WE HAVE THREE AMAZING CHICAGO-AREA EVENTS NEXT WEEK THAT WILL HELP FLIP THE HOUSE AND SENATE.

Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in South Carolina, is coming to the Chicago suburbs — 8/27 (Winnetka, evening) and 8/28 (Lake Forest, morning). Join us!

Remember when Trump was going to give Elise Stefanik a cabinet position, and then withdrew the nomination because they were worried they’d lose her seat? The person who was likely to win it was Blake Gendebien, a dairy farmer from upstate New York. That seat is open now, and he’s poised to flip it. The Daily Show called his opponent your MAGA “uncle’s Facebook come to life." The polling is getting tight and Blake will be in Winnetka the evening of Wednesday 8/26. You won’t want to miss this one. RSVP here.

We are SO back, baby.

There’s nothing I love more than the fall of an election year. Summer winds down, we’re back in a routine, there’s a little chill in the air. We make plans to door-knock in our neighboring swing states and apple-pick on the way home. There’s possibility, there’s work ahead, there’s the promise of the last two years paying off.

And I believe it will. As democracy’s #1 hype girl, I always believe. But this year the data believes it, the momentum believes it, and even the opposition believes it. (Keep reading for some juicy Republican oppo)

People are pissed. People are struggling. This administration is wildly unpopular and so obviously corrupt and self-serving. The number of people excited to come out and double down on their “mandate” for this absolute shit show is dwindling.

And people aren’t just angry — they’re organized. The last two years have brought an absolute explosion of organizations, initiatives, and everyday people taking action like never before. People gathering in groups big and small, doing things old and new to change the trajectory of our democracy. Wine moms opening their circle to their Dem-curious former MAGA friends. Rural neighbors who have never voted in an election organizing against data centers. Something is happening. It’s decentralized, it’s palpable, and it’s unstoppable.

We also have amazing candidates. Annie Andrews, Jon Ossoff, Abdul El-Sayed, James Talarico — once-in-a-generation talents. They’re connected to people, they’re making them feel seen and heard, and they’re offering tangible, achievable solutions.

In the words of Haley Stevens, who graciously conceded her loss and immediately jumped in to support her primary opponent in the general: “It’s a good time to be a Democrat.”

Even Megyn Kelly is worried

Earlier this summer — in what will go down in my mind as further proof that we live in a simulation — I ran into Megyn Kelly. Yes, that Megyn Kelly. In a tiny market in Beach Haven, New Jersey.

As I paid for my overpriced arugula (pre-diarrhea lettuce scandal), I stopped myself from berating her for being an immigrant-hating transphobe and instead decided to use my two minutes of bizarre proximity to Republican royalty to ask her who she thought their nominee would be in ‘28.

She rambled for a while about Israel, Rubio, and Vance before declaring that JD is the “heir apparent” and she thinks it’ll be him — but that both would be GREAT options. Mmmkay.

Then I asked if she thought either one could win.

“Oh, absolutely not.” she said, quickly and emphatically. She made it clear she there’s no way they’re keeping power in the midterms or in the presidential. She finished with, “I’d rather be a Democrat right now.”

I picked my jaw up off the floor and went home to make a summer salad. When I got back to the house everyone was shocked that I hadn’t been meaner, and honestly, so was I. I watch a lot of Bravo and on another day I definitely would have gotten down in the gutter and told her how I really felt. But the takeaway was sweeter than dunking on a bigot. I was on cloud nine the rest of the weekend, thinking: they’re going to lose, and they know it.

What I saw this summer

I have very bullish predictions about November, and my summer travels confirmed every one of them.

My family’s formerly very Trumpy neighborhood in Suffolk County, Long Island used to be littered with Trump flags and Blue Lives Matter paraphernalia. Only one house like that remains. There’s at least two flippable House districts that touch that area.

Our drive to the East Coast through Ohio and Indiana used to have my blood boiling — the pro-Trump signs, the flags, the billboards, entire fences painted with MAGA messages, even in off years. This year? Not one. Ohio electing a Democratic Senator? You’d better believe it!

We’ve had record turnout in primaries and special elections. We’ve won about 90% of the elections in the last 18 months and have been wildly over performing expectations.

Sure, it hasn’t been perfect — our party is still finding its footing and its direction after a devastating loss. And honestly, good. I’d be more worried if we weren’t having an honest reckoning. But November isn’t going to be about Fox News trying to scare everyone about socialism. It’s going to be the largest rebuke on a sitting President in the history of our Republic.

