We have 7 days left to contribute to the Florida Special elections for the U.S. House. After that, it will be too late for additional funds to make a difference, and we will be pivoting to the special election for the House – this time in NY.
We have an Angel match – PatrickG is matching up to $25 per person, for a total of $1,000.
April 1st is special election day in Florida to fill the empty seats of two grifters Trump pulled out of Congress to staff his regime. These are safe Republican districts in ordinary times, and we would definitely take a pass. But these are not ordinary times.
Boots On the Ground in Florida!
Florida special elections for the US House – is this a long shot or a potentially history making opportunity?
I would argue that it’s both. Donate or volunteer! We have just 13 days left for our dollars to make an impact.
FL-01 is even more red than FL-06, so we have a better chance at winning in FL-06, but who knows? Pick your own strategy – we have thermometers up for each seat, so you can decide.
FL-06 Josh Weil BlueSky Website
FL-01 Gay Valimont BlueSky Website
We met our goal for Gay Valimont in FL-01!
We have a new Balloon Juice Angel on 3/11!
PatrickG – thank you, Patrick!
Original post, with lots more details.
Florida Special Elections – Long Shot? Or Potentially History Making Opportunity?
Climate Solutions: Small Things Become Big Things
WaterGirl
As always, to be matched, tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to WaterGirl.
Another Scott
Thanks for doing this.
+25+ to each.
Forward!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
Wouldn’t complaining on the Internet be more effective?
Wapiti
In for $25 on each.
H.E.Wolf
https://joshweil.us/about/
H.E.Wolf
https://gayforcongress.com/about
Yutsano
This will require both massive Democratic turnout & REALLY depressed Republican turnout. In FL-01 that’s going to be tough. In FL-06 in this environment it could just be doable.
I still want Stefanik’s seat. Bad.
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
In for #50 to both.
Trivia Man
Special thank you to a stranger in Denver. I got a postcard today for the WI supreme court election.
ewrunning
I put in $50 for 6th district earlier today, if that counts for the match.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: No dessert (Stefanik) until we eat our vegetables (Florida!) :-)
Baud
@WaterGirl:
How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?
A Ghost to Most
You do you. I no longer believe that this will be settled with words.
When COVID started, we started sending $100/month to Food Bank of the Rockies, and have continued to do so, in lieu of campaign contributions. It seems a better use of discretionary funds.
The return of Mo Salad
$25 to each
HeleninEire
So I’m just home. Apparently the house passed the CR bill. I wrote both my senators to be sure they don’t vote yes.
Can anyone please give me some language to write to Columbia U. I cannot even tell you how happy I was when they accepted me in their graduate program in Government. I need to yell at them. My only last line will be..”I am so glad that I am in the last job in my career. I will never again have to write on a resume that my degree is from you.”
Baud
@H.E.Wolf:
Great URL.
Percysowner
Gave $25 to each.
XeckyGilchrist
Tossed some bucks to both, thanks!
Jay
@HeleninEire:
Rep. Thomas Massie (R – KY) held out, and Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) joined Team evil and that makes his the deciding vote.
Democrats, well except for Jared Golden, opposed the legislation because of the fact the bill includes major cuts to programs from everything from education, health care and energy.
Juju
I did $25 to each Florida candidate yesterday through the ballon juice link if you can count it.
WaterGirl
@Jay:
We need every single House seat we can get. So we need to go for every one, even if it’s a long shot like FL-01.
I am going to pull the FL-01 thermometer as soon as we hit the $5k goal, though – because there is surely a better chance in FL-06, and $15k there can make a real difference.
Maxim
$25 to each. Thanks to PatrickG.
WaterGirl
@Juju: @ewrunning: We are a long ways from reaching our goals so I’m afraid the match has to go to bring in new donations.
