I’m one of the co-leaders of the grassroots activist group, Markers For Democracy. We send out a newsletter every other Sunday, and during the “high season” for postcarding, we send out a postcarding newsletter every other Friday afternoon. (You can subscribe to our newsletters here.) I’m sharing (a slightly edited version of) the introduction to last Sunday’s newsletter (written by my co-leader Amy S.) in the hopes that it will motivate some of you to join us in our postcarding efforts for downballot candidates in multiple states. Right now, those states include Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

This week we’d like to encourage you to read our own ’s thoughtful essay in . It perfectly captures something we’ve been talking about for a long time.

If you follow the news, you might think the story of the Trump era is told through politicians, cable news panels, and the latest Substack and other social media debates. But those of us in the grassroots know that’s only part of the story.

While members of the punditocracy try to grow their readership with clickbaity headlines, for nearly ten years, ordinary people have been building something extraordinary. We’ve written millions of postcards, knocked on doors, made phone calls, texted voters, raised money for candidates up and down the ballot, attended protests, educated our communities, and helped elect Democrats in races that rarely make the evening news. We’ve celebrated victories, learned from losses, and then gotten back to work.

Yet much of that story goes untold.

As I wrote in response to Susan’s essay, there is a real disconnect between the incredible energy and persistence of grassroots activists and the narrative presented by much of the mainstream media—and even by some of the political commentators we admire. There are wonderful exceptions, including our faves and , who consistently shine a light on grassroots organizing. (Subscribe to both!) But too often the work of hundreds of thousands of volunteers is overlooked.

That doesn’t mean our work isn’t making a difference. It is.

It does mean that we need to become better storytellers and better recruiters.

Each one of us can help grow this movement. If you have friends who complain over dinner and lunch dates about the latest outrageous headlines, invite them over for iced tea and a postcard-writing afternoon. Show them that there is something meaningful they can do. Send them our Postcarding FAQ. Invite them to one of our beginner postcarding bootcamps. Postcarding has become the gateway to activism for thousands of people in our Markers For Democracy community, and with thousands of addresses currently available for outstanding down-ballot candidates on our Postcards For Democracy site, there has never been a better time to bring someone new into the fold. As Amy, one of our co-leaders likes to say, “The work we do this summer becomes the turnout we see this fall!”

And we’re not the only ones who think postcarding matters. recently wrote about the power of postcarding and the difference this simple, personal act of voter outreach can make. Reich wrote: “I’ve been thinking about Larry and Wendy from Galveston, and how their postcards written by hand to people in North Carolina and Texas are acts of patriotism in these dark times.” It’s a great piece to share with someone who may not yet see themselves as an activist, but might be willing to write a few postcards.

The grassroots story isn’t over. In many ways, we’re just getting started. Let’s keep telling it and let’s each bring one more person with us.

We have to admit that during the run-up to the 250th anniversary of our country’s founding, we were feeling ambivalent. Many of us are old enough to remember the Bicentennial in 1976 when President Ford was in the White House, and the celebrations included Op Sail, fireworks, parades, and, as notes, relative unity and optimism after the tumult of the previous decade, including the Vietnam War and Watergate. That celebration seems quaint now.

This year we have had to contend with the orange narcissist in the White House who has caused so much pain and division with ICE roundups, an unnecessary war, Executive Orders threatening the safety of our neighbors, alienating our allies to the north and across the ocean, and more. As if that were not enough of a reason to have mixed emotions this July 4th, he always has to make everything about himself, whether plastering his name on an arts center named for another president, building monuments to his vanity, trying (and failing miserably) to change the color of the reflecting pool, turning the lawn of the White House into a $60 million paean to violence (and destroying the lawn in the process), trying to make a poorly named “Great American State Fair” which had to be postponed because of the heat wave causing record temperatures along the east coast. He hijacked our 250th birthday for his own ego. Some writers, including , admitted to being angry, and was particularly vexed at the ways in which the nation’s capitol has been made uglier – both physically and atmospherically – in the process. The specter of masked white nationalists overrunning Washington, DC on the weekend of July 4th should chill us all. We were particularly struck by this photo featured by in his Substack, which encapsulates so much about this moment while harkening back to our not-so-distant past in the Jim Crow South.

If, like us, you chose to ignore the tacky, egomaniacal spectacle, there were still many ways to celebrate – from backyard barbecues with family and friends to the Visibility Brigade (click on the link; you won’t be sorry) and other protest sign holders to tall ships and fireworks in New York Harbor - and there was a lot to make us hopeful about America’s future, some of which we’ve included here.

• Read or watch NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s powerful and patriotic speech to mark the 250th birthday, both a history lesson and a tribute to the immigrants who built this country and NYC. He reminded us that “America is exceptional because here, nothing is fixed into place. The frontier may be closed, we may have walked on the moon, but the work of fulfilling the values first enshrined in the Declaration of Independence – that work endures, my friends, and it belongs to us all.”

• Listen to Bryan Stevenson’s profound conversation with Ezra Klein, “The America That’s Still Possible,” in which they discuss some of the most painful chapters of our history – slavery, lynching, Jim Crow – but in which Stevenson says, “Even today, I have to believe that there is something better waiting for us in America. It’s not that hard to have hope, to believe that.” (It’s a long conversation but well worth listening to the whole thing. My husband and I listened to it while stuck in traffic on the LIE on July 4th, and we were so transfixed, we barely noticed the bumper-to-bumper traffic.)

• Read ’s July 4th Substack, which argues that the words of the Declaration of Independence are “wildly inconsistent with genocide against Native Americans, with the transatlantic slave trade and property in human beings, with the denial of the vote to women,” but which concludes: “Two hundred and fifty years on, the project of political equality, human rights, and democratic participation remains worthy of our lives, our fortune, and our sacred honor.”

