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23rd ld Democrats News

  • 11 Jun 2021 6:09 PM | Douglass MacKenzie

    Friday Wrap Up (2).png

    Hello fellow Democrats and happy Friday! It’s campaign season - and time to start doorbelling and holding events - safely! I’m excited about all the hard work that local Democrats are doing across Washington in the 2021 local elections, and we have a TON of opportunities for training and support that we have available to help LPOs, PCOs, and candidates compete and win. 


    Contest Every Race:In our Contest Every Race program, we identified more than 10,000 Democrats across Washington who told us they would consider running for office now or over the next few years. Another 6,000+ Democrats expressed an interest in volunteering with a local party organization or becoming a PCO. This is a deep bench of activists that we’re going to work with to grow our volunteer network and elect more Democrats in 2021 and beyond. 


    Since most local races are nonpartisan, we’re still working to identify the Democratic candidates we should track in these races across Washington - many thanks to our LPOs and the Elections Committee of the State Committee for their efforts here! And, at the current count, 173 of our Contest Every Race recruits - folks who would NOT have run without this program - are on the ballot in 2021. If you or someone you know is running for office and should be on our radar, email organizing@wa-democrats.org to let us know. We’d love to get connected!


    We’re identifying the most competitive races and candidates, especially where we can pick up new Democratic seats and elect a more diverse and representative class of elected officials. We’re planning a “spotlight” program for these races throughout the year, so again, send us your recommendations!


    T3 - Train The Trainer: As part of our continuing commitment to ensure the best and most effective training for all of our Local Party Leaders, PCOs, and amazing volunteers, the Washington State Democrats are excited to announce that we’re partnering again with the Association of State Democratic Committee’s Best Practices Institute to launch Train the Trainer Volume 2 (T3 v.2)! T3 v.2 is a free, three-week, six-part, 100% virtual training course, which will provide thousands of grassroots leaders with the political skills they need to execute successful local electoral programs. 


    During T3 v.1 this spring, Washington state led the nation with over 780 T3 participants and 311 certified graduates - more than any other state in both categories. Washington Democrats represented almost one-third of the entire national program! The T3 v.2 program will build upon the skills taught in the Spring T3 series. However, registrants are NOT required to have completed T3 v.1 to participate in the T3 v.2 program. Everyone interested in helping to elect Democrats is welcome to participate!


    Click Here to Register(registration closes at 8:59 pm PT on Sunday, June 20, so don’t wait!)


    Just like T3 v.1, the T3 v.2 program is designed to train thousands of people at your own pace over three weeks, beginning June 22nd.


    2021 T3 v.2 Curriculum Calendar

    Week

    Session #

    Date

    Topic

    Deadline

    --

    Sunday, June 20

    Registration Deadline

    1

    1

    Tuesday, June 22

    Program Overview + Getting Started

    2

    Thursday, June 24

    Fundraising

    2

    3

    Tuesday, June 29

    Communications + Messaging

    4

    Thursday, July 1

    Organizing

    3

    5

    Tuesday, July 6

    Digital

    6

    Thursday, July 8

    Building Coalitions

    Deadlines

    --

    Sunday, July 18

    Certification Deadline

    --

    Monday, August 2

    Certification Delivery (subject to change)


    This program will expand the skills of PCOs, party officers, and volunteers alike by ensuring that comprehensive training is free and accessible for Democrats working in every LD and county in Washington (and across the country!). 


    T3 v.2 is an opportunity for those who missed the Spring T3 program to get up to speed - especially local candidates and campaigns - and for Spring T3 participants to expand their knowledge and skills to continue training others! Please take a moment to register yourself now, and then encourage three of your friends to sign up with you. We win when we train and organize together.


    Juneteenth FB Live with Rep. Melanie Morgan: 


    We’re excited to be hosting one of our Facebook Live forums next week with Rep. Melanie Morgan of the 29th Legislative District. We’ll be discussing the Juneteenth holiday and the work the legislature did in 2021 to address the needs and concerns of Black Washingtonians. The event will be on Thursday, June 17th at 11:00 AM. You can watch it live or a recording of the program at www.facebook.com/washdems/live.


    Campaigning During COVID - It’s Time to Get Out There:As local Democratic campaigns ramp up activities leading up to the 2021 primary election, it’s important that we do so in a way that’s safe and responsible. While many of our candidates, staff, and volunteers may be fully vaccinated at this point, we need to recognize that our campaigns can and will interact with people who aren’t vaccinated due to access, medical conditions, or being too young; We need to protect them just as we protect ourselves. 


    Political staff and activists are NOT public health experts and it’s important that we always defer to the guidance of our public health authorities and to err on the side of safety. Make sure to continuously stay up-to-date on the recommendations and guidance from the state’s Department of Health and your local county’s public health authority. While responsible and safe campaign practices may change as the COVID situation evolves, these are our current recommendations to local campaigns for how to operate under COVID. 


    Save The Date - Rural Summit Coming Up:On July 25th, we’re hosting our Washington State Democratic Party Rural Summit. We know how important it is that we communicate with rural voters about the work that Democratic elected officials are doing on their behalf and organizing to build our party across Washington. We will be hosting a full day of workshops, trainings, and discussion of rural strategies, with a keynote session from Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb. Save the date and stay tuned for more information about this important event!


    Redistricting Outreach Meetings Continue: Washington’s Redistricting Commission has begun its initial process of collecting public comment on the redistricting process and goals. These events are all virtual at this point, focused on the communities of one Congressional District at a time. The list of outreach meetings and their dates and times can be found here: https://www.redistricting.wa.gov/outreach-meetings 


    As a party, our role is to support our Democratic commissioners (chosen by the Senate and House Democratic leaders in the legislature) and provide input on maps that reflect the important communities of interest across the state - like our Native American Tribal partners. We must also provide the opportunity for Democratic voters to have our voices and influence fairly heard in our elections. Redistricting always involves tradeoffs, and no map will ever be “perfect,” but we can help support the commissioners as they work to draw and negotiate the most fair and equitable maps possible. 


