Thinking about how to make an actual electoral difference this year (inspired by too many headache-inducing MN GOP “online moments”.) For example, as a City Councilmember I can tell you we desperately need CARES Act $$ to rebuild our communities but it’s held up in mnleg (SENATE)

As a City Councilmember I can tell you we are doing work to fight like absolute hell for renters but MN tenant law is SO WEAK and mnleg is full of landlords w/vested interest in status quo. House can pass key reforms for tenants but they die in Senate

As a City Councilmember I can tell you this community depends on transit and public transportation and our Climate Action Plan won’t mean a thing if we don’t radically invest in equitable transit expansion but mnleg needs more fighters who see transit as the future esp in Senate

As a City Councilmember I can tell you the mnleg POCI Caucus worked on a bill (PROMISE Act) to combine small business supports/anti-displacement tools following pandemic/uprisings but this and efforts like this have to pass the Senate to help our cities move fwd

As a City Councilmember I can tell you we get a huge proportion of the frontline calls about gun violence in our community, but it’s mnleg and fed govt who hold much of the power to pass massive gun violence prevention legislation that would save lives - guess where we stall out

As a City Councilmember I am incredibly worried about how our constituents are going to safely vote in a pandemic - how we can take back our country in 2020 when there’s widespread open voter suppression. We need our voting rights champions in House to have allies in Senate

So many more examples. Our statewide homelessness crisis that GOP Senators love to do NOTHING about bc it supports their anti-urban/anti-equity agenda & worldview. The police accountability agenda that just stalled bc GOP controls Senate. Millions in $$/wealth they lock us out of

I am really excited to be represented in future by @epmurphymn who’s been working real hard to become our MN Senator #SD64. But 10 seats in mnleg could hold us back or finally help us break through. It is easy to want to give up on elections. But these races help up-ballot too.

If you, like me, aren’t excited about Joe Biden but do believe in voting for harm reduction & self-interest, you can help on a MN Senate or other down ballot race. If you are tired of idiotic white conservative men having power you can support a badass local BIPOC with our values

There’s so much good work happening outside of elections too. As a CM I’ve seen firsthand how honestly in so many cases our community is outpacing/racing gov to organize response - that work deserves funding, support. So I hope nobody reads this as an only elections matter thread

I just really believe it’s within our power to snatch up and cast out legitimately terrible people in MN Senate (& elsewhere!) who aren’t doing the work of this moment. Who aren’t willing to lead w/absolute ferocity for our shared future. Who don’t care/can’t be negotiated with.

And then we can begin to have the things we need and not have to deal with clowns who are an embarrassment to our state & hold us down, thanks for reading.

I’m not good at planning threads sorry, a Marvel post credits scene to this: I ran for local office twice in 2 years. Our scrappy campaign got thru to voters who’d never been talked to before, don’t vote beyond presidential etc. These local races help big ones in unmatched ways!