While we have a lot of work ahead of us to undo the damage of the last two years (and really six of the last ten years) and to make this “more perfect union” a reality, our focus for the next four months needs to be on the midterms – flipping the House, the Senate, and as many state legislatures and governors’ mansions as we can from red to blue. (Yeah, it’s been a rocky few days on that front, but I am still hopeful that with effort, we can do it.) Some writers are focused on November 3rd as the date we should really celebrate the 250th. As wrote: “In this semiquincentennial year, we can honor our nation’s founding on November 3 (and in the days leading up to it) with an overwhelming turnout for a midterm vote that makes crystal clear Americans have had enough. That means saying with a definitive voice that we will not be silenced, that we demand change and that Donald Trump’s authoritarian regime must be soundly defeated and held accountable for its corruption and crime.”

went further and wrote: “We need to celebrate our right to vote and encourage as many people as possible to exercise it this year. Yes, it’s a solemn obligation, especially right now, but we also need the joy in it. I’m making plans to hold a “Celebrate Your Vote” party and have friends and family gather, in community, as we vote in the midterm elections. I’m hoping that a lot of you will start making plans today and join me in November.”

Closer to home, last week we (Markers For Democracy, and our sister groups, Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, and Team Min) were lucky enough to host former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair on our Tuesday morning Zoom. Ben has a book coming out this month, “This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy,” which promises to be a must-read for those of us in the saving democracy movement. Seriously, all the cool kids will be reading it on the beach this summer! (You can get a taste of it in this New York Times Op Ed.) Ben’s presentation was both brilliant and visionary. He had us fired up when we saw him. He will be traveling around the country this summer on a book tour, and I’m sure he’ll be on podcasts, TV, and Substack Lives too. We hope when you hear him, you will be inspired to get out and join a pro-democracy group trying to register voters or get out the vote for the midterm. One way you can get involved is by helping us with our work at Markers For Democracy, by joining us on our morning Zooms or special events, writing postcards through our Postcards For Democracy portal, or joining our Markers For Democracy 2026 Giving Circle. Our giving circle, in partnership with The States Project, is in its 8th year of raising money for Democrats running to flip seats from red to blue in state legislatures and just passed the $1 million mark for total funds raised since 2019. This work is meaningful and important, and we hope you join us. We have a great event coming up on the evening of July 14th where you can learn more about the work of The States Project. We are partnering with six other giving circles to host Daniel Squadron, co-founder of The States Project and author of “The Fourth Branch: How State Government Can Save Our Union.” Sign up here. Join us! Every time I hear from Daniel, I learn something new about state legislatures and how essential they are to saving our democracy.

P.S. It’s not all about the work! We also listened to some great 250th birthday-themed music last weekend, and we think you will enjoy listening to this New Yorker podcast, a This Land is Our Land playlist from the Brooklyn Resisters, and this playlist by a friend who has done the music for Wes Anderson’s movies. Enjoy!

First up at 10 am ET is @Saul Austerlitz to talk about his new book, “https://www.saulausterlitz.com/activist-page.” I was so excited about this book that I took it with me to the Bruce Springsteen concert.

To get a taste of Saul’s writing about activism, you can read two of his recent articles in The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/29/trump-grassroots-organizing, and https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/10/men-anti-trump-activist-groups. Here is the link to register to join us at 10 am: https://www.mobilize.us/markersfordemocracy/event/952043/

Then at 11 am ET, we get to ask Adam Carlson, Founding Partner of Zenith Research and polling guru and shitposter extraordinaire on X what polling currently tells us about which seats Democrats must hold and flip in order to flip the House in November.

Here is the link to register to join us at 11 am: https://www.mobilize.us/markersfordemocracy/event/952640/

TONIGHT!

Tuesday, 5/5, 6:30 pm ET: Virtual Friend and Fundraiser in Support of Nebraska State Senator John Cavanaugh with Special Guest Representative Chris DeLuzio.

John Cavanaugh is running in an increasingly contentious primary for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, one of the most flippable red-to-blue districts in the upcoming midterms. John has a record of being a real fighter in the Nebraska legislature. He has been endorsed by multiple labor unions; Representatives Greg Casar, Chris DeLuzio, Ro Khanna, Mark Pocan, Jamie Raskin, Jan Schakowsky; progressive organizations including Christopher Street Project, End Citizens United, J Street, Patriotic Millionaires; and a whole bunch of Nebraska electeds and former electeds. Here is the full, very impressive endorsement list: https://www.johncavanaugh.org/endorsements

John is the clear progressive choice in the primary, and was endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in addition to the progressive leaders listed above. In fact, I first started to pay attention to this race when I saw that Rep. Jamie Raskin (who I like to refer to as an American Treasure) endorsed him. Meanwhile, his main rival in the Democratic primary is running in a more moderate lane and is getting a lot of help from PACs, including a PAC that appears to have run an ad originally reserved by DMFI, which aligns with AIPAC. Read the linked article from The American Prospect. It’s another example of the sneaky ways that groups like AIPAC and DMFI hide behind other PACs. We saw it happening in the recent Illinois primaries, and it’s happening here as well. (For those of you who are not deep in the weeds, DMFI is Democratic Majority for Israel. I call them “AIPAC Light,” and Tommy Vietor, of Pod Save America fame, referred to “DMFI’s Kirkland brand AIPAC bullshit earlier today.”)