Thanks so much to everyone who has been donating here and there, even without a match. It all gets us there!
sentient ai from the future
i’ve subscribed to the CBC’s youtube channel (which i only watch via FreeTube or NewPipe because fuck google, too) and wow is it refreshing to see a bunch of level headed people who aren’t addicted to clicks and outrage on screen again.
WaterGirl
@HeleninEire: I’m sorry. Our institutions aren’t exactly covering themselves in glory.
cmorenc
Wtf was Jarad Golden thinking? D parading as R-lite never beats a bona fide R in the next election.
Baud
@cmorenc:
He’s been beating bona fide Rs for years doing just that.
HeleninEire
@WaterGirl: I am a girl from a place where college was unattainable, certainly for girls. I was the black sheep. Not only did I go to college, but I went to an Ivy League institution for my Masters. It was so out of our realm that my step sister, when I got accepted to Columbia, actually said “Is that a college?”
sentient ai from the future
@cmorenc: particularly as he actually served in iraq and so the fact the budget he crossed party lines to vote for strips funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund (burn pits) should be pretty salient for him.
Jackie
@Jay:
WTF And WHY?!?!?!!
WaterGirl
@Baud:
Always!tobie
I phonebanked for Josh Weil last weekend. The people I spoke to were friendly and open to his candidacy. Many are worried about public schools for either their kids or grandkids and the fact that Weil’s a high school teacher resonated with them.
The campaign needs phonebankers!!! Please sign up through the website!
P.S. Jared Golden can go fuck himself.
Professor Bigfoot
In for $25 for Florida 06.
Because who knows, maybe the horse will sing.
WaterGirl
@HeleninEire: You can still be proud that you were accepted and got your degree when it meant something to have gone there. That doesn’t make it not hurt, however.
WaterGirl
@tobie: Glad to hear you did the phone banking and had some encouraging responses.
I hope more people do that, too.
Memory Pallas
I gave $100 to to both.
Another Scott
@Jay: No. One vote didn’t decide it.
The vote was 217-213.
The two NVs were Grijalva (D-AZ) and Tim Moore (R-NC).
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
WaterGirl
Can I just say that I think that today’s sidebar photo by Munira is absolutely stunning?
WaterGirl
@Memory Pallas: Thank you!
And big thanks to everyone who is donating.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
Or arguing with Trumpsters in the comment section of our local newspapers?
Mai Naem mobil
@cmorenc: IIRC Golden was an aide to Susan Collins or some other GOP senator but this still shocks me. He made the difference. Wtf?
Also Sylvester Turner died a couple of weeks ago or so and Raul Grijalva has lung cancer and has not been voting. He was r getting treated when he was running for reelection. Turner was 70. I believe Grijalva is in his late 60s or 70s. I like both of them but why do these people run when they know the numbers are going to be close and there won’t be any votes to spare. These people weren’t watching when Byrd and Kennedy died???
Mai Naem mobil
I kicked in some to both.
WaterGirl
@Mai Naem mobil: Thank you!
Geminid .
@Jay: I’m pretty sure Rep. Golden’s was *not* the deciding vote. I forget the exact vote total, but the Republican bill passed by more than one vote.
Baud
@Geminid .:
I think you meant “was not”
No One You Know
@WaterGirl: +$25 to Josh Weil, just now.
Geminid .
@Baud: Thanks. I corrected my sloppy comment.
Glory b
@Mai Naem mobil: I think there’s something in the air in the Capitol complex.
The same can be said of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. There were a number of articles begging her to retire so Obama could name a young successor, she dug her heels in and absolutely refused.
There were lawyer mutterings that she strongly disliked Obama, but nothing more.
She saw the result of Thurgood Marshall refusing to do the same, denying Carter the chance to name a replacement, resulting in us getting Clarence Thomas.
Marshall and Ginsburg both badly tarnished their legacies. But refusing to retire has a long history in DC.
Mai Naem mobil
@Geminid .: it wasn’t . The final vote was 217-213 but why would you vote for this so that tfg can say it was bipartisan. It’s dumb.