If I had to sum up my prescription for turning this shift in the national temperature into lasting change:

1. Work your ass off to flip both houses.

2. Focus on state legislatures.

3. Put more women in charge.

And if you want to sway the electorate in any meaningful way — it’s the internet, stupid.

How we’re flipping the Senate

Holding Michigan and Georgia are a must. I have a ton of confidence in those candidates, so let’s widen the aperture.

South Carolina. With the death of Lindsey Graham, this is an open seat. Annie Andrews was within striking distance this summer and is even more likely to flip it now. Her primary numbers were extraordinary, and this race is still being ignored by much of the establishment — the idea that a Democrat could win in South Carolina seems too outrageous to too many people. But they’ve never met Annie. This is where your dollars and your time go the furthest. Annie and I have been friends for years. She means so much to me personally and professionally, and getting her elected is the fire burning inside me this election season.

North Carolina. Roy Cooper is poised to flip this seat, and he’s going to do it with the help of Southern voices. Y’all Vote is harnessing the power of Southern content creators — check them out here.

Mississippi. Keep an eye on this one. The DNC has its sights set on flipping this seat. Scott Colom is the district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th Circuit — Columbus, Starkville, the Golden Triangle. It’s the key part of the state you have to win to win statewide, and Scott Colom has already won it. This is the upset nobody sees coming.

Maine. After a rough summer we have a new nominee in Troy Jackson and a real shot at unseating Susan Collins. The past is the past. Let’s go — one team.

Texas. Talarico is an amazing candidate, but he doesn’t need your money. Give to the governor’s race instead. And don’t sleep on down-ballot races in hard-to-win areas — they have a huge impact on the top of the ticket. Follow @howdypolitics who’s always mapping out a strategic giving plan in that state.

More Senate seats I think we’re likely to flip: Alaska, Ohio, and Iowa.

Here’s my vision board of a Senate map. I don’t believe in jinxing, I believe in setting your sights on what’s possible and then mapping out a plan to get there.

Next week we’re going to talk about the House - spoiler alert, the path runs through midwest, so gas up the car and get ready to hit the road this fall.

We’re going to wipe the floor with them.

LET’S

FUCKING

GO

Liz

Progress can be very hard to measure when you’re in the thick of it every day, when the other side puts up wins and we watch people every day continue to be brutalized by this administration. But look around. Look at the people showing up to No Kings protests. Look at the rural community organizing pushing back against data centers. Look at the sentiment shift and maybe some of the conversations you’re having with people in your life that you wouldn’t have had two years ago. The pressure we are putting on this moment is real, and it is moving things.

That’s exactly why this is not the time to ease off. It’s the time to lean in harder, and to bring someone with you.

Momentum is a fragile thing. It doesn’t sustain itself — it gets sustained by people who decide, week after week, month after month, to show up. So this month, wherever you live, I want you to challenge yourself to do one more thing than you did the month before.

If you are in or around the Chicagoland area, I have lots of options for you to choose from:

Saturday, June 14 – No Kings Concert Watch Party

On Saturday No Kings will be doing a live event in NY and there are watch parties planned all over the country, including one in Evanston. Historically this type of sustained involvement from the general public is enormously impactful. RSVP here

Wednesday, June 17 — No Country for Mothers at the Woman’s Club of Wilmette

We’re gathering for drinks in downtown Wilmette before a screening of No Country for Mothers, a film about how profoundly under-resourced mothers are in this country. This isn’t an abstract policy conversation — it’s about the people we love, the families in our own neighborhoods, and a system that asks mothers to carry everything and gives them almost nothing in return. Come early, grab a drink, the screening is free and it’s an incredible opportunity to meet other likeminded women in our area. RSVP here for drinks and here for the movie

Thursday, June 18 — Fundraiser for Daniel Biss, Democratic nominee in IL-9

The 9th District deserves a representative who is visibly fighting for our values — someone who doesn’t just vote the right way quietly, but who shows up, speaks up, and holds the Democratic Party itself to a standard of anti-bigotry and genuine inclusion. That’s the kind of leadership this moment demands, and it’s the kind worth fighting for. Daniel Biss is that fighter, his primary win was just the beginning. Join us in Wilmette and help be the fuel behind this campaign. RSVP here

Monday, June 22 — DCCC Event in Winnetka

This is the big one. Members of the future Illinois delegation will join Minority Whip Katherine Clark in Winnetka to lay out exactly how Congress wins back power — and how they’ll use that power to stop Trump, stop the wars, and restore our democracy. Join Daniel Biss, Lauren Underwood, and Donna Miller as they walk us through the plan. This is your chance to hear directly from the people who will be doing the work, and to be part of building the power that makes it possible. RSVP here

Here’s what’s been keeping me going: the people on the other side never stop. They don’t get demoralized into sitting one out. They don’t decide the fight is over. And every time we’ve made real progress in this country, it’s because ordinary people refused to look away and refused to go home.

