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Happy last day of September! As we prepare to enter the fourth quarter of the year, it’s time to focus on finishing 2024 strong. With just a few months left, we’re more motivated than ever to drive meaningful change and build a brighter future for Maryland.

 

Last Thursday, we held our Annual Gala, and it was an incredible success! The evening was filled with inspiration, powerful conversations, and a shared sense of community. Nina Turner delivered a stirring keynote speech, reminding us of what’s at stake in this election and the importance of defending our democracy. If you missed her speech or want to relive the moment, you can watch it here. A huge thank you to all who joined us and to our sponsors, artists, and volunteers who made the night possible. We recognized some of Progressive Maryland’s outstanding volunteer leaders who helped to lead our healthcare, environmental, and housing justice work and who donate their time and expertise to our communications team and organizing staff. Check out our PM Events section later in the memo for the full list of awardees.

 

As we look ahead, we have just 36 days left until the election, 24 days until early voting begins, and absentee voting is already underway. Now is the time to do everything we can to defend our democracy! One of the most effective ways is by making sure voters have a plan to vote and know what’s at stake, especially in the critical Senate race.

 

We need your help! Sign up for a phone banking shift this Tuesday or Thursday—we have various times available, and whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned pro, we’ll make sure you’re prepared to get out the word.

 

Sign up for a phone banking shift here:

Tuesday Phonebanking to Save the Senate

Throwdown Thursdays

 

We also encourage everyone to tune in to the Vice Presidential Debate tomorrow at 9 PM. It’s an important opportunity to hear directly from the candidates, and we hope you find time to watch.

 

As always, read on for updates from our task forces, issue campaigns, and the latest in state and national news.

 

In solidarity,

The Progressive Maryland Team

 

 

 

 
 

QUICK ACTIONS:

  1. Tell Congress to crack down on insurance company profiteering in Medicare: Email your Members of Congress here
  2. Help us save the Senate. Door knock this coming Sunday: Sign up here.
 

Here’s what’s in today’s memo:

  • Election Action

  • PM Events
  • Task Forces & Issue Campaigns Updates
  • Local Chapter Updates
  • State & National News

  • PM Job Openings
 

ELECTION ACTION

PM Mobilizers Squad Throwdown Tuesdays & Thursdays!

 

We’re making every moment count as Election Day approaches! Join us for Throwdown Tuesdays & Thursdays, where we gather twice a week to phone bank and engage voters in this crucial Senate race. Whether you're free on Tuesdays from 6:30-8:00 PM or Thursdays from 5:00-6:30 PM, we need all hands on deck to protect Maryland from harmful GOP policies and defend our democracy.

 

Every call we make is a step closer to ensuring voters are informed, ready, and committed to making their voices heard. Whether you're new to phone banking or a seasoned pro, we'll provide all the tools you need to make an impact.

 

Sign up and be part of the movement!
 

PM EVENTS

Gala Highlights: Celebrating Our Champions

 

At our Annual Gala, we had the honor of recognizing incredible individuals and organizations for their contributions to our movement. Here are this year’s award recipients:

 

  • Exceptional Leadership Award:
    Michael Blain (PM Comms Team Volunteer)
    David Glenn (Healthcare Task Force Core Leader)
    Shenae Thomas (Environmental Justice Task Force Member)
  • Progressive Champions Award:
    Delegate Jamillia Woods
    Delegate Vaughn Stewart
  • Labor Champions of the Year:
    Baltimore-DC Metro Building and Construction Trades Council
    Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
  • Excellence in Journalism Award:
    Suzanne Pollack (Montgomery Community Media)
    Lisa Snowden-McCray (Baltimore Beat, Editor-in-Chief)
  • Volunteer of the Year Award:
    Tonia M. Chestnut (Enclave Tenant Association Board, External Affairs Chair)
    Pascale M. Lemaire (Enclave Tenant Association Board, Vice President)
  • Courage Award:
    Councilmember Will Jawando

Congratulations to all our honorees! Thank you for your dedication and leadership.
 

Task Forces & Issue Campaigns Updates: 

Healthcare Justice Campaign: Celebrating Leaders, Campaigning to Reclaim Medicare and to Stop Project 2025!

 

Congratulations to David Glenn, long time Progressive Maryland member and leader in our state and national healthcare justice work. We presented David with the Exceptional Leadership Award at last week’s Gala in recognition of the strategic vision he’s brought to the fight for lower drug prices, health equity, Medicare For All and for all he’s done to shape our Care Over Cost campaign. 

 

All over the country today people are rallying during a national day of action to Reclaim Medicare! Private insurers with their Medicare Advantage Plans (that put people at a real DISadvantage) are draining tens of millions of dollars from Traditional Medicare, funds that could be used to expand Medicare by adding dental, hearing, and vision benefits.

 

Take a minute to email your members of Congress here and tell them to rein in corporate greed in Medicare! 

 

The 2024 election is upon us! We must make sure that the GOP and Project 2025, the right wing’s playbook for gutting the regulations we need for progressive economic, social, and  environmental policy, don’t prevail. This plan and the GOP’s platform calls for pushing every senior and person with disabilities into privatized for-profit Medicare Advantage. Don’t let them do it. 

 

Join us on Saturday, October 26th to talk to voters about healthcare and to let them Angela Alsobrooks will protect Medicare. Sign up here.
 

Local Chapter Updates: 

South Prince George’s County 

 

Oxon Hill / South Prince George’s County

We knocked in Oxon Hill this weekend for better schools and to elect Alsobrooks at our Oxon Hill Day of Action! Sign our petition here and take the next step to be a leader for better schools in Oxon Hill by emailing our organizer Anton!

Landover / Central Prince George’s County

We have an opportunity in the County to affect change County-wide!  At the center of it all is the central part of the County! Come and make your voice be heard about what issues matter in your community as we fight for a better PG. Sign up here for our tentative first meeting the week of October 14th! 
 

Hurricane, heat, floods: a movie we have seen too often. It’s News You Can Use

Pretty amazing how a mere national disaster puts state news in the shade. Helene was like that, revving up to Cat4 in the superwarm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and delivering a haymaker up and down the Florida peninsula’s West Coast and into the Panhandle before going on to flood much of the Southeast up to… Virginia!. Florida has a state-backed home insurance plan; how much pressure will this latest disaster put on it, and the insurance industry as a whole?  See below for some early estimates on the total cost of one of climate change’s biggest recent tantrums. As we also see below, POLITICO Playbook reported Monday a.m. that President Biden said he "may have to" call Congress back into session to pass emergency disaster funds. Yes, there is other news – also about climate. Maryland finally got around to protecting workers against our ever more superheated summers – now that summer is officially in the rear-view mirror. Maryland, the other 49 states, the federal side, It’s all News You Can Use.
 
 

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.

>>Read more on the homepage of progressivemaryland.org

 

 
 
 

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Progressive Maryland
P.O. Box 6988
Largo, MD 20792
woody woodruff

About

M.A. and Ph.d. from University of Maryland Merrill College of Journalism, would-be radical, sci-fi fan... retired to a life of keyboard radicalism...