This Election, It’s All on The Line
As Americans across the nation start to vote, Our Revolution members from coast to coast are carrying out our 4-POINT PLAN to fight for a progressive future. From coast to coast, we’re organizing to #1) Dump Trump by winning back working-class voters in the Midwest; #2) Elect a progressive Congress by growing The Squad as well as flipping and fixing the Senate, #3) Build a down ballot bench of progressive champions and policies; and most critically, #4) Organize a powerful grassroots movement inside the halls of power and outside in the streets to win transformative change after the election!
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#1 — We must go all-out to defeat Donald Trump by winning back working-class voters in the Midwest.
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As the presidential race tightens in Midwestern battleground states, recent polls show Trump beats Biden on “jobs and the economy.” At Ohio campaign stops this week, Trump and Mike Pence both hammered their campaign’s core message — they are bringing “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” back to the USA.
That’s why Our Revolution’s Midwest “Pivot Counties” Campaign is focused on exposing Trump’s “Lies, Lies, Lies” about stopping factory closings in key battleground states. We’re zeroing in on organizing laid-off workers in critical “pivot counties” — counties which went for Obama-Biden twice, then flipped to Trump — as the cornerstone of our campaign to win pivotal states like Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Iowa.
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WHEN TRUMP SAID HE WOULD MAKE CORPORATIONS BRING BACK JOBS, HE WAS LYING
Ahead of the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Our Revolution Ohio leader and former GM Lordstown worker Chuckie Denison wrote a column about Trump’s failure to stop mass auto-worker layoffs in the pivot counties in northeast Ohio and Michigan. “In 2016,Trump won big in the Mahoning Valley, the traditionally blue stronghold in northeast Ohio where I live, helping Trump carry the state after it twice voted for Obama. Blue-collar voters believed Trump when he said he would be the ‘greatest jobs creator God ever created.’ Four years later, it’s obvious we were duped … If we had a government that stood up to companies like GM and demanded they put their workers first, our lives wouldn’t be decided by the whims of corporate greed. Instead, we have a president who has broken promise after promise. Trump visited the Mahoning Valley in 2017 and told workers not to sell their homes. ‘We’re going to fill up those factories,’ he vowed. But he didn’t lift a finger when GM laid-off 14, 000 workers across Michigan, Maryland, and Ohio, including me.”
Our Revolution Ohio leader & former GM Lordstown worker Chuckie Denison inside Trump rally.
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This week, Our Revolution Ohio members travelled to “Workers for Trump” rallies in Zanesville, Toledo, and Dayton to tell their stories to local media and counter Trump’s economic lies. The local paper in Zanesville, quoted our activists who said Trump’s failure to save the GM Lordstown plant is “hypocrisy from Trump, who campaigned on a promise to revive manufacturing jobs and stop companies from outsourcing them to other countries.”
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Our Revolution Ohio members also bird-dogged Trump in Toledo this week to call him out for putting “wealthy white Americans first.” “Donald Trump doesn’t put all Americans first. That’s a facade,” said Our Revolution member Julian Mack, who led chants through a megaphone. “He puts wealthy white Americans first. He doesn’t put middle class or working class workers first. He doesn’t put families first. If anything, he’s deteriorating social safety nets that we rely on for survival. And we’ve seen that. We’ve seen evidence.”
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In addition to our Midwest strategy, Our Revolution is also targeting Trump in key swing states like Florida and Arizona.
This week, Our Revolution Jacksonville, FL leader Larry Snyder organized a counter-action at a Trump Rally to call the President out for his inept response to the COVID pandemic. “Two hundred thousand dead. Lies, lies, lies. That’s it. Trump told lies and 200,000 people died because of it. That’s a huge deal,” Snyder said. During Trump’s speech, several Our Revolution activists were kicked out after booing the President.
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Our Wisconsin Revolution kicked off a statewide effort to organize voters in Wisconsin’s 23 pivot counties — Democratic strongholds that voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, and then flipped to Trump in 2016. A key part of the strategy is to campaign to elect down-ballot progressives — like Kriss Marion — who are running to win in these swing areas. Kriss is a dairy farmer in the rural Southwest region of the state who’s fighting to stop Big Ag from polluting the land and water that family farmers like her depend on. She’s up against a Republican incumbent in a pivot county that voted for Obama-Biden twice before flipping to Trump.
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OVER 80,000 VOTER CONTACTS MADE!
In addition to the grassroots organizing in Midwestern battleground states, Our Revolution members are holding daily national “Dump Trump” phone banks. Between now and Election Day, we’re enlisting an army of volunteers to make calls to key swing states to get out the vote.
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Donate to our Midwestern “Pivot County” Campaign and help us fund travel for Chuckie & other laid-off workers to expose Trump’s LIES at Trump rallies.
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#2 — We must elect more progressives to the U.S. House and flip & fix the Senate to advance policies like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.
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Standing in front of the U.S. Capitol, US Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia joined Our Illinois Revolution’s Special Get-Out-the-Vote Call to talk about what’s at stake in this election. “This election is the most consequential of our democracy. Everything we stand for is on the line. Everything we’ve fought for is on the line. Let’s get to work!”
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FEATURED CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE!
Mike Siegel, candidate for Congress in Texas’s 10th District, is a former Austin city attorney, teacher, and union organizer. Mike is in a tough race against a well-funded Republican incumbent
who’s “completely bought and paid for by corporate interests. It’s reflected in every vote he takes.” Mike is a bold progressive champion who supports Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. “It’s a matter of common sense now, that we all need healthcare, it’s the way we get out of the pandemic, it’s the way we promote social justice and equal opportunity.”