    It’s difficult to propose concrete redistricting plans or maps at this point because we still don’t have the final population data from the Census - that won’t happen until September. Still, at this point, we want to remind ALL the commissioners of the importance of listening to communities of interest. We also need to make sure that groups like Washington’s BIPOC voters can come together as a voice for needed change, so their geographic communities won’t get split up between multiple districts -- as was done to so many groups back in 2011.


    Something to Read: I mentioned the Rural Summit we’re planning with Nebraska State Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb - make sure to check out her book as well! Titled Harvest The Vote, it’s an inspiring road map for how the Democratic Party can reconnect with rural voters on issues like climate change, corporate power and overreach, clean energy, and other ways that we can connect with a rural grassroots that can be too easily ignored from the coasts. Great Democratic leaders like FDR were elected with huge support from farmers and rural voters, and we should work to rebuild those alliances and grow our party in rural areas again. I seriously recommend you check it out from an independent, unionized bookstore


    Thanks as always for reading and for your support for the party! Now let’s go forth and win these local elections we’ve been preparing for all year!


    With gratitude, 


    Tina Podlodowski 

  • 4 Jun 2021 7:53 PM | Douglass MacKenzie


    Hello Democrats! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week. This week, we’re talking all about the push to get everyone who is eligible vaccinated with one of the COVID shots! 

    Now, I imagine most everyone reading this has already been vaccinated, except for the few who might have a medical condition or allergy that prevents it. That’s wonderful, but there are still many Washingtonians who haven’t yet gotten their shots, and friends, family, and neighbors can be the most important spokespeople for encouraging the hesitant to get vaccinated. 

    As of yesterday’s numbers, 50.3% of Washingtonians had received at least one dose of a vaccine and 43.3% of us have been fully vaccinated, with both shots in the case of the two-shot vaccines, plus the two-week period required for the vaccine to reach full efficacy. That means we’ve still got a long way to go to get every Washingtonian vaccinated. We’re averaging about 29,000 doses being given every day in Washington. We’re already seeing COVID cases and hospitalizations drop as a result, but we need to keep up the momentum and do even better!

    National Month of Action on Vaccines:The Biden-Harris administration has declared June a National Month of Action in a push to get 70% of U.S. adults at least one vaccine shot by the 4th of July. The administration is mobilizing community organizations, local governments, influencers, celebrities, and more to spread the word. President Biden is doing the rounds in the media highlighting some of the efforts being made by businesses and organizations to make it even easier for folks to get vaccinated, and Vice President Harris will lead a National Vaccination Tour to encourage vaccinations in key communities across the country.

    The second gentleman Doug Emhoff visited us right here in Washington a couple of months ago to recognize our work on vaccinations. While he was in Yakima, he visited the mass vaccination site at the Yakima Valley SunDome and met with Yakama Nation tribal leaders to learn about their work combating COVID-19. The fact is, Washington still has a ways to go, but we have a lot to be proud of and have been setting a high bar for other states to reach. We need to keep on being a great, nationwide example of how to get these vaccines out to everyone, and quickly. 

    Concrete steps that are being taken as a part of the Month of Action include pharmacies holding longer hours, major child care providers offering free care while individuals get vaccinated, canvassing and phone and text banking about vaccine events, business partnerships that create incentives for vaccinations like on-site shots at MLB games, and more. Speaking of “and more”...


    Gov. Inslee’s Lottery: 

    Gov. Inslee has enlisted the help of the state lottery to encourage folks to get vaccinated! Starting Tuesday, the state lottery will conduct one drawing for $250,000 every week for four weeks among all vaccinated individuals. At the end of the four weeks, there will be an additional, final drawing for a $1 million prize. Vaccinated Washingtonians don’t need to do anything to be entered in the five drawings. The lottery will automatically gather names from the state Department of Health immunization database.

    Inslee also announced a suite of higher education incentives, including tuition and book assistance at public institutions across the state. Nearly $1 million will be dispersed directly to our public four-year universities and two-year community and technical colleges to run their own drawings for free tuition and expenses for vaccinated students. Local sports teams and companies are also donating prizes of their own, like airplane tickets, sports events, and other cool stuff. 

    Perhaps this is a little cheeky, but if any of you reading this do win that $1 million, I hope you’ll consider making a contribution to help support us here at the Washington State Democratic Party. But what’s more important is that we’re all taking steps to keep ourselves, our families, and our communities safe and finally beat this virus. You can read more about the state vaccine lottery here

    Where to Find Shots:

    Local pharmacies, nonprofits, and government entities across Washington are offering COVID vaccinations every day. In many cases, you don’t even need an appointment anymore! I know some people are a little concerned about the side effects, but you needn’t be - in nearly every case, it’s nothing worse than one day feeling under the weather. This is something we can’t delay on - if you or somebody you know is still waiting, check out the Department of Health’s vaccine finder and find an appointment near you

    Issuing My Challenge: 

    WATCH VIDEO HERE

    It’s really unfortunate that politics is one of the biggest predictors of vaccine hesitancy. The Inlander newspaper did a great investigation and found that support for Donald Trump in 2020 is the #1 best way to identify which areas are slow to get vaccinated. So it’s not enough for Democrats like me to talk to Democrats like you - we need to get our Republican neighbors on board, too. 