JaySinWA
Where I grew up Columbia was a river.
Baud
@Mai Naem mobil:
Trumpy district.
rodwell
Donate $25 to Josh Weil. It is a longshot, but I bet on longer shots and sometimes they win.
Mai Naem mobil
@Glory b: i hate to admit it but you’re right about Ginsburg. I’m not sure McConnell would have let it through but I’m pretty sure Reid would have somehow pushed a new nomination through.
WaterGirl
@Geminid .: Don’t be too harsh! We all do that.
Almost Retired
A victory in my mind is significantly narrowing the gap – enough to make Reps in closer districts nervous and provide some momentum for the NY special election. $25 for Josh.
H.E.Wolf
@Baud:
The candidate’s personal information includes a very sad family history at the link.
WaterGirl
@rodwell: If there is a god or an angel of democracy maybe this will be one of those times!
Jackie
@JaySinWA:
Still flowing today! ;D I live along side of it. Best part of living in the Tri-Cities.
WaterGirl
@H.E.Wolf: You made me look.
It takes a special person to come through all that with hope and determination.
Geminid .
@Mai Naem mobil: Rep. Golden gave his reasons in a BlueSky post if you are interested. I’d dig them up and post them if I thought this was a matter of much consequence.
I don’t think the vote 1 out 2013 Democrats makes this a “bipartisan” bill, or at least one that Republicans will call bipartisan. But we’ll get to see if this dangerous scenario comes to pass.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@HeleninEire: I know the feeling; I got exactly that from a neighbor when I told them I’d be leaving town to go to college at Harvard. They had in fact heard of it, it turns out, when I explained it was a school in Boston, but they were still surprised I was willing to go “so far” from Pennsylvania just to go to college.
and in general I would recommend people here to be in a more cheerful mood re these special elections. Remember the overriding impulse of Trump voters is selfishness: they didn’t vote for him because of policy but because he’d make them richer. Well, their 401(k)s are down, their gas and groceries are more expensive, and their medical care is less likely than ever, so they’re going to be unhappy and prone to staying home.
Another Scott
We won’t win them all. But participating is essential to have a chance to win.
Meanwhile, … ExistentialComics.com – #593 – The Beginning and End of Philosophy
He’s got a point! :-/
;-)
Best wishes,
Scott.
JoeyJoeJoe
@Mai Naem mobil: to be fair, if a Senator dies, an appointment is made right away. With the examples you mentioned, and I’m sure you know, in the special elections that followed Democrats lost Massachusetts but managed to hold West Virginia, a definitely unlikely result today.
Joy in FL
@tobie: I want to let you know that your comment (#32) got me to sign up for 2 phone bank sessions for Josh Weil. I’ve written a few postcards for him. But what you said about how your calls were received got my attention. “I can do that, too.” So I went to Mobilize and signed up. If those sessions go well, I’ll sign up for some more.
This actually made me feel a little better, at least about what I’m doing. So thank you for sharing about your experience and encouraging me to do a good thing.
I phone banked several times in 2016 for Elizabeth Warren. It wasn’t a bad experience, but I haven’t phone banked since then, until this coming Thursday.
Jay
From what I have been seeing on Social Media, few MAGgot’s are connecting the dots between the FA and the FO, so I am hoping for a low turn out for y’all.
WaterGirl
@Geminid
I am not favorably impressed by his reasoning. Quite the disappointment, really.
He doesn’t seem to recognize the times we are in.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I always come back to the Illinois lottery slogan.
Joy in FL
$15 from me to each of the ActBlue thermometers.
Thank you, Patrick G for being an angel : )
BlueGuitarist
Got some more addresses from Postcards to Voters.
Will write some 3 cards with sentence message for Josh Weil,
then do another round for Susan Crawford for Supreme Court.
WaterGirl
@Joy in FL: Yeah, our contact at Worker Power said something striking when we first spoke after the election.
