PM Weekly Memo for May 23 2022: Stand Strong For A Strong Democracy, Rep. Raskin’s message to us.

We can’t think of a better way to have marked the one year Anniversary of our New Era PAC and election program than by being with more than 300 Marylanders (on zoom and Facebook in real time and viewing later) with more than a dozen impressive progressive PM backed candidates and our own remarkable Champion for Democracy Rep. Jamie Raskin! 

He told us he was thrilled to be working with Progressive Maryland and all of us. We were thrilled to be with him and to hear his inspiring message last Saturday. He expressed what we’ve all been thinking  for some time,“we’re in the fight of our lives” given the attacks from the extreme right or as Congressman Raskin characterized them the “rule or ruin faction.”  He detailed the violent crimes and the harm that was done on January 6, 2021 by the insurrectionists and their enablers in the GOP. He described how razor close our country came to experiencing a coup. 

We prevailed at the end of that terrible and traumatic day but the assaults on our democracy and freedoms continue. Even in a blue state like ours there are Trump loving Republicans on the ballot this year. And an anti-choice group is organizing to put a  statewide ballot measure on the November ballot to  repeal the abortion legislation passed this year (and upheld after Hogan’s veto) in the Maryland General Assembly. We can’t take the outcome of the 2022 elections for granted so here at Progressive Maryland we’ll be very focused for the next two months on organizing extensive voter outreach, voter education and voter turnout efforts for the Primary contests. We’ll be involved in the general election, too! Voter participation is absolutely essential to keeping and growing our democracy. A strong democracy is what will help us, in the words of Rep. Raskin, “advance the interests, needs and agenda of the people.”

Thank you Rep. Raskin for sharing your time and remarks with us last Saturday. Thanks to PM Board Member Cat Paul who introduced the Congressman, to our affiliates and donors who supported the event, and to everyone who tuned in. It was great to see  the PM slate of candidates who joined us from the field where they were door knocking, attending events, and campaigning with volunteers! 

Now it’s time for all of us to jump in!  Please help  power our election work this spring and summer! We have two months left to shape the outcome of a number of County and state legislative elections. Sign up to knock on doors, drop campaign literature,  make calls to voters or help us recruit more volunteers. We have shifts available most weeknights and on weekends. See the memo for ways to get involved or reach out to one of our organizers. 

Quick Actions:

 

 

 

2022 Maryland Elections: The Primary election is Tuesday, July 19 for offices up and down the ballot.  Make your plan to vote!  Here are options and dates to help you decide: 

    • Early Voting: Thursday, July 7 – Thursday, July 14 Check your local Board of Elections website for locations and hours. 

 

  • Tuesday, July 19: Primary Election Day Check your local Board of Elections website for locations and hours. 

 

Starting today! Make your plan to volunteer with our voter contact  program!  We’re knocking doors, making phone calls, texting and supporting events with candidates. All you need to do is find a couple hours in your schedule to help us get the word out about  the great progressive candidates running on our Slate.Sign up today! Contact Yves for more information. We’ll need folks for coverage at Early Voting and Election Day polling places, too, in July. 

Our Throwdown Thursday phonebank is the place to be on Thursdays at 6:00 p.m  Come meet like minded folks, have some fun and make a difference for one of our Slate campaigns..  6–8pm. Click this link to let us know you’ll join

 

PM Endorsed Candidate Corner

Campaign Events With our SLATE!

 

Saturday, June 4, Canvass Day of Action for Krystal Oriahda, Democratic Candidate for Prince George’s County Council District 7. Come out and meet Krystal and some amazing grassroots activists! RSVP : http://pgmd.us/Krystal We’ll provide training, snacks, the walk list, and other support. Join us for a fun day out in the community.

We are rolling out more endorsements this week so stay tuned and you can view any new endorsements on social media!

 

Statewide & Federal Updates:

 

Medicare for All

Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has introduced his Medicare For All  bill in the U.S. Senate.  Fourteen Senators including Senators.  Warren, Booker and  Pedilla have signed on as sponsors. Please join us in urging Sen. Van Hollen and Sen. Cardin to do the same. Marylanders across the state support Medicare For All,  a healthcare system where everybody is in and nobody is out. Just click the tool to send a message to our Senators: email tool.  A special note about Sen. Van Hollen: We appreciate the time that he and his staff have spent meeting  with us over the past year to discuss Medicare For All, pandemic relief,  and related issues like the  burden of  medical debt and the soaring cost of  high cost of prescription drugs. . We’re glad to see he’s back home! Once he’s able to focus on his Senate responsibilities again we hope he’ll sign on to the  bill and that we can continue our conversation about  Medicare For All and other health care policies. 

