Democratic Party of fighters, not folders
| In this week’s newsletter, Ezra talks about how we can build a Democratic Party of fighters, not folders, and we share how you can be prepared to respond when ICE surges in your community or Trump messes with the midterms. |
For those looking to build a Democratic Party that fights, the next 8 days are jam-packed: six Indivisible-endorsed candidates face primary voters across four states. We’ve traveled a long road to get here:
- 19 months ago Trump came into office with the Laken Riley Act sitting ready for his signature. The bill empowered ICE and stripped immigrants of their rights. It passed with all Republicans on board as well as nearly 60 congressional Democrats. (Indivisible strongly opposed it as bad policy and bad politics.)
- 17 months ago 91% of Indivisible leaders voted for Chuck Schumer to step down from leadership after he surrendered leverage in high-stakes negotiations with Trump.
- 14 months ago was the then-largest protest in American history — No Kings.
- 10 months ago was (again) the then-largest protest in American history — No Kings 2.
- 9 months ago Schumer led Senate Dems to collapse over ICE yet again. We launched Indivisible’s largest primary campaign ever the next day.
- 5 months ago was the (still reigning) largest protest in American history — No Kings 3.
- 3 months ago we notched our first primary win in Georgia.
- 2 months ago we notched more wins in California, New Jersey, and New York.
We’re just picking up steam.
This primary campaign has always been about one thing: building a party that fights.
We can get behind a fair amount of ideological diversity — it’s a big country, and people voting in Texas might want different things than people voting in Minnesota. That’s OK! What we shouldn’t get behind though is cowardice or corruption — no voter is looking for that. To convince voters that the Democratic Party is worth believing in, we need to elect primary candidates who push for new leadership, who commit to using congressional power to hold Trump and his cadre accountable for their crimes, and who build grassroots campaigns that reject money from AI, crypto, AIPAC, and corporate PACs.
That describes every Indivisible-endorsed candidate, and it turns out that’s what Democratic primary voters want too. “Washington’s candidates grapple with Democrats’ hunger for anti-establishment fighters” blared one of many such headlines this summer.
And we’re not done yet. Up next in Michigan on August 4, we’ve got Donavan McKinney (MI-13), William Lawrence (MI-07), and Abdul El-Sayed (Michigan Senate); in Tennessee on August 6, Justin J. Pearson (TN-09); in Hawaii on August 8, Jarrett Keohokalole (HI-01); in Minnesota on August 11, Peggy Flanagan for Senate. Pick a couple and help them get to Congress!
Up next: crushing Trump in the midterms. In the next month we formally close out the primary campaign and pivot to the general. Then we electorally decimate Trump in the midterms. Then we protect the results from his sabotage. And then a new generation of grassroots Democrats takes the majority, leading an opposition party that fights back like we’ve not yet seen.
If you want to be part of building this wave, we’ve got some ideas for how to do it this week!
In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible