Primary elections are the most consequential races but they fall on different dates.
Also, great candidates have been ignored by Justice Democrats and other groups, like Lisa McCormick who got a bigger percentage of the Democratic primary vote in 2018 than Bernie Sanders got in New Jersey in 2016.
We would be eager to work with any like-minded progressives but there's a need for leadership and solidarity but no method of holding pieces together.
An essential element missing from your discourse is the idea of resisting the “indirect war” tactics launched by the republican party or the older democrats. They just want to win the election by whatever measure needed. Keeping the messaging simple in terms of attacks on the opponent without delving into issues. I think we still need to wonder about how, despite all the atrocities, Trump still got so many votes in 2020. How is your strategy going to fight the next Trump?
Saikat, I'm a Creative Director at a AAA video game studio and I have a solution I'd like to get your feedback on, though I've been unable to reach you.
I think the trick would be getting people who are normally not tuned in to politics to be interested and to vote for these groups. I think it could be done, though. Also, curious about your thoughts regarding other types of races. For example, decarceral district attorneys must be elected in order to start truly changing our criminal systems. Would love to see more about races like that also.
Interesting tactic. By running as a team, they could dilute the amount of attention paid to any individual candidate and refocus on their shared platform, with the novel approach providing some media buzz of its own. But despite the advantages of national elections, I think that some local cases might provide fertile ground under the right circumstances. Like this town in Virginia:
The Virginia-Pilot’s Ana Ley and Gary A. Harki reported that “elected officials, activists and historians” have identified a “clear pattern” in which Portsmouth’s “majority-Black population pushes its government to repair strained police relations, spend more tax dollars on children and pass countless other measures to make Portsmouth more equitable,” only for that majority to find its representatives hounded out of power by the police.
This absolutely, positively should be the playbook for how we affect change in America and Justice Democrats is that movement. We should look to increase the footprint of Justice Democrats and work to develop a pipeline of high-quality candidates to choose from at the congressional level.
As a next step in the Justice Democrats movement, I would encourage them to look at the state and local level, working to identify rising stars in the community and encourage them to run on a lower stakes, more grassroots level. It lowers the friction of commitment.
The playbook is here, it just needs to be amplified by 100x as quickly as possible.
Primary elections are the most consequential races but they fall on different dates.
Also, great candidates have been ignored by Justice Democrats and other groups, like Lisa McCormick who got a bigger percentage of the Democratic primary vote in 2018 than Bernie Sanders got in New Jersey in 2016.
We would be eager to work with any like-minded progressives but there's a need for leadership and solidarity but no method of holding pieces together.
Also, isn’t America “local enough” such that a lot of issues are not going to be feasibly run nationally?
An essential element missing from your discourse is the idea of resisting the “indirect war” tactics launched by the republican party or the older democrats. They just want to win the election by whatever measure needed. Keeping the messaging simple in terms of attacks on the opponent without delving into issues. I think we still need to wonder about how, despite all the atrocities, Trump still got so many votes in 2020. How is your strategy going to fight the next Trump?
Saikat, I'm a Creative Director at a AAA video game studio and I have a solution I'd like to get your feedback on, though I've been unable to reach you.
If you'd drop me an email, I'd love to talk more. chris@empowered.vote
I think the trick would be getting people who are normally not tuned in to politics to be interested and to vote for these groups. I think it could be done, though. Also, curious about your thoughts regarding other types of races. For example, decarceral district attorneys must be elected in order to start truly changing our criminal systems. Would love to see more about races like that also.
Interesting tactic. By running as a team, they could dilute the amount of attention paid to any individual candidate and refocus on their shared platform, with the novel approach providing some media buzz of its own. But despite the advantages of national elections, I think that some local cases might provide fertile ground under the right circumstances. Like this town in Virginia:
The Virginia-Pilot’s Ana Ley and Gary A. Harki reported that “elected officials, activists and historians” have identified a “clear pattern” in which Portsmouth’s “majority-Black population pushes its government to repair strained police relations, spend more tax dollars on children and pass countless other measures to make Portsmouth more equitable,” only for that majority to find its representatives hounded out of power by the police.
https://newrepublic.com/article/159142/portsmouth-virginia-police-louise-lucas-lisa-lucas-burke
This 7-person slate in Michigan tried something similar:
https://www.thenewsherald.com/news/seven-candidates-running-as-a-team-for-local-offices-on-grosse-ile/article_325c2ca0-9078-11ea-b9a1-4fd2945c065f.html
This is exciting. Would love to hear more about:
- the public framing (is this a new party, a "pact", etc?)
- what are the most compelling public benefits this would bring about?
- which voting blocs would be most excited by this? are there any compromises needed to galvanize opposing groups?
- what are the biggest executional risks if it worked?
- what are the biggest emotional appeals with a movement like this? (drain the swamp, get shit done, etc?)
This absolutely, positively should be the playbook for how we affect change in America and Justice Democrats is that movement. We should look to increase the footprint of Justice Democrats and work to develop a pipeline of high-quality candidates to choose from at the congressional level.
As a next step in the Justice Democrats movement, I would encourage them to look at the state and local level, working to identify rising stars in the community and encourage them to run on a lower stakes, more grassroots level. It lowers the friction of commitment.
The playbook is here, it just needs to be amplified by 100x as quickly as possible.