John’s sister, Machaela Cavanaugh, serves with him in the Nebraska State Legislature. I don’t know if you remember, but she filibustered an anti-trans bill for several weeks a few years ago. ‘I am a substantial roadblock’: a Nebraska state senator’s filibuster for trans rights. (I loved learning these details: “Though Cavanaugh tries to stay on topic while filibustering, she will also ‘talk about whatever it is I feel like talking about,’ including Easter Sunday and her love of au gratin potatoes. She’s also discussed her favorite Girl Scout cookies and the plots of animated movies that her children have watched.”) John has also fought for trans rights in the legislature, and was endorsed by Christopher Street Project, my friend Tyler’s organization that supports candidates who will fight for trans rights.

I had a little fight with my daughter last night. I tried to explain to her why I work so hard on behalf of some candidates who I think will fight for the values I believe in when they get to Congress. She said “but how do you know that they won’t be corporate/establishment Democrats after they’re elected?” I said there are no guarantees but candidates like John have track records of being fighters, not folders in the state legislature, and I know he will continue to be a fighter, not a folder for the people of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in Congress.

And he’ll be joined tonight (and hopefully in Congress) by one of my favorite fighters/not folders, Rep. Chris DeLuzio. We wrote Postcards To Voters for Chris when he first ran for Congress. I’ve been so impressed with his work in Congress, his frequent joint appearances on tv with his fellow veteran colleague, Rep. Pat Ryan, and and his thoughtful endorsements of Congressional candidates. In addition to his military service, Chris is an alum of the Brennan Center, one of our favorite pro-democracy groups. I am sure I’m not the only person who hopes he runs for higher office some day soon.

I hope folks will join us this evening to hear from Rep. Chris DeLuzio and Nebraska State Senator John Cavanaugh.

Mobilize link to rsvp: https://www.mobilize.us/markersfordemocracy/event/949891/ and Act Blue link to donate including “free” option: Donate to John Cavanaugh

P.S. Markers For Democracy, Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, and Team Min host speakers on our morning Zooms, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday mornings. In recent weeks, we’ve hosted , , , and more. This Friday, 5/8, 11 am ET, we are hosting , Professor of Education Policy, Michigan State Univerity, and Author “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.” Substack: The Forum with Josh Cowen. Read Josh’s most recent Substack and use this Mobilize link to rsvp: https://www.mobilize.us/markersfordemocracy/event/943803/

The Forum with Josh Cowen

Strong Child and Family Policy is the Real Affordability Agenda

I’ve been on the road this week, first to meetings in Washington, D.C., and then to Albany, where I gave two presentations to the New York State United Teachers…

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4 months ago · 2 likes · Josh Cowen

Thanks for reading! Hope to see you!

Ellen

Last Friday morning, our groups – Markers For Democracy, Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, and Team Min – hosted Graham Platner on our postcarding Zoom. (We write postcards to voters together on Zoom three (or more) mornings a week, and while we write, we hear from candidates, authors, journalists, activists, and representatives of organizations doing work in Democratic and pro-democracy spaces. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, you are welcome to join us!) I had been following Graham Platner since the day he announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate in Maine, in part because one of the smart, political data people I follow on Twitter/X, Adam Carlson (he’s not on Substack, but he should be), posted about Graham and shared his launch video. I learned that Graham is a veteran and an oyster farmer, and as I am a huge fan of Maine oysters (shout out to Eventide Oyster Co. in Portland), I tuned into a Zoom for Graham’s kick-off, which was held in a packed space somewhere in northeastern Maine. Graham was introduced by a woman who was a live wire in her own right; she turned out to be his mother, Leslie Harlow. Leslie owns a restaurant, Ironbound, in Hancock, Maine. Graham spoke as a down-to-earth and authentic Mainer. (I’ve made something like 15 trips to Maine in my life and have family and friends who grew up there, so I have some familiarity.) I donated to his campaign. The next thing you know, one of our members, Carlean G., who was on vacation in Maine, wandered into Ironbound without knowing about the connection or about Graham’s campaign, and met Leslie and Graham. (Carlean said it was the best meal she ate in Maine.) One thing led to another, and we hosted Graham on our Zoom and had a fantastic and wide-ranging conversation that covered topics from Frances Perkins and her connection to Maine, organizing in rural districts, the TV series Andor, the state of the Democratic party, and more. I may or may not have said that he was one of the hottest candidates running at the moment. Full disclosure: Graham is running in a Democratic primary that already has two other candidates, and the word on the street is that Chuck Schumer and the DSCC are leaning heavily on Maine’s 77-year-old Demcratic Governor, Janet Mills, to enter the race. She has not yet done so, but a strong fundraising quarter from Graham will show the DSCC that he is not a flash-in-the-pan but a formidable candidate who can go the distance and defeat Susan “I’m concerned” Collins.

One of our members, Louise Wollman (she is on Substack but I couldn’t figure out how to link to her), was so enthusiastic about Graham that she wrote to her friends after the Zoom, and I share her email below:

Friends and friends of friends!

I have never asked for money for a candidate, but here I am doing it.

Because I haven’t been so excited about a candidate since JOHN F. KENNEDY in 1959! I assume you all already know something about him but you should know even more. And hopefully donate!

He—Graham Platner, the “Maine Oysterman” running for Senate to oust Susan Collins—just spoke for an hour and answered questions at our Friday morning activist Zoom. He wowed every last one of us grown-up Progressives, average age probably 65. Everyone enthusiastically donating, members vowing to drive to Maine and canvas for him (though a NYC accent could probably cost him votes!)

He’s the real deal! Articulate, clear, passionate, well-schooled in history with values harking back to the New Deal and the labor movement. (He has strong connections to the labor movement in Maine.)