We are winning the argument. We are building the power. We just need to keep the pressure on.

Find your event. Show up. Bring someone with you.

I’ll see you there.

— Liz

Last Tuesday, 3 of the candidates I endorsed in the Illinois primary won. I’ll share more lessons soon, but here’s the headline:

These were incredible candidates who leaned into digital organizing and empowered trusted local messengers to spread their message.

And it worked. My core thesis held:
The messenger is the message.

When the messenger is a celebrity from LA or a mega-influencer from Oklahoma, the message doesn’t land. When it’s a mom from Glenview, IL telling you how a candidate will make her life (and your life) better? That lands. It’s really that simple. When it comes to winning votes, local community leaders like Halleh Akbarnia sharing her values and endorsement online is flat out MORE impactful than a hot take from Jennifer Welch.

As the results rolled in Tuesday night, every minute of stress and anxiety, every death threat from a Kat supporter, every relationship that was strained because of how hard I went for my candidates was worth it. Patrick Hanley, Daniel Biss, and Juliana Stratton were the right choice for this moment and these voters. I’m proud I spent the better part of the year making my argument to my friends and neighbors and I’m overwhelmed by the number of people who have told me the work mattered.

Working in Democratic politics can be demoralizing. I forgot what it feels like to win. To organize. To put in the hours. To believe it might matter and then watch it actually work. I needed that.

Something shifted for me last week. Instead of waking up every day thinking, “Trump is going to be in power forever, he’s going to rat fuck the midterms, Democracy is over.” I’ve started thinking:

What if all of this work, done by millions of people every day, actually changes something? And what if that change comes sooner than we think?

What if all this turmoil and disaster has an expiration date?

What if in November we flip the House and Senate. We hold impeachment trials for Trump, Hegseth, Bondi, Noem. Haul in before the Judiciary everyone related to Epstein. We take bold, decisive sweeping action. We IMPEACH, CONVICT, and REMOVE these monsters trying to overthrow our Democracy. It won’t fix everything but it will be a tipping point. A chance to rebuild with systems that work for everyone, not just those with generational wealth and power.

A year from now the makeup of the United States government could look completely different. We never could have predicted how quickly our country and institutions have deteriorated. So what if we can’t predict how much success our movement is about to start gaining?

A lot of things need to happen though. We need to flip a boat load of House seats and we need to pick up Senate seats no one thought possible. Texas, Ohio, Florida, Iowa and yes, even South Carolina. Stranger things have happened and we need to believe this is possible. We’re the ones doing the work, we have to have the mindset that the best case scenario is achievable and we have to map out a plan to get there.

Lindsey Graham is wildly unpopular. 61% of voters view him unfavorably. Mom, pediatrician and digital activist Annie Andrews is growing so quickly in the polls, she’s just 2 points behind among informed voters and just 5 points behind overall. THAT IS HUGE!

Every single one of my candidates that won in IL last Tuesday - their polling told them the same story. When voters are informed and engaged - they win. That means we can literally will Annie’s win into existence.

We can fundraise, we can post, we can organize messengers. We can get Annie’s message out to the electorate in a way that we know would work on us. I’m high off the scent of winning and I’m locking in to send my friend Annie Andrews to the Senate, so get on the train.

Many of you started following me after Annie, Shannon Watts and I organized White Women Answer the Call, in the first days of the Harris campaign. We’re getting the band back together tonight, this time to send our girl to the Senate and put Lindsey Graham out of a job. South Carolina is a state experiencing unprecedented growth and a shifting electorate. If you like the picture I painted at the beginning of this article here is my challenge to you:

Do one thing, it doesn’t have to be huge, but do one thing every day between now and November to bring about that reality.

Today that thing can be joining our virtual fundraiser for Annie. RSVP here

Keep the faith and LFG win our country back.

At the time it was sold as a libertarian uprising. It was ordinary people angry about big government and reckless spending. Fifteen years later, we know how that story ends.

That movement metastasized into something very different: a bloated, racist, authoritarian machine wrapped in populist language, dedicated to enriching itself and and the individuals in the Trump administration.

Which brings me to this week.

