Yesterday, I was quietly working in my version of a home office when I heard a loud cheer coming from, er, my wife’s version of a home office.
The cheering got louder and louder.
I had no idea.
“Did you win the lottery?” I asked.
“Kamala Harris is the pick for VP!! He picked Kamala!”
::
Here’s the thing, I’m excited as anyone with our Biden-Harris ticket, and awed by the campaign’s instant $26 million haul.
But as I pointed out in my last diary, if Democrats are going to win big in 2020, small donors need to be smart with our donations.
Your dollar packs more punch when it goes to a local, state legislative candidate. These local campaigns will, without a doubt, also benefit Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and help drive turnout for U.S. Senate and House races, but crucially, their grassroots efforts are central to helping Democrats win fresh majorities in hotly contested State Houses. And that’s how we fight GOP gerrymandering.
Hence, I’d like to introduce Ricky Hurtado.
As Sister District notes:
To flip [a NC chamber], Democrats need to win 5 Senate seats and 6 House seats. Momentum is on our side: in 2018, Democrats broke Republican supermajorities in both chambers. We can build on this energy to flip at least one chamber in 2020.
Flipping a chamber would give Democrats a critical seat at the redistricting table. As in many states, Republicans in North Carolina brutally gerrymandered the maps in their favor in the last round of redistricting. As one example, 2018 Democratic candidates for NC House received 51% of the vote, but only won 45% of the seats. We can prevent this by flipping a chamber and ensuring that Democrats have a voice in the next round of redistricting.
And Ricky is doing his utmost to make that happen in North Carolina House District 63:
We’ve had a big 24 hours. And Democratic donors have shown we have no problem pitching in at the top of the ticket.
But that only gets us part way to our real goal, which is building power in every state.
My question for you tonight is simple.
Do you have $5, $10 or $20 to donate to Ricky and his grassroots, on the ground effort in North Carolina?
I’ve created a one stop shop on Act Blue for you to support local grassroots candidates and organizations that will make the crucial difference in 2020 and forward.
I’ll keep telling the stories of local candidates, and keep adding candidates all the way up to election day. My goal is that we will ALL be smiling as Democrats sweep to power in state houses across the land as well as...that other house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.