He served multiple tours—actually fighting—in Afghanistan and Iraq. Brutal memories that haunt him but are his reason for leaving a quiet life to run for national office. (Ellen’s addition: Today, after the horrific spectacle of Trump’s speech to generals, Graham tweeted: “I served with the National Guard in Afghanistan. American cities are not ‘training grounds.’ What a disgusting concept.”)

Parenthetically and believe it or not, the Party Brass (Democratic!) are actually trying, even threatening, to drive him out of the race. Nothing corrupts like power. (Or money.)

Anyway, his first Sept 30 funding deadline looms, and it would be great to see Graham stick it to national Party Brass with a massive showing. (So far in two months, he’s raised about 3 million.) He’s determined to build a grass-roots organization (like WisDems in Wisconsin), one that not merely defeats Susan Collins, but becomes a year-round fixture in Maine Democratic state politics.

Here are some interviews and articles. And a link to donate. Thanks for listening!

Louise

• Interview with Chris Hayes on the Why Is This Happening? Podcast.

• New Yorker article: Can a Maine Oyster Farmer Defeat a Five-Term Republican Senator

• New Republic article: The Political Awakening of the Oyster Farmer Taking on Susan Collins

If you feel inspired . . .

• DONATE!

• LEARN MORE AND VOLUNTEER! (PLUS MERCH!)

P.S. One more thing from Ellen: I love this clip of Graham in which he says, among other things: “We are fighting for the freedom to have time to build, to create, to love, and to live lives not of just survival, but of fulfillment and joy.” Well said!

Their immediate effect was to force D.C. police to participate in ICE arrests, unleash a surge of random uniformed government personnel wandering D.C. streets, and place very large military vehicles in front of tourists at Union Station. Within a week, several Republican-controlled states offered their National Guards to help “police” D.C. Heavy immigrant spaces that once included fresh fruit stands or delivery drivers are now empty, robbed of their vitality. Videos of young men pushed to the ground, their mopeds confiscated, stream across social media.

Source: https://x.com/jeremiah4dc/status/1957080436946903148 (@jeremiah4dc: “It’s wild to see no vendors out in the morning in front of the Target in Columbia HeightsDC”)

Why should you care about what has been happening—and may continue to happen—in D.C.?

I often think about a presentation Jess Piper gave at the Virginia Women’s Summit in 2024. I am paraphrasing, but her point was that we should not have been surprised that Dobbs happened, because Democrats had abandoned contesting rural areas. That retreat allowed Republicans, without opposition, to strip rights and services away in rural communities.

D.C., like rural America, is a space to which Democratic leadership may pay lip service, but which it has largely ignored. As a consequence, D.C. has become the site of small-d democratic failure.2 Now, Republicans have found a stage on which to rehearse their authoritarian playbook—because this has happened before.

Why We Are a District, Not a State

Washington, D.C. was conceived in “the room where it happens” as a compromise between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson—to keep New York as the financial center and give Jefferson a shorter commute. In the early Republic, it was a combination of properties: a port in Georgetown, the federal core, and various assembled plantations and farms. Created from land ceded by two slave states, Maryland and Virginia, it always had a significant Black presence, both free and enslaved.

As wars often do, the Civil War expanded the federal city, which became a thriving cultural and economic center of Black life. It also became a point of anger for those who could not accept equality with their fellow Black citizens. Even before the end of the Era of the Radical Republicans, D.C. was used as a test case of stripping voting rights from Black Americans. The 1871 District of Columbia Organic Act stripped D.C. citizens of the right to elect local representation, and in 1874, elected government was replaced with a presidentially appointed commission. From that point on, D.C. was effectively governed by pro-segregation members of Congress and did not regain the right to self-governance for a hundred years, until the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in 1973. The Home Rule Act still severely restricts the District and subjects it to Congressional oversight and Presidential takeover of the D.C. Police.

LBJ considered the lack of voting rights for DC residents an essential civil rights issue. He helped shepherd the passage of the 23rd Amendment in 1961 which gave D.C. three electoral votes and the right to vote for President, but still no voting representation in Congress. Prior to that, its citizens could not vote in any election at all. Like other territories such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, D.C. may elect a nonvoting delegate to Congress to advocate on its behalf.3

What Is the Consequence of This Lack of Representation?

Seven hundred thousand people live in D.C.—fellow Americans who pay taxes, serve in the military, and are subject to laws they have no voting representation to contest. In the 1990s, Congress prohibited D.C. from implementing needle exchanges, needlessly increasing the spread of AIDS. Local D.C. tax dollars are prohibited from helping women obtain abortions. And despite a local referendum legalizing recreational marijuana, local leaders are prohibited from taxing or appropriately regulating its trade. Just this year, an indifferent Congress failed to correctly write appropriations legislation, forcing midyear recissions on locally raised D.C. tax dollar budget expenditures.

Current members of Congress continue to strip away D.C.’s limited powers: meddling in traffic laws4, blocking criminal law reforms, and neglecting core responsibilities such as appointing local judges. Here’s the kicker: D.C. residents have suffered these problems not just under Republican administrations, but under Democratic ones as well.

We have a federal system for a reason. Local leaders are closer and more accountable to the people. Yet many of the same members of Congress who insist on meddling in D.C. politics are the first to invoke “states’ rights” whenever a Democratic presidential administration makes a suggestion. This distortion of the democratic process for D.C. residents is rooted in a long history of Congressional neglect and indifference to the rights of majority-minority communities. Democratic administrations—including, most recently, Presidents Biden and Obama—have repeatedly been willing to trade away D.C.’s autonomy in exchange for other policy preferences.