    That’s why I’m issuing this challenge to my Republican counterpart, Washington State Republican Party Chair Caleb Heimlich and GOP leaders Representative J.T. Wilcox and Senator John Braun. I’m happy to tell my party’s members that I’m vaccinated and I hope they take the vaccine; I challenge Caleb, J.T., and John to do the same with their party’s supporters. We’ll never be able to beat the virus if Republicans are so hesitant to get such an important vaccine. They should see Republican leaders who they look to and trust, like Caleb, J.T., John, and Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan Newhouse, and Jaime Herrera Beutler ALL touting the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. That’s how we come together and beat this thing… because the coronavirus doesn’t discriminate based on party identification! 

    So whaddya say guys - willing to reach across the aisle and spread the word about the importance of beating the virus and getting vaccinated? 

    (And feel free to share my video far and wide, and make one of your own! Who knows - maybe we’ll have a new “ice bucket challenge” on our hands!

    Upcoming National Democratic Training Committee Opportunities: 

    We’ve got a long list of great training opportunities for local Democratic candidates with the National Democratic Training Committee coming up next week! These are fantastic (and free!) resources for helping ensure that our local candidates are running the best, strongest campaigns possible in every race across Washington. I encourage you to share these with Democratic candidates running in your local area. Click these links to RSVP: 

    How to Build Your Political Campaign Communications Plan - Monday, June 7, 10 AM 

    How to Raise Money When You Can’t Meet in Person - Tuesday, June 8, 10 AM

    How to Build Your Political Campaign Digital Plan - Wednesday, June 9, 5 PM

    How to Maximize Your Personal Network to Raise Money - Thursday, June 10, 10 AM

    The Secret to Successful Fundraising Emails- Friday, June 11, 10 AM

    Something to Read: I think we all know at this point that the lies and conspiracy theories being spread by the Republican Party are a huge problem in politics these days, and it’s really scary how much of their base they’ve been able to brainwash to believe total nonsense. I thought this article from Science News about how our brains process misinformation was a fascinating look into how this kind of bogus stuff is able to spread and latch onto people. The article uses a lot of examples from COVID and the vaccines -- exactly the kind of misinformation that we’ve got to overcome. We can’t beat it if we don’t understand why it happens. Definitely, an educational read to go over and ponder. 

    Thanks for taking the time to read this today! I appreciate your help so much in spreading the word about how we get these vaccines out in folks’ arms, and keep every Washingtonian safe.

    With Gratitude, 

    Tina Podlodowski

  • 28 May 2021 11:17 AM | Douglass MacKenzie


    Friday Wrap Up (2).png

    Happy Friday, fellow Democrats! 

    It’s been a good week of news here at the party. Currently, we’re gearing up for local elections now that filing week is over. We’re excited about all the opportunities out there to work with our local parties to help flip some of the swing seats from red to blue and compete across Washington state! Here’s some of what’s going on this week:

    Redistricting Outreach Meetings Beginning:Washington’s Redistricting Commission has begun its initial process of collecting public comment on the redistricting process and goals. These events are all virtual at this point, focused on the communities of one Congressional district at a time. The list of outreach meetings and their dates and times can be found here: https://www.redistricting.wa.gov/outreach-meetings 

    As a party, our role is to support our Democratic commissioners (chosen by the Senate and House Democratic leaders in the legislature) and provide input on maps that reflect the important communities of interest across the state - like our Native American Tribal partners. We must also provide the opportunity for Democratic voters to have our voices and influence fairly heard in our elections. Redistricting always involves tradeoffs, and no map will ever be “perfect,” but we can help support the commissioners as they work to draw and negotiate the most fair and equitable maps possible. 

    It’s difficult to propose concrete redistricting plans or maps at this point because we still don’t have the final population data from the Census - that won’t happen until September. Still, at this point, we want to remind ALL the commissioners of the importance of listening to communities of interest. We also need to make sure that groups like Washington’s BIPOC voters can come together as a voice for needed change, so their geographic communities won’t get split up between multiple districts -- as was done to so many groups back in  2011.

    Get Involved With New Mexico’s Congressional Special Election:If you’ve got some free time this Memorial Day weekend, there’s an important special election coming up that we can get involved with and have a huge impact! June 1st is Election Day for the special election in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District to replace the incredible Deb Haaland, now the Secretary of the Interior. Let’s join in to ensure that we can hold her seat for Democrats! 

    Our partners at the New Mexico Democratic Party are running phone banks from now through June 1st, daily from 3 PM to 5 PM Pacific Time.

    Here’s the info to get involved! These links have information on how to make calls through this phone bank program:

    Script Preview

    ThruTalk Login:https://thrutalk.io/caller/login/dncdistributed

    ThruTalk Service: Democratic National Committee Distributed Callers

    ThruTalk User Guide

    Callers Guide

    Why We Make Calls

    If folks have questions while they're making phone calls, they can email digitalorganizing@dnc.org and the DNC has a couple of staff members ready to help with questions. 

    Something To Watch - We had a great virtual event on Facebook live this week with some of our local Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Democratic leaders, celebrating the accomplishments, achievements, resiliency, and joy of the AANHPI community. It’s important that we highlight this diverse and important population in our state and learn more about how we as Democrats can lift up and amplify the AANHPI community. It’s essential that we make sure our party and our elected officials are proposing and passing policy solutions that reflect their needs and concerns. It was a really interesting discussion! You can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/washdems/videos/836306120338336 

    Memorial Day Weekend- This Memorial Day, we must remember the sacrifices that our veterans made for us and honor their service. Our veterans deserve a government and policies that give them the support they need. A lot of that came in the American Rescue Plan. The American Rescue Plan (that every Republican in Congress voted against) has billions of dollars in support for veterans, especially for health care and improvements to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Check here for a fact sheet on benefits for veterans that Democrats delivered in the ARP and help us spread the word about how Democrats are the party who are fighting to help our veterans thrive. 

