What a difference a month makes! A Republican House takeover is "no longer a foregone conclusion," according to a dispatch today by The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. The publication's U.S. House editor, Dave Wasserman, today moved the ratings of five House seats — all in Democrats' direction. Robert Hubbell in his widely-followed Substack blog, pointed to the string of upsets breaking our way. "On Tuesday, another Democrat pulled off an upset victory, this time in a special election for the unexpired term of a vacant House seat in Alaska. It is hard not to see a pattern in the unexpected wins in New York’s 19th district (Pat Ryan) and the defeat of the state constitutional amendment in Kansas to limit reproductive freedom."
Per activist/blogger Jessica Craven, "We’ve seen it now in Alaska. And in Kansas. And in NY-19. These elections weren’t won only because of voters’ anger over Roe. They were won because of that and the hard, largely unsung efforts of volunteers showing up and doing what we’ve learned works."
These positive trends are coming not a minute too soon, and here's a bit of a reality check concerning the timetable. While many groups, including IndiMarin, have been posting the number of days left until the election (68 as of today), VOTING for the midterms will begin much sooner! After the Labor Day weekend, ballots will begin arriving in mailboxes in North Carolina on September 9th and voting in several battleground states will begin two weeks later. Here in California, ballots will drop on October 10. In other words, the midterms are just around the corner! But there is still plenty of time to affect the outcome—and plenty you can do to help get out the vote.
Hubbell also wrote, "A reader posted a comment to yesterday’s newsletter saying that she told her husband she would be working full time on the midterms after this week. While not everyone can make the same level of commitment, we can all join the reader in spirit. For some, the last six months have been a period of worrying, waiting, and dread. The season for action is now upon us. Everyone should direct unproductive feelings of anxiety and worry into productive efforts to help get out the vote. We must have a bias toward action and be willing to step outside our comfort zone for two months. We can do that. We did it in 2018 and 2020. We can do it again in 2022.
So please enjoy the long weekend and last taste of summer, and come back ready to rock and roll! We have many voter outreach events lined up for the week after Labor Day, and will also soon be announcing some new programs designed specifically for this last stretch.
Please visit the calendar page of our website to review all September events and sign up for as many fit your schedule. We've listed key highlights with links to sign up below.
HIGHLIGHTS - Click at each link for more information and to sign up!
> Every Saturday at 9:30 AM PT via Zoom - Make Calls for Christy Smith for Congress with IndiMarin
> Every Tuesday at 10 AM PT - Write Postcards at Panera Bread in Novato - new campaign coming soon!
> Every Wednesday at 12 PM PT - Via Zoom - Lunch Hour Phonebank to Make Calls for Christy Smith for Congress
> Thursday, 9/8 at 2:30 PM PT and 9/22 at 5:30 PM: Midterms '22: The State of Play and How to Help
> Sunday, 9/10 from 9 AM - 1 PM PT (also dates in October) - Canvass for Josh Harder for Congress with IndiMarin and the Tracy Dems
> Wednesday, 9/14 at 5 PM PT via Zoom - Intro to Phonebanking
> Thursday, 9/15 at 2:30 PT via Zoom - Intro to Postcarding
Let's do it, team. It's "pedal to the metal" as of Tuesday, 9/6. And stay tuned for some coming announcement about NEW ways you can help the effort in the final stretch!
Thanks so very much for all our do for our country and its people!
The IndiMarin Steering Committee - Andie, Amy, Betty, Betsy, Joy, Laurie and Susan