Statehood and Democracy

National population shifts have made the Electoral College deeply unrepresentative and skewed toward rural communities. Granting D.C. statehood would help balance that distortion. Eliminating the Electoral College faces long odds and the very cumbersome procedures required for amendments. Granting D.C. statehood only requires simple majorities of the House and Senate and a willingness to end the filibuster.

In 2022, D.C. came very close to gaining enough Democratic support for a statehood vote. But it would have required breaking the filibuster, and that was too inconvenient for the likes of Sen. Schumer, Sen. Manchin, and Sen. Sinema. D.C. statehood died—and now the city is serving as the test case for Trump’s plan to take over blue cities on the basis of a fabricated “emergency.”

Do you think Democrats—or Republicans, for that matter—in your state will defend you if Trump decides to take over the blue cities where you live? Can a democracy survive that kind of sword of Damocles?

So what is my ask?

I need you to be a constant reminder to your members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, that 700,000 of your fellow citizens deserve voting representation in Congress. Send them a postcard, add it to your issue list when you make your 5 calls. Remind them that our soldiers should not be there for the purpose of acting out an authoritarian pony trick. Living in D.C. has made me treasure the idea of having a voting member of Congress. I need your help to get one.

Thank you to my friend and fellow postcard writer, Charlotte Bensaada, for this essay. I have family and friends in D.C. and I want them to have representation in Congress.

(A photo of a Banksy-inspired poster of the Subway sandwich thrower that has been spotted all over D.C.)

• Adelita Grijalva, the daughter of the late Congressman Raul Grijalva, a longtime progressive champion, who died of cancer last year. Adelita has her own decades-long record of public service on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, the Tucson Unified School District, and in the Pima County Teen Court.

• Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old social media influencer and reproductive rights advocate

• Daniel Hernandez, a former state representative, whose sisters, Alma and Consuelo, are current state lawmakers. As a congressional intern in 2011, he provided care to then Congresswoman Gabby Giffords after a near-fatal assassination attempt in Tucson.

Vote for Adelita Grijalva!

I’m writing to ask you to tell anyone you know in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District to vote for Adelita Grijalva, a proven progressive with years of public service and deep roots in the district, and the most impressive list of endorsements I’ve ever seen. Seriously, click on the link and it’s a veritable who’s who of progressive and Latino leaders and organizations.

My activist group, Markers For Democracy, was introduced to Adelita Grijalva back in May by Tyler Hack, the young founder of Christopher Street Project, which works to elect champions for trans rights to public office, hold Democrats accountable on their commitments to trans people, and fight back against Republican attacks on trans people’s existence. Christopher Street Project was founded in January of this year and Adelita was their first endorsed candidate. She joined us on one of our postcarding Zooms and I was impressed with her broad experience, deep knowledge of her district, and commitment to progressive policies on the economy, the environment, reproductive health, LGBTQ rights and more. Others have noted her “‘robust understanding of housing policy, immigration, and economic policy challenges – issues that are at the heart of’, as well as long experience tackling education.” She has vowed to stand up for her constituents in Southern Arizona against the Trump and MAGA regime.

At that time back in May, she had been endorsed by both Arizona Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly and former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Since then, Adelita has been endorsed by two more U.S. Senators, one of whom is progressive firebrand Bernie Sanders, and 26 members of Congress, including everyone from Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez to Representative Nydia Velasquez. She has also been endorsed by a long list of progressive organizations and labor unions as well as Arizona public officials.

For most of the race, Adelita’s main competition seemed to be former Arizona House Member Daniel Hernandez who also led in fundraising for most of the race. Hernandez is regarded as the most moderate of the three leading candidates. He is from a political family; his sisters Alma and Consuelo are Arizona State Representatives, and Daniel previously served as a State Representative himself. His sister, Alma, is on the board of the moderate Democratic Majority For Israel. Daniel was himself named board chair of the Zionist LGBTQ organization, A Wider Bridge. Rep. Ritchie Torres is one of three members of Congress to endorse him (compare that to the 26 current and 4 former Members of Congress who have endorsed Adelita).

The third leading candidate in the race is young (25) activist and influencer, Deja Foxx. For most of the race Deja Foxx was polling in the single digits, in a distant third place. Sometime in lateish June, a friend asked what I thought about Foxx because her 20-something daughters were following her on Instagram. Indeed, Foxx has almost 400,000 TikTok followers and 240,000 Instagram followers. At the time, I brushed it aside, reasoning that TikTok and Instagram followers don’t necessarily vote.

Then, on June 24th, 33-year-old New York State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani shocked the political world by winning the NYC Democratic mayoral primary, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as several other city and state officials and former officials. In the final days of the campaign, Mamdani was endorsed by David Hogg, the somewhat controversial leader of Leaders We Deserve. A week later, Hogg’s group endorsed Deja Foxx, and last week an internal poll had her at 35%, still behind Grijalva but up 25 points from the earlier poll.

Since then, there has been breathless coverage of the race, and Deja Foxx’s rise in the polls – interviews on MSNBC and other media, with the story framed as a fight over generational change, with young Democrats vying to replace the party’s “old guard.” But that framing is problematic as Grijalva, at 54, is not exactly the “old guard,” and while her late father’s name and legacy loom large in the district, Adelita brings to the table her own decades of public service.