Pete Hegseth reportedly burned through $93 billion in a single month. It was the most expensive month for the Pentagon since 2008. The line items read like satire: millions spent on steak, lobster, and crab claws.

But the one that really got me was $12,000 for fruit basket stands.

I have so many questions.

Why do fruit baskets need their own stands? Why can’t they sit on a table? How many fruit baskets is the Department of Defense receiving on a daily basis that we need twelve thousand dollars worth of stands?

And perhaps most importantly:

Who is sending us all this fruit?

But I digress.

For years I’ve warned that there will be an equal and opposite reaction to Trump. Just like MAGA, it will start online. It will be powered by outrage. It will spread through content before it spreads through institutions.

And lately, I’m starting to see the tea leaves of our party’s own eventual MAGA movement taking shape.

I’m seeing it right here in my own backyard in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District.

We’re one week out from Election Day, and what began as a 15-person race has now narrowed to two candidates:

Daniel Biss, former IL State Senator and current Mayor of Evanston.

And Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old influencer who moved to the state a few months before announcing her run for Congress, with no connection to the district and zero legislative experience.

Kat originally entered the race to challenge 26-year incumbent Jan Schakowsky. When Jan announced her retirement and the race became an open primary, Kat, who has openly said to political insiders that she launched the campaign solely to build her media profile, considered dropping out.

A few months later ICE showed up in the Chicagoland area. Kat saw this as an attention grabbing opportunity and while protesting at Broadview, Kat was federally indicted for blocking an ICE vehicle, an incident she touts as “a giant fundraising win.”

Before we go any further, let me be CRYSTAL clear about something.

The Democratic Party absolutely needs to change.

But how we change matters.

Do we build real governing power with serious progressive leadership who have proven they have the ability to challenge the status quo?

Or do we drift toward the same politics of spectacle, grievance, and personal brand-building that consumed the Republican Party?

Because those two paths lead to very different futures.

Daniel Biss represents the future I want to work towards.

He’s been an anti-machine reformer for his entire career. He stood up to Mike Madigan when doing so actually carried political risk. He’s fought for progressive policy, defended free speech, and spent real political capital on issues that matter.

Not because it boosts his profile.

Because he believes in public service.

Kat Abughazaleh represents something else entirely.

She hasn’t meaningfully engaged with most of the community groups that make this district one of the most politically engaged in the country. She markets herself as a working-class outsider, despite growing up in a family that owns Texas oil wells and a childhood home reportedly worth $9 million.

She’s also paying herself a salary from her campaign. Her campaign is about one thing, her. Making herself richer, making her profile bigger and maybe, due to a series of unfortunate events including AIPAC spending millions in attacking ads against Biss, accidentally winning a Congressional seat.

This isn’t about ideology or policy. Kat has identical ideology to two other solid candidates in this race. And essentially the same policies as Biss. The difference is her motivation.

Her campaign exploits a very real feeling among Democratic voters, that something is broken and needs to change.

That feeling is real. People are feeling desperate and desperate people rarely make rational decisions. Desperation makes people susceptible to spectacle. To outrage. To personalities who promise disruption without offering governing capacity.

We’ve seen this film before.

If this resonates with you, I’m asking for your help.

Daniel Biss is an exceptional candidate, and TONIGHT at 7pm on Zoom we’re hosting a virtual fundraiser where you’ll have the chance to hear directly from him, ask questions, and join a conversation about the future of this district. RSVP here.

Biss also endorsed by Elizabeth Warren, who will be in Evanston on Friday, and if you live in the Chicagoland area, we would love to see you there as well. RSVP here.

Please share this with friends. Post it. Talk about the race, it will determine if our party is easily duped into solving this crisis with pithy talking points and comic book graphics or if we’re smart enough to dig in, and hire for the job based on the ability to ACTUALLY make change.

Kat may have a massive online megaphone.

But what we have is stronger:

Real relationships in a real community, built on real trust.

And in a district like ours, I’m hoping that matters more than a self enriching grift wrapped in a viral package. We’ll see on March 17th.

All are welcome, please RSVP here!

SUBMIT A QUESTION HERE

When Trump took office on January 20th I think Democrats everywhere felt the same thing: fear, anger, dread and a deep sense of helplessness.

We were desperate for someone to step up and say: I’ve got this. Here’s the plan. I’m going to stop the worst of it.

Some folks pinned their hopes on a Senator or Governor. Some prayed for a bombastic party chair, a celebrity with reach, or a former president who still had some fight left in him.

I can’t tell you how many times I heard people say, “We need someone to bring back the Cuomo-style briefings. Someone to hold our hands and walk us through this mess, one day at a time.”

