This has been a stressful week.
ROFPAC was born on January 20th, 2017. Our little PAC is as old as the Trump presidency. ROFPAC was the reaction to the fear of raising our children in Trump’s America.
Frankly, it was even worse than we feared.
Yet there have been lots of reasons for hope in the past four years. The biggest one for me is what this PAC represents. It’s people coming together and fighting for a better country at a time we could have given up. When Betsy Devos started dismantling education, we didn’t fall apart, we pushed harder. We rallied behind dozens of amazing candidates for the House in 2018 and then we won. We didn’t rest after that election and neither did they. Our alumni passed bills that will make working families stronger for years to come.
This week we had the chance to finally purge ourselves of the poison that brought us together.
And we did it. We won.
It wasn’t an easy election. We wanted a landslide and we didn’t get it. We wanted the Senate and to expand the House majority. Those probably won’t happen either. We lost some magnificent members, including Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, which I take personally. But I’ll tell you what we did together:
We rallied more votes for Joe Biden than any candidate in the history of the country. We flipped at least four states to Biden that were lost in 2016. We had an election where the concerns of working families were at the top of list for most candidates. Across the nation, equality marched forward. For the fist time we have elected a woman to the executive branch. A black and south Asian woman.
We wanted an easy election but we were never going to have it. Battles are never easy. But that is what makes today so sweet. We live in a better, kinder country today than we did on November 2nd. Our work is not done, far from it. 2022 will be another battle. Yet today we moved forward and we cannot lose sight of that. What we’ve done matters and you will never convince me otherwise. Your dollars saved candidates in tough races. We raised $2500 for Susan Wild and she won a tight race. And those voters she turned out with our money helped swing Pennsylvania back to Biden.
We played our part in a nationwide effort and you each did more than 99% of the people that celebrate with us today. I’m so proud of this organization and I’m so proud of each of you. Thank you to every person who donated money and time to this project. We could have given up in 2017 and collapsed into despair. But we didn’t. We fought tooth and nail back from the brink. Now we start the hard work of repairing the damage done and improving the lives of every American.
I can’t wait to get back to work with every one of you.
We want to close out Election Day with a huge round of applause for our 2020 Honor Roll class. These are the Members of Congress and candidates for Congress who fight ever day for families like ours and we couldn't be more proud to be in your corner. Good luck tonight and may all your hard work pay off!
How are you doing?
It may seem like a strange question right now, but I think we are all feeling it. We are all spending too much time refreshing 538. Too much time obsessing over early voter data. Too much time absorbing every tiny nugget of data that falls through our twitter feeds. Thus is the nature of our lives here in pandemic America 2020.
There are plenty of things to do. FIRST AND FOREMOST, VOTE. The best thing any of us can do is to be certain our voice is heard. That’s why we created ROFPAC. Despite all we do here, none of it means a thing if we don’t vote. So do that, you will feel better.
Every campaign needs people to call and text. Call your friends and families in swing states and tight districts. Jump on a dialer for Joe Biden or one of our many great candidates.
But also rest assured you have done your fair share. You have voted. You have given money and time. You’ve attended fundraisers with our candidates. You asked the tough questions to remind them that working families should always be at the front of their minds. Could you have done more? Of course you could have. Everyone can always do more. But you have done more than 99% of American ever will and you should be damned proud of the work you have done. I know I’m damn proud of the work we began in 2017 and the work we’ve done this cycle.
So lets focus on a little self-care. It looks different for everyone, so I’ll give you a bit of how I am getting through these final days and we won’t talk about me looking at crosstabs of Monmouth polls of Pennsylvania at 4:30am. We will not speak of that okay?
I’m mentioning a few brands and products beneath. This is not an endorsement by a political organization, this is just me talking to you about what I’m doing.
Mediation can be a great way to ease anxiety. So here is guided meditation…by Russell Brand? It’s actually a good guided meditation and has a few laughs. That’s good right? www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq85xzRg6SM
Maybe a cocktail is more your speed? Lately I’ve enjoyed an Old Fashioned with Blackened American Whiskey as well as Legent Bourbon. If you want to keep political, Virginia's Filibuster Distillery makes a great bourbon as well.
The seasonal cocktail in our house has been the Apple Cider Martini. Here is a base recipe: www.nospoonnecessary.com/apple-gin-autumn-cocktail/
Personally I am using a cinnamon simple syrup (which is also used in my Old Fashioned). Also I am not making matchstick apples because even in anxiety, that seems like a bit much.
On TV there are a million recommendations, but I will always fall back to Schitt’s Creek. It is a vision of the sweetness and kindness we all want from America after this election. Make America Small Town Canada Again?
Are you a video gamer? I’ve been quite enjoying Return of the Obra Dinn. It is a mentally taxing logic puzzle. It is hard to have too much election anxiety when you are trying to figure out the name of a guy eaten by a sea monster.
More of a book reader? I recently finished Lonesome Dove, the 74000 page Pulitzer Prize winning western. It is a huge, depressing, and utterly readable book. It is as terrific as every review says it is. I’ve also been reading Greg Rucka’s spin on Batwoman. It is a bit on the bonkers side, but it is certainly entertaining.
Maybe it is just time for a long bike ride or a run. A few board games with the kids. How are you surviving the final 24 hours? Let us know in the comments.
Finally, remember once again, you have all done important work. You have all worked to make this country the country we want our kids and our grandkids to grow up in. Regardless of the outcome, the work is far from over on Tuesday. Good luck to all of us.
And take care yourself, you earned it.
Matt
7 days
Working Moms Shouldn't Have to Clean Up Government's Mess
Working moms have heard it all before: “Be flexible. Are you reaching out to your support network? Do you make and freeze healthy meals in advance? Have you tried using a spreadsheet to stay organiz...Our fundraiser with Susan Wild for Congress is this Wednesday at 6pm. Donate today and ask your questions of the congresswoman on Wednesday!
This has been a trying two months for all of us we hope this finds you healthy and as happy as can be in our new normal.
But of course, this is not normal and “happy” has become the ultimate sliding scale. Over 36 million Americans have lost their jobs. Even more have seen their hours cuts or salaries reduced. In the blink of an eye, our kids have gone from overscheduled to watching those weird mid-70’s Disney movies with Don Knotts.
We are … surviving, doing our best to stay healthy, pay our bills, and keep our families from melting down. The last thing on your mind is fundraising for the 2020 election. Frankly, it hasn’t been our minds either. This is a PAC that is run by working parents. We are going through the same things right now. On our board, we’re struggling with furlough, job loss, cut salaries, special needs kids, and homeschooling … and we’re tired. But we are also acutely aware of why it matters who leads and who is serving in Congress.
That’s where you come in. If all our followers donated $5 today, we could support 20 more candidates in November.
The members we helped elect in 2018 have been vital to the gains working families have made in the last year and a half. Our alumni have pushed for working families to be included in COVID relief packages. They have worked for hazard pay for our first responders and frontline retail workers. They have pushed for help with childcare in a time which has seen our long standing systems upended. They have pushed for the resources our schools need to adjust to this new and awful reality of distance learning.
We are asking you today to help fund our 2020 election fund because $5 more a month from just fifteen of us is enough to give a $1,000 donation to a candidate who is going to fight for us in Congress.
If you don’t have any more to give right now, we hear you. If you can’t give financially, give us your voice. Share our page with your friends and talk about how we need parent-centric policies in this country.
As the nation continues to cope with this pandemic, we can’t leave families behind. Our small investments now can ensure that we come out of this awful time stronger.
We are raising our future.