    Charges in the Killing of Manuel Ellis - You may have seen the news that Attorney General Bob Ferguson is pressing charges against three of the Tacoma police officers who were part of the killing of Manuel Ellis in March of 2020. Ellis was killed by a group of police officers despite eyewitness accounts that he appeared not to be resisting - another tragedy and example of out-of-control and dangerous law enforcement. 

    This decision to charge is a significant step towards justice for Manuel Ellis. We know this would not have happened if organizers across the state did not march or if legislators and elected officials had not called for a proper investigation. This is what happens when we hold police accountable and we stand against police violence. Thank you to AG Ferguson for taking this step, and we plan to continue to track this case going forward. 

    Good National News -There’s good national news on COVID and the economy coming out - today it was reported that US jobless claims dropped to a new pandemic-era low for the 7th week in a row and the number of new COVID-19 cases dropped for the 5th straight week. These milestones are because of President Biden's and Democrats' American Rescue Plan -- and have been achieved no thanks to Republicans in Congress, all of whom voted against the relief package. Yesterday, during his a speech in Ohio, President Biden reminded us about that, about all the Republicans who voted against the American Rescue Plan, and who then turned around and tried to take credit for it -- like our own Republicans Rep. Dan Newhouse and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. We need to keep up the pressure and hold them accountable for their bad vote!

    Now we need to keep the effort up to build our economy back better... which is why we’re so excited about Sen. Patty Murray’s fight to make sure that we make child care affordable and accessible to all as a part of a national infrastructure bill. Listen to Sen. Murray talk about the importance of this here.

    Thanks for reading, and for all you do for the Democratic Party!

    With gratitude,

    Tina Podlodowski

  • 22 May 2021 10:42 AM | Douglass MacKenzie


    Hello fellow Democrats! 

    This week’s news:Senator Patty Murray officially launched her re-election campaign this week! We’re all so happy that Patty Murray is running again - she has a strong record of putting Washington workers and families first, and Washington Democrats know it, which is why they’ve consistently re-elected her to fight for Washington in the U.S. Senate. In the last year alone, she's brought home real results: funding COVID-19 relief to deliver vaccines and help our schools reopen safely in the fall, providing support for hard-hit small businesses and restaurants, and passing legislation to make healthcare more affordable so people can get the coverage they need.

    Washington voters will have an important choice next year between our champion Patty Murray and a Trump-supporting conservative who could put Mitch McConnell back in charge of the Senate, and we need to make sure that we re-elect Patty so she can keep up her fantastic work for us. These midterm elections can be challenging and we need to make sure that Democrats across Washington know about the great work Patty is doing and that we’re getting out the vote to help Patty and great progressive candidates up and down the ticket. 

    Something to share: Make sure you watch and share Sen. Murray’s announcement video! She speaks to her vision for the next steps we need to take to help families across the country recover from the pandemic and thrive going forward. You can see it here on Twitter or here on Facebook. Please watch and share these videos on your personal or local party’s social media channels! 

    The American Families Plan: Sen. Murray has been working closely with the Biden-Harris administration on one of their best and boldest new proposals - the American Families Plan, which would make education more affordable, get cash assistance to families in need, and expand access and reduce costs for child care and health care. You can read the fact sheet here on the American Families Plan’s impact on Washington state - this is what’s at stake! 

    The American Families Plan would be paid for by rolling back the tax cuts for the rich passed by the Republicans under the Trump Administration and making sure that we’re asking the wealthiest few and the most profitable corporations to pay their fair share. While Republicans lie about this (as usual), DNC Chair Jaime Harrison recorded a video where he explains the truth about taxes and the American Families Plan - click here:

    Local filing week: Filing week for local offices is wrapping up today and we know your local party has been working with the candidates in your area to make sure everyone is filed and ready to run! One special ask - make sure that you check the list of who has filed and see if there are any seats that no one has filed for.In most cases, if no one has filed for a seat by today’s deadline, there will be a special filing period through Monday, and if only one person files, they win!This is a way to get people quickly and easily onto some lower-profile seats. Make sure to check it out!

    Coming up next for candidates, we’ll be ramping up our candidate training programs in June to make sure everyone is ready for the upcoming election! Stay tuned for dates and details to share with your local candidates!

    Biden signs hate crimes bill:President Joe Biden just signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes bill, amidst rising racist violence against Asian Americans. This important legislation will help prevent and respond to hate crimes, many of which may be motivated by the pandemic and targeted against our Asian American friends, family, and neighbors. Hate crimes have increased since the start of the pandemic, and it’s a problem that needs to be taken seriously and responded to. I’m so glad to see our Democratic leaders taking the issue on. Thank you so much to them for moving this bill through quickly!

    Something to Watch: This coming Wednesday, May 26th, at 10 AM, we’re going to be doing a virtual forum with some of our local Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Democratic leaders. We’ll be on Facebook live together with five panelists celebrating the accomplishments, achievements, resiliency, and joy of the AANHPI community. This will be an important opportunity to highlight this diverse and important population in our state and learn more about how we as Democrats can lift up and amplify the AANHPI community and make sure our party and our elected officials are proposing and passing policy solutions that reflect their needs and concerns. You can watch it live at facebook.com/washdems/live!

    With gratitude, 

    Tina Podlodowski

  • 15 May 2021 9:34 AM | Douglass MacKenzie

    Subject: Friday news & action with Chair Tina Podlodowski

    Friday Wrap Up (1).png

    GOP Leans In on Conspiracy: You probably saw the news this week that Congressional Republicans booted Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership position in their caucus because she dared to tell the truth about the 2020 elections - that President Joe Biden won fair and square. 

    Nobody’s going to mistake me for a political supporter of Cheney. However, what Congressional Republicans are doing in their internal leadership right now is a hard look at the lies, utter loyalty to Trump, and conspiratorial frenzy gripping their party. Apparently, it’s now such a sin in the Republican Party to admit the truth about the 2020 election that doing so will get you kicked out of your leadership position in Congress.

