We are taking a breather on our NC Black Alliance Phase II fundraising while they (hopefully) line up a match for us – we are getting low on Balloon Juice Angels, so an external match is key. So while we take our breather, this is probably a good time to talk about what comes next after that.
We still have our zoom with NC Black Alliance this coming Tuesday July 30. Please mark your calendars; these guys are inspirational.
So what comes next after North Carolina Black Alliance?
The Civics Center
We are talking with some other NC organizations, so it’s possible that we could be back in NC before November. But in the meantime, we are going to be raising funds for The Civics Center – another group that is focused on Youth! They train students in high schools and supply the materials they need to organize over registration in their school. It’s a pretty cool program, and you’ll learn more about it when we kick off our fundraising for them in early August.
They call their materials “Democracy in a Box” – what’s not to love about a group that came up with that?
Four Directions in Montana
After that, we’ll head back to Montana for a bit as Four Directions gets to work, beginning with the Blackfeet Nation.
We need to keep Jon Tester in the Senate in order to get things done in 2025 and beyond. Or, worst case, to stop what we can of a terrible Republican agenda.
We’ll be supporting Four Directions work again in Montana – more details to come in a later post, but I can share some fun stuff now.
We are getting a genuine Star Quilt to raffle off!!! I am super excited about that, and we’ll have photos and quilt dimensions soon.
And they have an external match of $15,000 for us! Still working on the full $30,000.
After That?
We have a bit more up our sleeves organization-wise, and of course we are going to blink and it will be September, so we’ll also start looking at candidates then. As always, we look for really close races where our money is not salt in the ocean, where we can make a difference like we did in 2022. So great to see so many of our “Purple House” people win their House seats, and our “Election Protection” candidates win in key states like WI, NV, AZ and more.
Tell us what you’re getting up to!
Open thread.
brendancalling
I’m canvassing for Kamala and the Dems this Sunday!
currently, however, I am trying to figure out the Instacart Shopper app—this ol’ boy needs money!!
Omnes Omnibus
@brendancalling: I am canvassing on Saturday.
catclub
wow, CNN headline pulls very few punches.
Credit where due.
Eolirin
I’m getting TMS (which is as close to a miracle treatment as there is for the psychiatric disorders if treats, when it works, and signs good so far there, but it’s a multimonth process and I’m very early days) and lots of rest so that I can hopefully be functional in a month or two.
realbtl
Anecdata from a MT resident on youtube ads- pro-Sheehy about 2/20, Testor is a Biden clone (no mention of Sheehy) 5 of 20, brutal anti-
Sheehy 13 of 20. TS ain’t real popular as he is seen as one of the rich out of staters buying and closing off land here.
M31
hmm so that’s what they’re calling racist and sexist these days
KatKapCC
@M31: It’s like when papers say that Trump made “misleading claims” or was “not truthful” about something. They’re terrified of the word “lie”.
WaterGirl
@realbtl: The Native vote turned out for Tester in a big way in 2012 and then stayed home or voted R in later elections when Four Directions wasn’t there.
There are probably 20,000 voting age Native Americans in Montana who are not consistent voters. That is definitely more than the margin of victory for Tester in 2012. The Senate race is expected to be much closer this time, and the Native vote is likely what will turn the tide one way or another.
That’s why we are funding Montana again for Four Directions.
Joy in FL
I’m writing postcards, not at a rapid pace, but one I can sustain until they’re not useful (too close to an election).
I’m donating little bits to D candidates repeatedly, as well as to whatever ActBlue we have going here.
I’m going to the Zoom on Thursday evening by Shannon Watts, which Suzanne referred to in an earlier thread. The details will be on Shannon Watts’ twitter page; only general info is there now.
I’m watching the Harris videos that are posted here.
I feel good, better than I have in a long time. Some of that is thanks to BJ frontpagers whose posts help me be aware of what is going on (bad and good). I really appreciate the work you Front-Page folks do to make this place informative.
H.E.Wolf
(I’m clandestinely typing while in a Zoom meeting, so this’ll be brief.)
I’m doing a ton of database cleanup for our state Democratic Party, so that the field organizers will have up-to-date info when they do GOTV outreach.
I’ll be resuming postcard writing very soon. My output is super-slow, but steady. I tell myself that even at 5 per week, it adds up!
TooManyJens
I’m not going to be available for anything except writing postcards until late August, and then I’m trying to figure out what to do. I live in a safe state so I was thinking about spending a few weeks canvassing in a swing state if that would be helpful.
Joy in FL
@H.E.Wolf: You are one of my inspirations about writing postcards, and that it doesn’t have to be a massive amount. Just do it at a pace that works for the postcard writer.
Thank you for that : )
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
Since this is an open thread… Has anyboy else ever noticed that barbers do not understand the phrase “not too short”? I swear, I tell them what I want, I can even point to a picture. And they still cut it too short. It’s a mystery.
Mousebumples
@brendancalling:
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks to both of you for canvassing!
Mousebumples
@H.E.Wolf: it does! Thanks for postcarding and for your data cleanup work.
WaterGirl
I really thought people would be excited that we are getting a real star quilt, made by someone in one of the tribes. shrug
Some days it’s just not worth it.
Ceece
The quilt will be amazing! Looking forward to photos. I’m writing postcards for reclaim our vote, but the database work sounds interesting also.
Sandia Blanca
My primary focus is on voter registration. Beto O’Rourke’s organization, “Powered by People,” is holding events around Texas to get young people registered to vote. I have also registered people through the League of Women Voters–they are also focusing on high school seniors. Texas makes it challenging to get everyone registered, so we try to educate as well as register folks. You can’t vote unless you register at least 30 days before election day.
Closer to the early election period, I will help staff the Texas Democrats’ voter assistance hotline. This service helps people find out if they are registered, where they can vote, and how they can vote by mail. We also resolve problems with polling places, missing ballots, incorrect registration status, etc.
Although we give monthly amounts to a few key candidates (only Kamala Harris and Colin Allred, at the moment), we really appreciate the Balloon-Juice fundraisers, and look forward to participating with these micro-targeted efforts. Thank you, WaterGirl.
rekoob
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.): It’s a reminder that the difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is two weeks.