I am in favor of young people running for office. I’ve supported organizations Run For Something and The Next 50, which support young and diverse candidates. I supported Pete Buttigieg when he ran for Mayor of South Bend, Indiana at the age of 28, supported Ben Florsheim when he ran for Mayor of Middletown, Connecticut at the age of 27. (My husband grew up in South Bend and we went to college in Middletown.) I’ve supported 18-year-olds, like Mason Pressler in Michigan, and Nicholas Hazlett, running for school board and city council through The Outrun Coalition. I ranked 38-year-old Zellnor Myrie and 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani among the five candidates on my ranked choice ballot in the New York City mayor’s race in June.

But I don’t believe in supporting a young person just because they are young. And a lot of the messaging out of Deja Foxx’s campaign is “vote for me because I’m young.” I get the desire for fresh faces and voices, but Adelita, at 54, is younger than many of the people in the House, and she has decades of experience in the non-glamorous side of politics – Board of Supervisors, School Board, and Teen Court. As (who blocked on Twitter/X for some reason!) wrote “influencing is not legislating. Labeling reach as strategy is branding, not governing. Foxx’s digital footprint exceeds her presence on the ground – a critical liability in a community focused race.” Shroff writes convincingly:

This is the risk when performance trumps preparation. Foxx and Grijalva agree on about 99% of the issues, but one has deep community relationships and proven track record; the other has content and cameras. There has been no argument put forth from Foxx supporters that she would be more effective at delivering on progressive values and goals for her district. Youth isn’t a policy prescription, and being younger isn’t a strategy when there’s no clear, distinct, proposal for governance.

Also, for someone who is campaigning on bringing a fresh voice to politics, it is disturbing that a pro-Deja Foxx PAC has created a string of negative mailers, digital ads, and phone calls against Adelita Grijalva to the tune of over $100,000. That sounds more like the tactics of the PACs supporting old and tired Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayor’s race.

It is tempting to compare this race to the NYC mayoral primary where a young candidate who made great videos beat out an establishment candidate hailing from a political dynasty with a famous last name. But Zohran Mamdani has been in the State Assembly since 2021, his videos have been relatively substantive, about issues of affordability and the complications of ranked choice voting, not about his relative youth. And his electoral success is not only or even mostly about viral videos but rather reflect a volunteer team of 50,000, knocking on 1.5 million doors over weeks and months.

Deja Foxx is a talented communicator with an obvious passion for politics. Hopefully she will run for office again; perhaps starting with a relatively unglamorous local school board or city council race or a state legislative race.

My hope is that the voters of Arizona’s 7th Congressional District will ignore the breathless coverage and elect Adelita Grijalva, the candidate with a progressive track record and the support of progressive leaders like Senator Bernie Sanders and Representatives Alexandria Ocaso-Cortez, Greg Casar, Nydia Velasquez, and many others.

P.S. If you can spare a little coin, please donate to Adelita’s campaign here. A pro-Deja Foxx PAC has been sending some nasty ass flyers around town, and Adelita’s campaign is trying to combat them in the final days.

There were supposed to be a few “hot” NYC Council races this year, one in Park Slope, another in Sunset Park, but despite a fair amount of outside spending and vitriol, incumbents are expected to win those races relatively easily. People were also focusing on District 2 where Anthony Weiner is trying (but failing) to launch his political comeback. Few people were paying attention to the Upper East Side where politics are often relatively sleepy. Last time there was an open City Council seat on the Upper East Side, in District 5, we had a slew of well-qualified candidates. I had no trouble ranking five and I don’t remember any spending by outside PACs. There was little media coverage.

One district away, in District 4, which spans from East 93rd Street all the way down to StuyTown, it is anything but quiet. With Council Member Keith Powers term-limited, there is an open seat and it has become a circus with one candidate opting out of the public matching fund program, and corporate PACs and billionaire MAGA activists spending obscenely on behalf of three candidates in the race.

I don’t live in the district but I am telling my friends and family members (including my parents) to rank only three candidates in this race: Rank Vanessa Aronson 1st, Ben Wetzler 2nd, Lukas Florczak 3rd, and do not rank any other candidates. Conveniently for me, Vanessa and Ben recently co-endorsed. Vanessa is the past president of the Lexington Democratic Club where I am a relatively inactive member. I’ve met her a few times on Zoom and “real life” and like her a lot. I’ve never met Ben Wetzler personally but I’ve liked a lot of his tweets and he is supported by my friends at the Four Freedoms Democratic Club. Both Vanessa and Ben are rooted in the district and have long resumes of public service and are not funded by billionaires. I’ve never met Lukas Florczak and he did not raise much money or qualify for matching funds. But he is a person with integrity, trying to get the message out about veterans.

But the other candidates are a different story!

It started a year ago when a friend from the midwest wrote to me to introduce me to Rachel Storch, who had moved to New York City from Missouri where she had been a Democratic member of the State House. I was busy and it was the summer and we never ended up meeting. The next thing I knew, she had launched her campaign and was opting out of New York City’s public matching funds program. This was a red flag, as the vast majority of City Council candidates choose to participate in the public matching fund program for good reason. I’m a big fan of the program, which allows candidates without great personal wealth or wealthy friends and acquaintances to run for office, and allows small-dollar donors from the community to have an impact on races which previously were the domain of wealthy donors, including those from out of state. As of November, over 40% of Storch’a donations came from out-of-town, especially from Florida, Missouri, and Washington, D.C. Among her donors were Jared Kushner’s parents, who each donated $1600. (Jared’s father, Charles, is a Trump-pardoned felon and is Trump’s appointee to be Ambassador to France.)

Fast forward to this spring.

First, I noticed that the group PLACE NYC, co-founded by Maud Maron, a controversial figure, known for her anti-trans advocacy and votes for Republicans Lee Zeldin and Donald Trump and who is now running as a Republican against Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, endorsed two of the candidates: Faith Bondy and Rachel Storch. (Maron’s co-founder Yiatin Chu also ran as a Republican for New York State Assembly last year.) An eyebrow-raising endorsement in neighborhoods where Harris got over 70% of the vote.