    We can’t pretend like adherence to these bogus conspiracies is just a Washington D.C. problem. But you all know that right here in Washington State, GOP congressional candidate Loren Culp still hasn’t admitted that he lost the 2020 gubernatorial election fair and square. The Washington State and King County Republican parties are still pushing their ‘election integrity committee’ that promotes debunked right-wing conspiracy theories from the likes of Sidney Powell. Republicans in the legislature like Doug Ericksen still propose their bills to end all-mail voting and make it harder for folks to have their voices heard in our elections. 

    We need to get folks to admit the truth - despite many members still being COVID-deniers, the Republican Party is ill right now, but with a different virus. They are infected with a belief that they must stay loyal to an internal worldview that’s completely disconnected from reality and tied to the venality of Donald Trump. Any Republican elected officials who publicly admit the truth are threatened and punished - meanwhile, their plan to win elections is to suppress the vote and gerrymander districts rather than run on real policy ideas and proposals. This is not a healthy political party and it’s not a responsible way to campaign. Voters, elected officials, and opinion leaders need to demand better from the Republican Party.

    Build The Blue Gala was Amazing: We had a great time at the Build The Blue virtual gala this Tuesday. If you were able to attend, thank you so much for joining us. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. It was so inspiring to hear from speakers like Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, our own Sen. Patty Murray, Rep. Marilyn Strickland, and more. I hope it doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings if I confess that my favorite part of all was Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. Every mom at the event knew exactly the feeling when her daughter started trying to get her attention with “mommy, mommy!” in the background of the call. But working moms find a way to get it done, with their kids at their side! 

    I want to thank everyone who made this possible for their work, especially all of you who make our state party so strong. These incredible national speakers want to be with us because they know that here in Washington, Democrats matter, Democrats work, and Democrats win. With your help, we can keep this up and continue building our progressive momentum even further. 

    "Positive change can happen. The hard work of our state party, especially all of you volunteers and supporters, have been integral in making that progressive change happen."

     -Senator Patty Murray, 2021 Build The Blue Gala

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    "Investing early in our democratic infrastructure means that we can build a stronger, more diverse pool of candidates so that we can help make sure our government look more like the people they represent"

    -Senator Tammy Duckworth, 2021 Build The Blue Gala

    If you weren’t able to make it, you can watch DNC Chair Jaime Harrison’s speech below!

     

    Helping us raise these early funds is critical for enabling us to hire organizers early, well ahead of the 2022 midterms, to build the party and support local candidates with Democratic GOTV this year. Your support matters a great deal.

    Filing Week Next Week: Speaking of local candidates - next week is filing week! This is the week when candidates file to run for office, and next Friday, May 21st, is the deadline! You can’t win if you aren’t on the ballot, so we’re trying to make sure we have as many good Democrats running across Washington as possible. 

    Has your local party been talking to candidates in your community about the races they can run for? We know 54 local candidate recruitment meetings have already happened - were you able to participate? Our Rise & Run page has information for our potential candidates; sign up there to get a package of information on running for office that can help you or candidates you know run and win! It’s so critical that we contest as many local races as we can across the state this year. We need the help of our PCOs and local parties to get people to step up and run. And be on the lookout for our three-week June candidate training that will help us win in ALL these races! Next week, watch your local county’s elections office and see who’s filing for office and what’s still open. Let’s make sure we have Democrats running everywhere we can!

    Something to Share: This morning, Crosscut ran a great op-ed piece from Leonard Forsman, the chair of the Suquamish Tribe and president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, about the importance of passing President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. We’ve made it a priority for the Democratic Party to work with our tribal partners and make sure their needs and concerns are reflected in the policy our elected officials advance. The American Jobs Plan is an excellent example of a bill that would make huge investments across the country and our state, including in many areas of tribal need. Passing this bill would be a historic step towards meeting our obligations to support and lift up Washington’s tribes and help recover from generations of discrimination, neglect, and abuse. I hope you’ll read and share this article about the importance of passing this bill and supporting our indigenous communities. 

    With gratitude,


    Tina Podlodowski 

  • 30 Apr 2021 3:48 PM | Douglass MacKenzie



    Hello fellow Democrats! What a week for the Democratic Party we had!

    Biden’s 100 Days: Thursday, April 29th was President Joe Biden’s 100th day in office. In that time, President Biden and the Democratic Congress have acted decisively to respond to the COVID pandemic and help our economy recover.

    • Over half of U.S. adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, meeting the goal of delivering more than 200 million vaccine doses in the first 100 days.

    • 160 million stimulus checks have been delivered.

    • More than a million jobs have been created since President Biden took office. 

    • Last week, weekly unemployment claims fell to the lowest level since March of last year, when the pandemic began.

    In Biden’s speech to the American people and a joint session of Congress Wednesday evening, the President outlined the next steps of his agenda: how to build our country back better with massive and transformative investments in infrastructure, jobs, and clean energy, while helping to support families and communities with critical social programs like paid family leave, early learning and pre-school for kids, free community college and more financial aid for students in our higher education system, lowering health care costs by making the American Rescue Plan’s health insurance premium reductions permanent, and much more.


    The American people have responded - polls show that Americans loved his address and the positive, progressive agenda that he’s putting forth. Did you have a chance to watch the speech? If you missed it, you can watch it on Youtube here and read his remarks here. If you did watch it, make sure that your local party has shared the speech with your members over social media and/or email! This was a great speech and we want to be sure that our grassroots Democrats are hearing the message that Biden has presented. 