He said this isn’t a time to give up or to do less. He said this is a time when we absolutely have to do more. Stretch beyond our comfort zones. Push ourselves a little further. Try something new.
Proud of you for signing up! And kudos to tobie!
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: Holy cow, the comments sure tore him a new…orifice.
BlueGuitarist
@Joy in FL:
@tobie:
Yay for phonebanking and postcarding!
and thanks to everyone contributing to the thermometers and contributing in their own way.
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: How much longer can folks write postcards for Susan Crawford?
That’s definitely something else to do – a win there is critical to keep the progress made in Wisconsin.
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: I don’t typically read the comments anywhere but here, but I am off to check them out.
edit: They. Are. Not. Happy.
I think he’s getting what he deserves.
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: Oh! Sometimes the comments are the best part !
Joy in FL
@WaterGirl: Thank you. This is a time for expanding for me.
Joy in FL
@BlueGuitarist: Yay! and thanks for your kind comment.
Geminid .
@cmorenc:
Jared Golden has been beating bona fide Republicans since 2018, in a district Trump carried in 2020 and 2024. Why would his next election be any different? He’s been the same politician throughout, voting with his caucus when it it mattered and occasionally defecting when it didn’t matter.
Redshift
@HeleninEire:
I would swear I got something with suggestions for that (or a link to it) from one of the groups I follow, but I can’t find it. I’ll keep looking, maybe it wasn’t in email.
BlueGuitarist
someone posted on BkueSky:
Half the vote in for special election in Iowa state house 100
Trump+27 district:
Nanette Griffin (D) 51.7% Blaine Watkins (R) 48.3%
H.E.Wolf
The election is April 1, so I’d estimate at least another full week, maybe two.
Sometimes the volunteers in-state, and in contiguous states, get an extra day to write, because their cards will still get there in time.
Timill
@Another Scott: Now this T-shirt (from that site) I might buy…
H.E.Wolf
@H.E.Wolf:
Josh Weil’s personal info (see link in earlier comment) is more upbeat.
He has two young sons, and their household includes a cat named Chatterbox.
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: Be still my beating heart.
Please report again when all of the voting is in.
tobie
@Joy in FL: You’re the best, Joy! Hats off to you! I’ll be phonebanking the morning sessions on Sat & Sun. I wish I could do more but weekdays don’t work for me. Please report back on how your phone session went.
Geminid .
@MagdaInBlack: Golden is used to negative social media responses. I don’t think he cares about the opinions of anyone besides his constituents.
mvr
OK, kicked in $25 for Weil. Hope to write some postcards for WI later this week.
Sure Lurkalot
@WaterGirl: “Elections have consequences”….yes, do you think maybe your constituents voted for you to oppose cuts to their services and illegal actions?
H.E.Wolf
@Joy in FL:
@tobie:
Pre-pandemic, I’d go into the campaign office to do data entry. The phonebankers were the people I most admired! They spanned the spectrum in age, gender, race, and background, and they just Did The Work.
My favorites: the high-school students, the male nurses on SEIU phonebanking day, and the Black churchgoing women of my parents’ generation.
Talk about reviving hope. These folks lifted my spirits every moment they were there.
Another Scott
@Timill: [ snort! ]
Best wishes,
Scott.
Heidi Mom
I donated $25 to FL-01.
MagdaInBlack
@Geminid .: I did not know that part. Still, it was a “holy cow!” for me.
PatrickG
@Joy in FL:
all thanks go to WaterGirl for the organizing and this amazing community for stepping up! I’m just a fortunate person able to contribute when others do the hard work. :)
TBone
Can anyone explain to me why Columbia University has seemingly raised ire here in this thread? Did I miss something they did or did not do? Everything I read about it gives no indication why people would be mad today…is it the way they originally handled the pro-Palestinan protests during the Biden admin ?