Next, a friend sent me a screenshot of a mailer funded by MAGA Trump donor and online conspiracy theorist Bill Ackman and real estate developers, including MAGA Trump supporter Steven Roth, trying to influence the election by urging voters to rank only three candidates: Faith Bondy, Rachel Storch, and Virginia Maloney (daughter of long time Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney whose district included Council District 4).

That flyer misleadingly implied that voters should “leave the remaining spots blank to keep [their] vote strong and undiluted,” which is a perversion of ranked choice voting which allows you to rank up to five candidates without any concern about diluting your vote It was so troubling to State Senator Liz Krueger that she condemned the outside spending in the race stating that “the targeted attack from an outside entity is disturbing and should be disturbing to everyone, whether they live in this district or not.” Senator Krueger encouraged voters in the district to “remain vigilant about the unprecedented outside influences in this campaign.”

In the last few weeks leading up to the primary, the district has been “swamped by mailers and digital advertising from outside groups backed by companies such as DoorDash and the billionaires Bill Ackman and Steven Roth, who have also supported Mr. Trump. . . . Ms. Maloney has been by far the biggest beneficiary of this outside support with $450,000 backing her.” — according to the New York Times.

Watching the PACs flood into the New York City Mayor’s race has been depressing. One of the PACs supporting Andrew Cuomo has brought in more than $24 million in donations, making it the biggest PAC in New York City history. The non-stop ads are negative and repetitive, and probably end up depressing turnout rather than encouraging it.

There is a microcosm of this phenomenon taking place in City Council District 4 where the spending is out of control, voters are confused (I have received as many calls requesting ranking advice for this district as I have for the mayoral race.)

As Vanessa Aronson said last week in deciding to co-endorse Ben Wetzler, "Like myself, Ben shares the belief that elections should be decided by voters and not be sold to the highest bidder. . . . In a race where MAGA billionaires and DoorDash are trying to buy the District 4 seat, Ben and I have stood up for our voters and sounded the alarm."

In City Council District 4, buck the PACs and vote for the candidates who are not paid for by billionaires and corporate interests. Rank Vanessa Aronson first, Ben Wetzler second, and Lukas Florczak third on your ranked choice ballots.

My favorite way to commemorate Pride is to attend Pride Shabbat services at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (or CBST), the LGBTQ+ synagogue, which Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum led for decades. (Rabbi Kleinbaum, now Rabbi Emeritus at CBST, is the founder of The Beacon, a group that gathers on street corners all over the city, and increasingly, the country on Thursday evenings at 7 pm with signs of resistance and opposition to the Trump regime.) Singing along to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, “If We Only Had Love by” Jacques Brel, and “I Am What I Am” from “La Cage Aux Folles” whether in person or on line is liberating and full of joy. Every year, CBST has a guest speaker for Pride. My favorite was 2019, the year that award-winning playwright and national treasure Tony Kushner spoke these words which resonate just as strongly today: "Let's not fall silent when it's immoral to do so. Let's not lose the name of action. But let's not lose the names by which we know ourselves to be human, or the names by which we apprehend the holiness of God." (And here is a queer joy bonus of Tony Kushner interviewing Cole Escola and Sam Pinkleton, the Tony Award winning star and director of “Oh Mary.”)

This year, unfortunately, the joy is tinged with sadness and fear. The Trump regime’s hostility to LGBTQ rights and people was obvious from the start when it issued a slew of anti-LGBTQ Executive Orders, including orders targeting trans people where they work, how they travel, and even which restrooms they use. The orders also targeted DEI programs generally which impact LGBTQ people. For New Yorkers, the Executive Order removing references to transgender people from New York City’s Stonewall National Monument website was a particular slap in the face to those of us who know the important role that transgender women of color played during the Stonewall uprising. This month has been particularly hard with the Supreme Court’s “incoherent new attack on trans rights” in United States v. Skrmetti last week, and Trump’s cruel decision to cut the specialized suicide prevention service for LGBTQ+ youth. To add insult to injury, the Trumpified National Park Service will not include the transgender pride flag in the Pride flag display at Stonewall. For those of us with family members and friends impacted by these cruel and divisive orders and actions, the pain is acute.

Rather than becoming demoralized and despondent, however, let’s commemorate Pride with joyful resistance. Whether you are LGBTQ or an ally, show up at a Pride celebration, sing, dance and stand in solidarity. If you showed up for Hands Off, May Day, No Kings, Tesla Takedown, show up for Pride. This year, it is more important than ever.

P.S. If you are in New York City, I hope you will join me and friends (including one of my daughters and her friends) at an event on the evening of June 26th at the historic Stonewall Inn hosted by Christopher Street Project. We’ll be joined by many leaders and icons including Ben Platt!!!!

I LOVE Christopher Street Project and its young founder, Tyler Hack. Tyler visited our Markers For Democracy, Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, and Team Min Zoom a few months ago, and we’ve already collaborated on a visit with the wonderful Christopher Street-endorsed candidate Adelita Grijalva. Christopher Street Project is the only group in the country solely dedicated to electing champions for the transgender community. By joining us on June 26th, you can celebrate Pride and support an organization that is doing this important work.