    End of Washington’s Legislative Session:The 2021 legislative session was one of the most historic and consequential ever in Washington state. On issue after issue, Democratic legislators stepped up to deliver real results and pass powerful legislation to address the needs and concerns of the people of Washington. Amid a global pandemic and an economic crisis, Washington state Democrats led the way: from addressing immediate emergencies like economic recovery and public health needs to tackling long-term challenges like combating climate change, balancing our state’s upside-down tax code, and addressing institutional racism in our criminal justice system. We couldn’t be more proud of the work done and the wins achieved by our Democratic legislators this year.

    Republicans are already working to overturn the major progressive tax reform we passed by filing lawsuits against the capital gains tax. This is a policy that our party’s advocacy committee has been pushing for years and will be a real change for making our tax system fairer and helping us make the investments we need in early learning and education. We need to work hard to defend this progress, but let’s celebrate the wins we’ve had. More details about some of the issue areas that you, our PCOs, told us were important, can be found here. Please spread the word!

    Filing Week Coming Up:We are now 17 days away from the start of local candidate filing week and 21 days away from the deadline to file for office in 2021! Has your local party been talking to candidates in your local area about the races they can run for? We know 54 local candidate recruitment meetings have already happened - were you able to participate? Our Rise & Run page has information for our potential candidates; sign up there to get a package of information on running for office that can help you or candidates you know run and win! It’s important that we are contesting as many local races as we can across the state this year. We need the help of our PCOs and local parties to get people to step up and run. And be on the lookout for our three-week June candidate training that will help us win in ALL these races!

    Something To Look Into: Follow the money! It’s important for us all to keep up on what our local Republican counterparts are doing. The Public Disclosure Commission makes it convenient and easy to see what committees are raising and spending money. Have you looked at what your local Republicans are doing? You can see filings for all of the LD and county parties on the PDC website here

    The information there is updated monthly as treasurers submit their reports, but please always keep an eye on what your GOP counterparts are doing! I make it my goal for our state party to raise more money than the Republicans do every month, and we want local parties to try for the same. If your local Republicans have far more money than you, maybe it’s time for a new fundraising plan? We can help via the state party Finance Committee, chairs or vice chairs should contact us at questions@wa-democrats.org with “FINANCE” at the start of the subject line. 

    Something To Watch: This weekend is our spring Washington State Democratic Central Committee meeting! All of the state committee members from our legislative districts and counties will be assembling virtually to pass resolutions, report on work from the Democratic National Committee, and our own state committees, and more. The proceedings start at 9 AM, and we’ll be streaming them live on Youtube here!

    Build The Blue Gala May 11th @ 4:30 PM

     

    2 (1).png

    We want to make sure everyone knows about our “Build The Blue” gala coming up on May 11th with special LIVE guests DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Georgia’s Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, along with our own Senator Patty Murray and Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland! And just today, we confirmed that Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth will also be making an appearance! This is going to be a great event and you can sign up or learn more atwa-democrats.org/buildtheblue.

     

    We’d love you to consider signing up as a Table Captain, or, if you want to help spread the word, we havea toolkit of social media graphics that you or your local party organization can share to help let people know about this fun upcoming event!


    And on one last note - for everyone who’s eligible to get one of the vaccines for COVID-19, I hope you’ve had a chance to receive at least your first shot by now. It’s really important that we all do our part to help stop the spread of the virus and vaccination is an important part of that effort. Some vaccine locations aren’t even requiring an appointment anymore -- you can just walk up and get vaccinated at a time that’s convenient for you. Folks can find a vaccine site nearby at the WA Department of Health website. We care about you, your family, and your community. Get vaccinated and stay masked up!

    Thank you all, stay happy and healthy, and I’m looking forward to seeing our state committee members tomorrow!

    Tina Podlodowski


  • 23 Apr 2021 6:27 PM | Douglass MacKenzie



    Dear Democrats,

    We can’t talk about anything this week without mentioning the guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. 

    This has been a rough week of news to watch, especially for our Black friends, family, and neighbors, who are reminded on an almost daily basis now of the pain and trauma that our society inflicts upon them. At the same time, we have hope this verdict can be the beginning of a shift in our country — a shift away from the systemic racism that is so deeply embedded in our society and criminal justice system and towards true, long-overdue justice. There is so much left to be done. Countless people continue to wait for justice, are demanding justice, and deserve it. America is demanding change.

    A guilty verdict is less than what America deserves. We know that this verdict alone will not heal our nation from the plague that is systemic racism. We must continue on our path towards ridding ourselves of this plague. The best way we can do this is through transformative action that will bring restorative justice to Black Americans, who have always been disproportionately harmed by state violence. Never forget that our collective demands for accountability and justice are what brought about this monumental change. This shift was not random or inevitable; this verdict was the result of deliberate and dedicated action. Where we go from here can bring about even more significant change — but not without continued effort.

    Tuesday’s guilty verdict reminds us that in this moment we must direct all of our work toward building a more powerful, more diverse, and more antiracist party. Each day, we must reaffirm our commitment to support and elect candidates who will help make the real changes in our laws and in our society that are necessary for us to dismantle institutional racism. We still have so far to go in order to build a society that truly cares for all Americans - but these are steps in the right direction. It is my hope that this moment can serve as a turning point where we bend our country’s moral arc more towards justice. This course-correction will end with this week’s verdict if we stop our work, too. We cannot stop because all of us are needed moving forward. I’m glad to have you join me in the commitment to this work.

    State Tax Reform and Capital Gains: There is good news this week coming from the state legislature, though. With just a few days left before session ends on Sunday, April 25th, both the House and the Senate have now passed major reform to our state’s upside-down tax code with a capital gains tax! This has been a huge priority for our party’s Advocacy Committee and it’s been something we’ve been working on for years. The capital gains tax would have the very richest Washingtonians pay a 7% tax on the profits they make from the sale of investments like stocks if they make more than $250,000 from those sales in a year. This would affect fewer than 1% of Washingtonians, but it would raise money that Washington State can invest in important programs like expanding child care services for families and making sure that caregivers are getting the compensation they need to both provide high-quality early learning and earn a living wage. 

