Flávio Bolsonaro, Trump’s pick and the (currently fled and holed up in Miami) son of a man convicted of plotting a coup. In Serbia, a student movement that Aleksandar Vučić dismissed for two years as a foreign plot took his dare to run in an election and ended his 14-year rule.
Both strongmen were beaten by the least glamorous tool we have, which is a lot of people showing up to vote.
They also show why the size of a win matters. Vučić lost by more than 30 parliamentary seats and conceded that night, while Bolsonaro lost enough that his own party conceded. On Tuesday we need unequivocal wins, too big and well-documented enough to deny. That means voters who know their polling place, ballots that get cured, poll watchers who know the rules, and campaigns that run through the tape.
The final push is here, and NDTC’s GOTV resource has what your campaign needs to finish strong. Get the GOTV resource here.
💻UPCOMING LIVE TRAININGS
Running an Effective Campaign Debrief
11.10
10 am PT
So You Want to Run for Office?
11.12
10 am PT
Explore upcoming events + trainings coming up this month.
NDTC Learner Spotlight
Dr. Keisha Buchanan got into this race the way a lot of good candidates do. She was annoyed about traffic, development, roads, and her property taxes, then decided to be part of the change she wanted to see. A first-time candidate, she won a contested two-way Democratic primary and is now taking on the Republican incumbent for Henry County Commission District 3, a seat she will flip blue if she wins.
SUBSTACK
Races We’re Watching: Our Map is Growing
NDTC-trained Democrats are running in districts that went uncontested for years, and some of them are within striking distance on Tuesday. Our latest piece maps out where they are and which races to keep an eye on when the results start coming in.
ICYMI
Time Management for Winning Campaigns
It’s crunch time, and our course will help you figure out what actually moves votes this week and what can wait until after November 3rd.
THIS WEEK’S WINS
A week and change, this is how we organize, show up, and win.
In Lexington, Kentucky, another 4,189 residents are about to get letters saying some or all of their medical debt has been forgiven, bringing the total to over $31 million for 15,144 people. Somewhere, Republicans are looking at this and brainstorming ways to give people more medical debt.
In Upper Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, the developer behind a proposed 150,000-square-foot data center walked away after months of fierce local opposition. Turns out people like clean water and don’t like vampiric silicon monoliths sucking up their electricity.
ICE in Minnesota has been re-arresting immigrants at the federal building doors right after judges order them released. One federal judge ordered a man’s immediate re-release and warned the government it could face sanctions. We need a lot more people on the bench willing to stand up to ICE overreach like this.
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