Cheers and Jeers is a weekday post from the great state of Maine.
Energize An Ally Tuesday
Three years ago this month, via Politico:
A Democratic candidate recruiting group is pitching donors on an ambitious three-year program to find, train and support 5,000 candidates for local offices in charge of election administration, a sprawling national effort intended to fight subversion of future election results.
The program would recruit candidates in 35 states for everything from county probate judges in Alabama to county clerks in Kansas and county election board members in Pennsylvania—all offices that handle elections and will be on voters’ ballots between now and 2024. Spearheading the effort is Run for Something, a Democratic group that launched soon after Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory to recruit candidates for local elections.
Three years later, Run for Something is making it happen, and then some. Every Monday co-founder Amanda Litman sends out a “feel-good update,” and here’s a snip from yesterday’s:
Last week’s big elections on Tuesday reminded us once again: When we run, we can win.
Between the huge Democratic win over Elon Musk & Trump in the Wisconsin state supreme court race and the 14 + 15 point swings in the Florida special election districts that Trump won by 30 points each, I feel like we all needed this.
2025 is about winning for the sake of building power—and winning to practice winning and build momentum for future victories.
In 2025 + 2026, we need to expand the battlefield: Recruit widely and empower as many candidates as possible to run great campaigns. (We’re on it!)
We also had RFS candidates on the ballot last week. A few of our own big victories:
-
Carl Bryan held on to his seat on the Kenosha School Board, ensuring that the GOP slate didn’t take any power in a key WI community.
-
Julia Matthews beat an incumbent to win a seat on the Madison Common Council — she was motivated to run by the ongoing bullshit in DC.
-
Ethan Reed took a seat on the Eua Claire city council, running on a campaign for affordable housing.
We didn’t win every election, but we’re taking big swings and making the GOP fight for every single seat.
It all matters. Your support makes it possible. Thanks.
If you can spare a few bucks, they’d sure appreciate the support—their Act Blue page is here. In their words: “In 2008-2016, Democrats and progressives lost over 1,000 state, local, and federal offices because we neglected our political infrastructure. We're determined not to repeat the same mistakes.”
Three years later countless Democratic candidates have won races and/or gained valuable experience as Run for Something compiles a huge knowledge bank of expertise for future campaigns. This is the kind of local grassroots campaigning that Democrats have been clamoring for, and I have a feeling we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Follow Run for Something on Facebook here and on BlueSky here.
And now, our feature presentation...
Read More