    The legislature is also funding the Working Families Tax Credit to get money back into the pockets of lower-income families throughout Washington. This cash assistance program is proven by experts to be one of the most effective anti-poverty measures we can implement. Together, these steps are hugely important for fixing our upside-down tax code.

    We know the Republicans are going to be mad as hell about this and they’re going to fight as hard as they can to protect lower taxes for their ultra-rich donors - while lying about the impacts to the rest of us. Expect to hear more from us about the work we will all need to do to help protect this historic reform from their attacks. And thank you to our Democratic legislators who took these bold and necessary votes!

    Filing Week Coming Up: We are one month away from the filing deadline for local 2021 elections! There are thousands of local seats up in Washington where we want to have Democrats on the ballot! School boards, city and county governments, and special districts like ports and fire commissions all have seats up this year. We know how important it is to run Democrats in every place we can across Washington -- research from the 2020 election showed that having down-ballot Democrats running helped drive turnout all across the ticket and may have even ensured Biden’s victory in key swing states! It’s critical that we have Democratic candidates running to win in 2021.

    We set up our Rise & Run programto give local Democrats and party organizations the information they need to run and win anywhere in Washington. https://www.wa-democrats.org/riseandrun has information you can use to help plan and execute a campaign for local office. And, thanks to the efforts we’ve done with Contest Every Race, we identified 10,248 people who are considering running for targeted offices in this cycle, and another 5,733 folks who declined to run but are willing to volunteer or become PCOs. Has your LPO had their candidate introduction meeting? Are you calling these potential volunteers? What are you waiting for?

    May 17th through May 21st is the week when candidates NEED to file for office, so make sure you’re talking to people in your community who would be interested in running before that week is up. This next month is crucial; it can help define our work for the rest of 2021!

    _____________________

    Something To Do: Washington’s own Rep. Debra Lekanoff of the 40th Legislative District is a nominee for EMILY’s List’s “Gabby Giffords Rising Star Award!” We are so proud of Rep. Lekanoff and we’re glad that her hard work is being recognized nationally with this nomination. The Gabby Giffords Award will be awarded based on community input - you can go to this link to VOTE for Rep. Debra Lekanoff to be honored with this special award. 

    Something To Share: Thursday, April 29th next week marks the 100th day of Joe Biden’s presidency. The progress that’s already made is immense. The passage of the American Rescue Plan means that many working families bearing the brunt of this crisis are getting the support they need to get through this crisis. The American Rescue Plan also provided funding to get more Americans vaccinated, the resources to get our kids and teachers safely back to school, and so much more. As of this week, more than 200 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide. We are on track to recover from the COVID crisis!

    We have a set of graphics, social media content, and talking points for Democrats and local parties to use to help celebrate and communicate about the successes of these first 100 days. Go here to access these resources and help spread the word about the benefits that Democrats are already delivering for the people of Washington.

    Build The Blue Gala May 11th @ 4:30 PM


    We want to make sure everyone knows about our “Build The Blue” gala coming up on May 11th with special LIVE guests DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Georgia’s Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, along with our own Senator Patty Murray and Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland! This is going to be a great event and you can sign up or learn more at wa-democrats.org/buildtheblue.

    We’d love you to consider signing up as a Table Captain, or, if you want to help spread the word, we have a toolkit of social media graphicsthat you or your local party organization can share to help let people know about this fun upcoming event!

    With gratitude for all you do,


    Tina Podlodowski

  • 16 Apr 2021 3:29 PM | Douglass MacKenzie


    Friday Wrap Up (2).png


    Hello fellow Democrats! Tina is on spring break with her family this week, so you’re getting the Friday email from a new person today! My name is Alex Bond, and I’m the new communications director for the Washington State Democratic Party. I’m a lifelong Washingtonian who’s been working to elect Democrats in this state for many years now - I’ve probably met many of you at some point or another, and I’m excited to electronically-meet the rest of you! 

    Like many of you, right now I’m watching the last two weeks of the legislative session with a ton of interest. Last week Tina wrote to you about the major police accountability bills that were passed. This week, I’m excited to see our progress on tax reform and what happens next with the capital gains tax proposal. We know that Washington has the most upside-down tax code of any state in the nation, where the rich can avoid contributing their fair share to the vital services we all count on like health care, schools, affordable housing, and more. Taking action on the capital gains tax is long overdue. 

    We should all be glad to see that the Working Families Tax Credit is moving forward in the legislature, with HB 1297 now having passed both the House and the Senate. This bill would provide direct cash assistance to lower-income families to help folks pay their bills or cover emergency expenses. Passing this bill, sponsored by Rep. My-Linh Thai (LD 41), would be a big step forward for a fairer tax code. 

    These kinds of direct cash benefits - which poverty experts say are some of the most effective ways to help folks in need or on the edge - are also a big part of the American Rescue Plan at the federal level. Beyond the direct stimulus checks, our own Senator Patty Murray helped get into the bill the new Child Tax Credit, which will get money directly to families with children. The New York Times did a great story about Senator Murray’s work on the issue - I encourage you to check it out

    Balancing our upside-down tax code is a key part of this year’s advocacy agenda from our state committee, and it’s good to see legislators taking the issue seriously. It’s looking like 2021 is going to be a historic year for a fairer tax code in Washington state and across the country. These needed changes will lend a helping hand to working families that have been struggling for a long time, strengthen the public goods and institutions we will depend on even more as we recover from the pandemic, and allow our elected officials to enact good policy with a focus on the country’s long-term best interest. 