The Grassroots Connector

LIVE Video with Ellen Bender & Susan Wagner - Thursday April 17 at 8pm ET | 5pm PT)

The Grassroots Connector is excited to announce our 2nd Substack LIVE episode of It Needs to Be Said with host Susan Wagner on Thursday, April 17 at 8 p.m. ET, 5 pm. PT…

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a year ago · 14 likes · Susan Wagner

It was just like sitting down for coffee with Susan but with a bunch of our friends commenting in “the chat.” Susan kicked it off by asking me what I think “needs to be said.” And I answered by quoting our friend, who wrote the other day: "Huge protests are the most important thing we can do right now. As Martin Luther King Jr. said ‘there is no noise as powerful as the sound of marching feet of a determined people.’”

Pepperspectives

ACTION: Join a Protest Near You

I know it can feel overwhelming…

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a year ago · 121 likes · 7 comments · David Pepper

Join a protest. This weekend if possible. It doesn't have to be a big deal. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, who I have long admired, started The Beacon and every Thursday at 7 pm, Beacon members go to a street corner and hold up a sign about how they are feeling in this moment as part of Shine The Light. If I were out there this week, my sign might have said "Return Kilmar Abrego Garcia" or it might have said "This Wesleyan alum stands with Harvard." You could also check out Visibility Brigade which started with a group of friends standing on an overpass over Route 4 in New Jersey with signs that spell out sharp messages, and now people are doing this over highways all over the country. (We hosted Dana Glazer, founder of Visibility Brigade on our Markers For Democracy Zoom last week. He was so inspiring that I told a group of Long Island activists about it and they had their first Visibility action this week.) Or this Saturday, there will be protests and actions all over the country and more planned for the week of May 1st including one on May 1st at 1 pm at Foley Square in NYC which is a Rally for the Rule of Law with lawyers holding pocket constitutions, and then another one from 5 pm to 7 pm also at Foley Square.

One of the reasons I thought I would try this out is that I read a lot of Substacks and listen to a lot of Substack Lives and thought this would be a way of telling other people about them. Some of my favorites these days:

• whose Today’s Edition Newsletter helps me start the day in a calm but informed mood. (Pro-tip: Try listening to Robert reading the Substack. His voice is very soothing. I can imagine that his granddaughters clamor for him to read books to them.) He hosts a Substack Live most Saturdays at 12 pm EDT.

• . Anand, like Robert, was a relatively early adopter of Substack Live and I try to go to as many as I can. I particularly look forward to Anand’s conversations with . This may be their first conversation but it really struck me, so much so that I watched the recording twice. (They have had a bunch of great conversations since then.) I also love Anand’s conversations with the scholar of authoritarianism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, whose Substack is so important. And sometimes he does impromptu Substack Lives and calls up followers and those have been great too.

• I also love who I think I read many years ago when he was a columnist at the late and lamented Village Voice. Not surprisingly, he is a very good writer, whether writing about this political moment or about nights spent following Bob Dylan around the village back in the 1970s. This was Wednesday night’s offering and it made me cry. I will remember what freedom felt like, and I hope my Gen Z children will remember, but I worry about their children (if they ever have them).

• is another daily read. Her newsletter is short and always full of action items like Resistbots, calls to make, Zooms to watch.

• just started doing Substack Lives on his Substack, The Long View. He has had some very good guests and conversations, including this conversation with journalist and author Clay Risen about Risen’s new book, “Red Scare” which I promptly purchased. He also had a great conversation with of “Old Goats” which had the weird effect of stressing me out and calming me down at the same time.

• I’ve been enjoying morning coffee with and Norm Ornstein of “The Contrarian,” and particularly enjoyed yesterday morning’s conversation with the great , including the matzo brei discussion. (For the record, my husband, Sam likes savory and I like sweet. I’m also at that point in Passover when I’m sick of matzo and dream of pizza!)

• Another Substack Live that I loved this week was this conversation about “Fascism and Language” between (again) and of “Weekend Reading.”

I read or at least subscribe to a lot more but I have to leave some material for the next one!

Things that are making me happy these days (in no particular order):

• The live cam of the bald eagles’ nest in Big Bear Valley. I check in on Sunny and Gizmo, and their parents, Jackie and Shadow, several times a day.

• Senator Chris Van Hollen traveling to El Salvador to see his constituent Kilmar Abrego Garcia. As wrote on X, “This is the kind of chutzpahdik leadership we are desperate for. Elected Democrats, take note.”

• This passage from 4th Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson’s order in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case:

  “It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done.

  This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.” (emphasis added)

  has a great Substack today that covers both Senator Van Hollen’s trip and Judge Wilkinson’s order. I hope at least five of the Supreme Court Justices agree with Judge Wilkinson.

• Golf. I don’t even like golf but I was completely transfixed by the drama of this year’s Masters golf tournament, so much so that I was surreptitiously checking the score of the last holes of the last round on Sunday on my phone under the table at the beginning of the second Passover seder. The drama of Rory McIlroy’s attempt to win the tournament that would give him a career grand slam, and his roller coaster of a tournament, where he veered between brilliant play and double bogies, was some of the best tv I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t know if I will keep following golf but it was a great distraction while it lasted. If anyone can recommend a golf Substack, I might subscribe. In the meantime, this piece in The Guardian was good.

• White Lotus and White Potus. My daughter and I watched the third season of “White Lotus” together. I don’t think I finished watching the first season. I got into the second season because of Aubrey Plaza and Jennifer Coolidge. I know some people disagree (including a certain centrist pundit who thought it was like a crime drama -wut?) but I liked the third season a lot. The awesome Carrie Coon and Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs and his Duke t-shirt, the three girlfriends. The Ratliff family. Sam Rockwell. It was all over the top but so engaging and I was sad when it was over. Thanks to SNL for this great parody, “White Potus.”

That’s all from me for this first one. I hope I have time to write another one next week.