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#3 — We must build a bench of down-ballot progressive elected officials and policies to fight for change from the bottom up.
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We all watched in horror this week as Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced that three white police officers would not face criminal charges in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. This decision once again proved that our criminal justice system is so broken that it needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up. That’s why Our Revolution has been supporting progressive champions for district attorney and state’s attorney positions — we’ve helped elect Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Mike Schmidt in Portland, Oregon, and Larry Krasner in Philadelphia — because we need more law enforcement officials who aren’t afraid to buck the establishment when it comes to criminal justice reform.
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Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has worked to promote fairness and transparency in the justice system, which is why we’ve endorsed her bid for re-election. Kim joined Our Illinois Revolution’s Special Get-Out-the-Vote Call this week to discuss her views on criminal justice reform. “Law and order doesn’t make us safer. We have to fight back the notion that we need more policing and more prosecutions to keep us safe, and double down on the things that work. People who are healthy and thriving don’t commit more crimes.”
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Our Revolution Maine’s Get Out the Vote Call featured a discussion with State Senate President Troy Jackson on how down ballot electeds can help change the status quo. “One of the things that angers me the most is the amount of money that’s spent to keep things the way they are. Electing people to state houses across the country who push back against Big Pharma, Big Oil and other corporations, and enact laws to help the people — the more that happens, the more we can make Congress understand that the American people are crying out for change.”
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Nikki Villavicencio is a disability rights activist who is campaigning for a seat on the Maplewood, MN City Council. On Our Revolution Minnesota’s Organizing Call, she said “I’m passionate about running in a local race. Our local government is right where we live. It’s our streets. It’s the trash pick-up. Democracy starts at the bottom.” Nikki chairs the MN State Council on Disability, serves on the Maplewood Parks and Rec Commission, and is a transit advisor. “As a person who uses a wheelchair, I see many issues through a different lens than most able-bodied folks. My voice on these issues makes Maplewood a more livable city for everyone.” An SEIU member, Nikki helped her union win a historic contract for 27,000 home care workers, “My experience with SEIU taught me the power of people, from the ground up.”
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Our Illinois Revolution’s GOTV Call featured a discussion with Rep. Edgar Gonzalez, Jr., who, at 23, is one of the youngest-ever lawmakers to serve in the Illinois state legislature. Rep. Gonzalez spoke about how the pandemic has exposed many inequities in our systems. “It’s highlighted the importance of Medicare for All, of protecting workers like my Dad who’s an essential hospital worker on the frontlines. We have to continue to elect progressives to state legislatures to make sure we keep the interests of working families at the forefront of everything we do.”
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Cities and suburbs across Texas are shifting leftward. In 2018, a dozen Texas House districts flipped from red to blue, and Our Revolution Texas members are working to flip even more districts in the hope of winning a majority in the House in 2020. Recent polling suggests Trumpis struggling with suburban voters — in Houston and other parts of the state. This is significant because Texas is ranked as a Tier 2 presidential priority state for the Democrats.
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Help us build a bench of progressive candidates and policies up and down the ballot!
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#4 — We must build a movement in the streets and inside the halls of power to win progressive change.
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Emma Easley Darden from Our Revolution Oregon co-organized a vigil in Portland’s Waterfront Park upon hearing of the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The gathering honored RBG’s service, perseverance, and commitment to fighting gender discrimination and protecting women’s reproductive rights. Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal, sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, spoke at the event.
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This week, Our Revolution Organizer Anna-Marta Visky participated in Public Citizen’s Virtual Town Hall: Building the Movement for Health Care Justice. The town hall featured inspiring speakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, as well as organizers who are working to pass local Medicare for All resolutions — because we know that change happens from the bottom up.
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In June, Our Revolution endorsed two California ballot measures that would fund schools and increase affordable housing by making existing laws more fair and equitable.
Schools and Communities First would provide $12 billion a year to California schools by closing a property tax loophole that allows corporations to benefit from artificially low tax assessments. The Rental Affordability Act would expand rent control by reforming laws that incentivize landlords and developers to force out rent-stabilized tenants from their homes, and limiting rent increases when units change hands.
Let’s make sure these common-sense measures make it over the finish line in November!
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Our Revolution HQ is doubling down, organizing across the country to make change at the local, state and national levels.
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WORKSHOP WEDNESDAYS!
Join us for a special training on “Taking Action When Trump Comes to Town.” We’ll provide you with a template to organize a winning event, which includes how to request t-shirts and posters, live streaming tips and techniques, and ways to publicize your event in order to maximize turnout and exposure.
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It’s clear our “do-nothing” Senate is broken. While the House passes bills that would help working families and address the many challenges our nation is facing, the GOP continues to use arcane rules to block them. To save our democracy and get the Senate working again, we must change the rules and end the filibuster. Join Our Revolution Board Chair Larry Cohen on Wednesday, September 30th as he moderates a discussion with Senator Jeff Merkley, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and allies in the progressive movement on what can be done to fix the Senate.
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Along with Donald Trump, concentrated corporate power is one of the gravest threats to our nation. The only way we will win on our issues is to break up corporate monopolies like Amazon. On Thursday, October 1st, Our Revolution will hold a national call featuring Minnesota Attorney General and Our Revolution Board Member Keith Ellison, law professor and former candidate for NY governor Zephyr Teachout, and Open Markets Institute’s Executive Director Barry Lynn — leading thinkers on how we can dismantle corporate power and reclaim our democracy. Don’t miss it!
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PHONEBANK TO WIN! Between now and November 3rd, We are calling every day across the country to defeat Trump, flip the Senate, and support our nationally-endorsed candidates up and down the ballot. JOIN US!
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