    Warm regards,

    Alex Bond

    WA Dems Communications Director

    _________________________________

    Something to do: We’re working with the DNC to collect stories from Washingtonians about how the American Rescue Plan stimulus package has affected your life! Whether it’s being able to get vaccinated, a stimulus check helping you pay your bills, or other things like helping to keep a small business afloat or your school district being able to do a better job for students, we want to hear about it! 

    What we’re asking for - a short film that you can record on your phone, or have someone hold the camera for you, and film from the waist up, with the picture vertically aligned “selfie-style.” Record between about 30 seconds to a minute, and try to film in a well-lit area and with a neutral background. 

    Your script could be something like, “I’m Barbara from Tacoma, Washington, and I’d like to thank Joe Biden and our members of Congress for passing the American Rescue Plan. This bill has helped me and my family by… [add your story here]”

    You can submit the videos here. Thank you for your help!

    Something to read: As we work to build the Democratic party’s strength in rural areas, it’s important that we make sure rural voters know what Democrats are delivering for them. The American Rescue Plan passed by Democrats in Congress has huge benefits for rural areas, andthis article from The Daily Yonder includes a great deep dive into how the ARP will combat child poverty in rural America. We’re asking all of our rural Democratic party organizations to please share this article on social media with your friends, neighbors, and constituents. Make sure to remind them that Republicans Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan Newhouse, and Jaime Herrera Beutler all voted against this massive boost for poor rural families… despite representing most of the rural areas in our state!

    Thanks for reading, and thanks for all your help and support! This is a big year for Democrats, and we appreciate all you are doing to help support our progressive causes and candidates.

  • 16 Apr 2021 3:12 PM | Douglass MacKenzie


    Kitsap County

    Kitsap County this week launched the largest-ever eviction prevention program, funded by approximately $18 million from several different state and federal funding sources, providing financial support to low-income individuals and households who may be behind on rent and utilities.

    “Helping individuals and families maintain their housing, and avoid the potential devastation of evictions, is the number one thing we can do to support our entire community on the path to recovery,” said Commissioner Rob Gelder, chair of the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners.

    In order to make it easy for tenants to apply for funding, Kitsap County has rolled all of this funding into a single new program - the Kitsap Eviction Prevention Assistance program (KEPA) - so that eligible households do not have to sort through different requirements and applications for the different funding sources. Instead, there is a single Pre-Application that determines eligibility for all programs. Either tenants or landlords may initiate the Pre-Application.

    “We hope to make this program as easy to access as possible for eligible tenants who are behind on rent,” noted Kirsten Jewel, Kitsap County Department of Human Services Housing and Homelessness Division manager. “The goals of the program are threefold: to benefit tenants so they can get caught up on rent and utilities, to help landlords who can collect past due rent and pay their bills, and to support the community so that we can avoid a tsunami of evictions due to tenants’ inability to pay rent once the eviction moratorium is lifted.”

    Eligible households can apply for past-due rent, current rent, and up to two months of future rent, which will be paid directly to the landlord. In addition, program funds may be used for tenants' past-due utilities charges, paid directly to utility companies.

    To be eligible, households must have a total income of 50% or less of area median income and experienced a financial impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A chart showing these income amounts by household size is available on the program websiteThis assistance is only for renters and landlords. Homeowners are not eligible to apply unless they are the landlord.

    Tenants who aren't sure whether they qualify can still submit the Pre-Application and may be referred to other programs for support if they don't qualify for this eviction prevention or utility assistance. 

    Kitsap County has contracted with Kitsap Community Resources to be the primary distribution agency. This means most tenants and landlords will be working with them directly. Kitsap County also contracted with Housing Kitsap and the Bremerton Housing Authority to provide eviction prevention funding to their existing tenants.

    The Coffee Oasis will be accepting applications from youth and young adults (up to 24 years old) who may also submit an application through Kitsap Community Resources. The program is set up so there is “no wrong door” and applications will be routed to the appropriate agency.

    In addition, Kitsap County contracted with six outreach partner organizations that will work directly with historically under-served minority populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. These partners will provide outreach, education, and application assistance to the populations they serve and include Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center, Mt. Zion Church, Gather Together Grow Together, Surviving Change, Foundation for Homeless and Poverty Management, and House of Refuge/Hope 360.

    Information about the program, including the Pre-Application, is available at http://kcowa.us/kepa
    The Pre-Application is also available in Spanish.

    Informational flyers are available to print and share:

     


  • 15 Apr 2021 6:36 PM | Douglass MacKenzie


     

    Democrats,

    Thank you so much for all that you do to make our Party stronger and help elect Democrats at every level!

    I’m so very excited to announce that registration is now open for our first-ever Build the Blue Gala on Tuesday, May 11th. This will be our biggest, best virtual event yet and we hope you will be able to attend!

    Please RSVP and get your tickets online here!

    I’m ever more excited to announce that we will be joined by LIVE speaker DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and other incredible elected officials from the National scene! More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks so do stay tuned!

    This is your chance to join hundreds of Democrats from across Washington State to celebrate our 2020 victories, get inspired for the huge opportunities facing us in the 2022 election cycle, and support the work we need to protect our strong Democratic majorities and gain ground in critical races statewide.

    Will you help us build our strongest organizing program yet and pack our bench with strong and diverse Democratic candidates? Please sign up online here – and if you have friends who you think would be interested, please do consider signing up as a table captain to get special recognition and perks on event day!

    Please direct all questions to WA Democrats Development Manager Anjali Narula at anjali@wa-democrats.org. Thanks again so very much for all you do for our Party – we can’t wait to see you in May!

    With Gratitude,

    Tina Podlodowski

    Chair, Washington State Democrats


    Paid for by Washington State Democratic Central Committee. Not authorized by any federal candidate or candidate's committee.

    Washington State Democratic Party615 2nd Ave.Suite 580Seattle WA 98104 United States


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