She's With Us
And a little info about why you're getting this on Wednesday instead of Monday
So last week, I went to Disney World to celebrate a beloved friend’s upcoming wedding, and it was marvelous. I went on so many great rides, I met princesses, got chased by stormtroopers, and reassured my sister that the Epcot golf ball was still on its posts. It turns out my body is too old for two 16-hour theme park days in a row, but that’s what ice baths and elevating your feet are for.
On Sunday, I got on a plane to come home, put my phone on airplane mode and got out my book, perfectly content to be unreachable by both text messages and the news for a few hours. Until, of course, the friend I was traveling with accidentally turned her little plane tv to CNN just in time to see the news of Biden’s announcement. To which, of course, I said “No! I am still on vacation! Not until we are on the ground!!”
Well, we’re on the ground now, and we hit it running.
I want to start by saying that the one thing I have appreciated most about President Biden during his presidency is his willingness to listen, to receive new information, and to change his mind. Over the past decade we’ve seen hugely important movements fighting for abortion rights, voting rights, and queer rights, fights to address climate change and income inequality, all pushing to use the government as an instrument of good in people’s lives. And while President Biden might not have considered the Green New Deal, erasing student loan debt, and a whole host of other issues, he listened to the clamor of voters and spearheaded huge strides on these and many more.
On the issue of electability, he did the same.
Our country was founded on the idea that power is not inherent. It is not a gift from some deity, bestowed upon the worthy few. No one is meant to rule over us, no one is meant to be subservient. And while we have not always lived up to that, as both slavery and the genocide of indigenous peoples were often justified through divine right, we have always aspired to derive power from the consent of the governed. Power may be bestowed, it may be rescinded, and it may be given up. For months, long before the infamous debate, voters have said they do not want to see a 2020 redux this election - they do not want Trump, they did not want Biden. Republicans are shameless, immune to public pressure, and already tried to overturn an election. They cannot be relied upon to respond to the will of the people. So it had to be us.
So President Biden has withdrawn his candidacy from the presidential contest, and as of now, Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the pledges of enough delegates to become the nominee at the Democratic National Convention next month. And while we haven’t seen much polling since she became the presumptive nominee for obvious reasons, it’s worth noting that she raised more money from small dollar donations (60% were new donors!) than the movie Twisters brought in during opening weekend. It was the biggest fundraising weekend in ActBlue history.
That’s not to say it’s going to be easy. In a race that has felt like a slog this whole year, the energy that Kamala Harris’s candidacy inspired over the weekend is invigorating. But Harris is still an incumbent in a political climate rife with anti-incumbent sentiment. We still have a media environment that is incredibly fractured, full of content that is at best selectively edited and at worst is downright false. And with Harris’s candidacy, misogyny and racism will become more prevalent and malignant.
But, in a race where nothing seemed to change the dynamics that favored Trump, this will do it. The Trump campaign has been gearing up for months to turn this election into a referendum on the Biden presidency, on Biden’s age, on Biden’s negotiations of politics and policy amongst his base. They were ready to make this election about the economy that voters blame Biden for (albeit unfairly) and the wars that they blame Biden for (fairness in this arena is more mixed to say the least). This choice answers the voters desires for something new and fresh, for something forward facing. Assuming nothing hilariously dramatic happens with the VP selection, 2024 will be the first presidential election since 1976 that doesn’t have a Biden, Bush, or Clinton on the ticket.
Plus, we have the chance to do something historic, to put in charge of the nation a Black woman, a South Asian-American woman, a woman, period. To those who say the nation is not ready to elect a person like that, I say this: if we wait until we’re ready, we’ll never get it done. If we wait until we’re not worried about racism and misogyny, we’ll never get it done. As NYU law professor Melissa Murray said on twitter the other day, Kamala Harris is electable if we elect her.
At the end of the day, that’s what it means to derive power from the consent of the governed. It means we get to choose. It means that our voices matter - our time, our attention, our money, our energy, it all matters. The point of democracy is not to stand by and let other people make decisions about our future. We do not need to defer to racism and misogyny in our leadership choices. We don’t need to stay mired in the past. Or, as Kamala Harris says in this speech, we won’t go back.
This was never about Biden, and it’s not about Trump, or even Kamala Harris. This election is about us - about our vision for the future, about our belief in possibility. This election is about what we want and what we are willing to fight for. Harris represents a future where we have clean air, clean water, and bodily autonomy, a future where we can expand voting rights and address income inequality, a future free from the fear of political violence. Not because if we elect her those things will automatically come to pass, nor because if we elect her she will automatically share our position on those or any number of other issues. She represents that future because electing her gives us the best opportunity to keep fighting for ourselves and each other. No election solves all our problems, and no candidate releases us from the responsibility to keep fighting, but in every election there is a candidate who makes that easier, and this year it’s Kamala Harris.
We now have more of a fighting chance for that future, and we have the chance to do something really fucking cool, and long overdue. And so in that spirit, let’s get to work. Here’s how you can help:
Sign up for Organize or Else at Vote Save America and get weekly emails sent to you with targeted actions that you can take to help us win up and down the ballot. No matter what Democrat you are campaigning for, your work will help elect Harris and help give the progressive movement a fighting chance all over the country.
Sign up to phone bank with Sister District. When you log onto zoom for your shift, you’ll be given a training and then a script to work from. They have organizers there to answer all your questions, and regular check-ins to help build community and make sure the whole group feels comfortable.
Write letters to voters through Vote Forward! Basically Vote Forward gives you a form letter that you update with a handwritten message that connects with and empowers voters. Their research shows that this helps generate turnout, and we’re going to need it! You can write letters from now until the send date in October, and bank a ton of voter contact we’ll need that month.
If you’ve seen me plug these voter contact activities before it’s because I’ve found them to be the most accessible, the most fulfilling, the most effective, and the most fun. At literally any time I am happy to answer questions about volunteering - I know it can seem scary, but it doesn’t have to be! You are a smart person who knows how to talk to people, and you can do this. And you can make a difference in this election. I know it. So let’s go to work.
Use Your Voice to Fight for People in Gaza
For some godforsaken reason, Congress has invited Netanyahu to visit this week. Please keep calling your Representative and Senators in Congress, contacting the White House, and talking to your friends about pushing for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. You can also donate to help in Gaza here. Our government is enabling a humanitarian catastrophe and we need to use our power and our voice to stop it.
Another great read.
It’s a sprint to the finish, let’s do this!!!