We wanted a leader. A fixer. A knight in shining armor. But here’s the hard truth: no one is coming to save us, because we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

But we do need a compass. A north star. A team captain. Someone who will fight with us shoulder to shoulder.

On a cold February morning earlier this year, I got a call from an unknown number with a Minnesota area code. Twenty minutes later my husband found me sitting on the floor of our kitchen, almost in tears. “He gets it,” I told him.

From the very first conversation I had with Ken, I breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn’t show up with platitudes or slogans. He showed up with a plan.
He was ready to fight, but more importantly he was also ready to listen.

He said the quiet part out loud: that political consultants have built entire wings of their homes with the money they made doing the same ineffective things over and over again, hoping for a different result. That we’re raising the money wrong (STOP THE TEXTS!) and spending the money wrong (STOP THE COMMERCIALS!) and that we’re lacking a fundamental understanding of what the electorate wants in a candidate and how to message to them.

Ken talked about skating to where the puck is going, not to where it is. He laid out a long-term vision for the Democratic Party that actually takes into account the population shifts that will shape redistricting after the 2030 Census.

He’s made it very clear that we are DONE taking the moral high ground and playing by a set of rules that the other side ignores.

And he doesn’t just talk about it. He acts. He meets the moment. He’s not letting things like the Texas GOP’s illegal gerrymandering schemes go unchecked.

He’s in Chicago—right now—meeting with Texas lawmakers who fled the state to block a quorum and defend democracy. He made it very clear, they are cheating and we are ready to fight fire with fire.

He is also quite candid about the distrust that voters feel towards our party and that the genesis of that distrust was sewn in 2016, when many people felt the DNC put it’s finger on the scale in the presidential primary. Since assuming the helm of the DNC, Ken has made one thing abundantly clear: party officers must remain neutral in primaries. He’s ushered in a neutrality pledge and proposed binding bylaw reforms to ensure that if you serve in leadership you cannot take sides in intra-party races. As he put it: “you can’t be both the referee and the player at the same time.”

Ken’s insistence on impartiality signals a new kind of leadership: fair, disciplined, and focused on strengthening democracy from the inside out. He’s had enormous success leading with these values as state party chair in Minnesota and he won the DNC election by a landslide. Ken Martin is ready to be our team captain.

But Democrats, it’s time we start acting like a team.

Because if you take five minutes to listen to Ken, really listen, you’ll get it.
You’ll understand why I believe in him.
Why I believe we still have a shot to turn this thing around.

The problem is, most people don’t listen.
We lament. We doom scroll. We yell into the void.

So here’s my ask:
Come. Listen.
Bring your questions. Bring your cynicism. Bring your doubt.
Just don’t bring your silence.

Because if we want our power back and our country back, if we want to win in ‘26, ‘28 and beyond—we have to start making better choices now.

And that starts with listening to the people who are actually trying to lead us somewhere different and giving them the chance to succeed.

Join me for a virtual fundraiser to support Connect Forward, The Can’t Win Victory Fund and Vote Save America.

TOMORROW 7/24 at 8pm ET. Register here

Almost exactly a year ago, I co-hosted White Women: Answer the Call, the largest grassroots fundraiser in presidential campaign history. And it all happened because of social media.

Shannon and I met online. The women who showed up, donated, and spread the word? They came from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and group chats. The invite started picking up steam on a random Tuesday afternoon because it was everywhere—from Megan Rapinoe’s stories to your sister’s IG, your mom’s cousin’s Facebook post.

We raised $11 million in under two hours, powered by over 20,000 individual donors and a decentralized network of digital influencers. We used the internet the way the right-wing does and it worked, because that’s where voters actually are.

What happened next still haunts me: the campaign turned around and spent that money on…TV ads. Over and over. The kind no one watches and no one is persuaded by. Instead of doubling down on the strategy that raised the money and built real momentum, they reverted to a broken playbook from another era.

We’re headed toward the same mistakes again. Same consultants. Same strategies. Same outcomes. It’s political malpractice and no one in power seems willing to admit it.

So we will.

Connect Forward, the Can’t Win Victory Fund, and Vote Save America are doing things differently. We're testing new tactics, scaling what works, and funding the ecosystem we actually need to win online, where the voters are.

If you’ve been yelling at your phone, wishing someone would build a better strategy for this moment, this is your chance to back it.

Don’t just hope we do things differently—help fund it.
Join us tomorrow. Let’s win the future.

REGISTER HERE

DONATE HERE

JOIN HERE