Early Voting Has Already Started In Virginia
Today’s the final day of our Nimrod contest. It ends tonight at midnight. On Monday I’ll go to the post office and see if there are any more entries at the P.O. Box and then we’ll randomly select one winner to get the RIAA-certified double platinum Green Day award— totally collectible and rare. And we’ll figure out of the 5 Virginia progressive candidates for the state legislature has the most contributors and therefor wins a $1,000 check from Blue America.
Anyway, it’s certainly not too late to enter. Just click here or on the picture of the Green Day Nimrod award below. Last time I looked there were just 105 people who sent contributions— so you have a decent chance to win… and even if you don’t, you’re doing something very important in helping the campaigns of the 5 candidates. Victoria Luevanos and Heidi Drauschak are running for the state Senate, where the Democrats hold a two vote margin and are being heavily outspent by reactionary Governor Glenn Youngkin desperate to win so he can pass bills to ban abortions and books and target trans children. The Senate has been holding him at bay because he already has control over the House of Delegates, but just by two seats.
Jessica Anderson, Terrence Walker and Kannan Srinivasan are the 3 progressives who can turn the House blue. As Ted Lieu told us a few days ago, "In the aftermath of the disastrous Dobbs ruling by the Supreme Court, our state Legislatures are at the forefront of protecting reproductive freedom across the nation. As a former state Assemblymember and Senator I can tell you that it has never been more important to support state elected officials who believe in freedom of choice. My colleagues and I will keep fighting in Congress to restore Roe as the law of the land. Next year will be an important election as Democrats seek to take back the House and keep the White House. But in the meantime we need to fight at the state level to ensure that government mandated pregnancy does not become the reality for most women. The election in Virginia this year is the first of many contests where we will need Democrats to unite to beat back the advances of extreme MAGA Republicans."
Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, had much the same message, namely that “State legislatures write laws that change the lives of millions across each state, and create blueprints for federal legislation. These can be incredibly positive measures that do things like raise the wage or fight climate change. But as we’ve seen recently they can also be incredibly damaging like bans on abortion access and legislation targeting trans kids. Legislative races couldn’t be a more important tool in fighting back against extremism across our country.”
The Nimrod plaque doesn’t even seem like the point now, right? Although… Christmas isn’t as far off as you might think. Yesterday Roland and I were trying to figure out where we’re going in December. He wants to go traipsing around India again and I just want to settle into someplace comfortable in Mexico or anyplace warm. Anyway, it’s soon enough to try to get the Green Day fan you know the most awesome Christmas president they ever had. This:
Morgan McGarvey is a freshman congressman from Louisville and last year he was minority leader of the Kentucky state Senate. “Before being elected to Congress last November,” he wrote, “I spent 10 years doing hand-to-hand combat in the trenches of the Kentucky State Senate. I loved it. State legislatures, for better and worse, are dizzyingly dynamic places where the knots and nuances of policy are debated and passed into law… The misconception that state general assemblies are not worthy of the same attention given to the personalities and policies in Washington is both unfortunate and all too common… The Republicans are reaping the rewards of focusing on state legislatures a few decades ago. Now we must catch up. We can. And when we do, we’ll see more progressive policies implemented quickly. The results will be immediate.”
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