Please contact Patty to get involved in our Health Care For All Campaign. 

 

COVID 

We’ve all seen the news about the growing increase in cases and it’s likely that many folks reading this have gotten COVID or have a family member who’s had it. Please get vaccinated, boosted and tested.Let’s do our part and push our elected officials to do their part by. allocating resources that will support the treatment  and care people  need now and over the long haul. 

 

THE OVERDOSE CRISIS

We’ve had a victory! PM is part of People’s Action’s Drug Policy Cohort and PA shared this update: Huge congratulations!

We did it! The MAT Act passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee through the bill package: Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Wellbeing Act. This is the first time that the MAT Act has made it out of Committee, and it’s all thanks to the leadership of the People's Action Overdose Crisis Cohort and the support of the PA network! We hope the bill will pass the House floor next month. 

 

Local Chapter Updates:

Progressive Harford 

Thank you to all 23 attendees at our May Progressive Harford County meeting. We reviewed where the chapter is in its endorsement process and highlighted several upcoming meetings to get members active. We will announce endorsements and plans to support those candidates during our next chapter meeting on June 20. Contact Zack to learn more.

 

Anne Arundel County Chapter 

Progressive Maryland is leading a campaign on behalf of Fair Elections Maryland to win public financing for County Executive and County Council races in Anne Arundel. The first step in the process is a petition effort to collect the 10,000 signatures from registered county voters required to bring the question to the ballot in November.

Anne Arundel is one of the largest counties in Maryland with over half a million residents and holds special political significance as the home of our state capital, Annapolis. A strong win here will not only ensure that Anne Arundel residents have a county government that reflects everyday people over corporations, but will also add to the growing pressure to pass a similar system statewide for the General Assembly.

 

Progressive Montgomery 

Contact Patty for more information about our grassroots election efforts in Montgomery County. 



State and National News:

In news you can use this week: Replace who? Working people of all identities have lots to stick together for -- to fight off the predatory corporations and banks and the right-wing politicians and media crazies they have bought and continue to support. But too many desperate people are vulnerable to conspiracy theories about “replacement” that goad them to take up weapons and murder people of color. And so, we have Buffalo, which will burn in our hearts. Until the next heartbreak.

We should be in solidarity against those big-money pundits, their corporate enablers and the gun culture and racist views  that they  dangle in front of the desperate and vengeful. But the lure of rapidfire revenge steadily peels off the desperate and easily-duped and brings camo-clad tragedy, where real harm reduction (mental health aware-care, not militarized cops and easy gun purchases) could have brought a different outcome.

Find it all in the News You Can Use blog post.

 

Events From Progressive Maryland & Our Allies

Wednesday May 25, 6:30 p.m. | Listening Session on the Police Accountability Bill Being Considered by the Prince George’s County.Hosted by County Council Member Ed Burroughs and County Council Member Deni Tavares. Register here.

 

Friday June 10 | Labor Night at the Nats 

From Union City: This year’s Labor Night at the Nats is coming up; get your tickets now! The Washington Nationals  play the Milwaukee Brewers and tickets are $17. The Community Services Agency gets $2.00 for each ticket. Click here to hit a home run for CSA’s Emergency Assistance Fund, or call Josh Grohs at 202-640-7714 or email [email protected]

 

Saturday, June 18 | 10 AM (Washington, DC) — We’re still a few weeks out  but the Poor People’s Campaign is organizing a Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington & to the Polls in June! This event will be a declaration of the power of poor and low-wealth people to say this system is killing us, and it’s time to change it. Learn more and RSVP here.

 

Progressive Maryland BlogSpace:

We value creating space for our members to express their thoughts on any issues related to our campaigns. Have an idea for a blog post? You can submit writing, film, graphic design, etc. to be published on our website to the blog moderator Woody at [email protected].  

>>Read more on the homepage of progressivemaryland.org