BlueGuitarist
@WaterGirl:
close, but no.
D 48.2%, R 51.5%
-3.3 in a Harris -27 district.
a 24 point swing.
BlueGuitarist
Love all y’all.
$25 for Josh Weil’s campaign.
Juju
@WaterGirl: okie dokie.
MJN
I was born and raised in Northwest FL and it’s nicknamed LA(for Lower Alabama) for good reason. But, maybe Trump’s vile treatment of Ukraine and generally insane foreign policy will affect some of the retired military who live there. Anyway, $25 for FL-01 and $25 for FL-06.
Wolvesvalley
Another $50 for each of the Florida special election thermometers. :-)
frosty
$25 from me for Josh Weil. Thanks Patrick and thanks WG!
zhena gogolia
@TBone: I was wondering about that too.
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: A close loss. Still, wow.
As Almost Retired said upthread:
WaterGirl
@MJN: I would be scared shitless right now if I were in the military under Trump.
Avalie
Giving til it hurts $100 to each.
WaterGirl
@Avalie: It’s been nice to see your nym here again lately!
edit; and thank you!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
$25 for Josh Weil
ETA: I’ve been postcarding for him and Susan Crawford in WI since last week. Gotta do something
TBone
@zhena gogolia: thanks! I am bewildered. The statements made by their new female President-to-be seem straight from the hip, AND the University is facing severe cuts to their federal funding. I don’t know what to make of any of this…unless it stems from the original treatment of the protestors.
HeleninEire
@Redshift: Please do. WaterGirl please give Redshift my email address if they ask.
Avalie
@WaterGirl: i have been here, just in lurking mode. But I am looking for some way to make some positive difference amongst a lot of negative out there these days….
RevRick
@Geminid .: Jared Golden represents Maine 2, which supported Trump over Harris 54-44.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@TBone:
From what I’ve seen, it’s this. Columbia cracked down on student protests last year and it didn’t save them from the Trumpists.
It’s another example of how obeying in advance never actually works; you’re always better off standing up to/defying them
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@RevRick:
Didn’t the bill Golden vote for include the provision that stripped funding from Burn Pits for veterans? How does the fact that his district went so much for Trump last year justify voting for that?
WaterGirl
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Great to see that!
WaterGirl
@HeleninEire: Will do.
WaterGirl
We just hit the halfway mark on the Angel match from PatrickG.
And we met our $5,000 goal for FL-01, so I took the thermometer out of the sidebar.
We’re very close to HALFWAY to our $15,000 goal for FL-06.
Closing the laptop for the night, but I’ll check back in tomorrow morning. Maybe the overnight shift can match the evening shift! :-)
Thanks, everyone!
Netto
$17 for each.
Glidwrith
$100 for FL-06
WaterGirl
Okay, really closing the laptop this time!
Will check back in the morning. Thank you!
Jesse
Somehow payment doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried a few times in different browsers, at different times. Will keep trying.
TBone
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): thank you for clarifying.
There go two miscreants
$200 for FL-06.
Mousebumples
Good news from last night’s elections, in case it was missed –
And
Both from Postcards to Voters social media.
We can do this.
Re – Wisconsin postcards for Susan Crawford, I’d guess writing and mailing runs through the last Tuesday of March, or so. (
ElectricELECTION is April 1, no joke!)We can do this! 💪
Baud
@Mousebumples:
Excellent news. Thank you for sharing it.
Mousebumples
@Baud: you’re welcome. We need good news sometimes to keep us moving forward.
Baud
@Mousebumples:
I saw a Reddit post talking about receiving a postcard from California about a Wisconsin election, I think. I don’t think they realized who the postcards were coming from. Some commenters explained.
Mousebumples
@Baud: nice. I also got one from CA for this election, a few weeks ago.
Mailed 60 out on Monday, but that was teamwork with some friends. Nice to DO something.
Ceci7
$25 in for Weil.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
In for $25