Since my last entry about the Special Elections, awareness and grassroots support has grown considerably. The Daily Kos endorsement of Jon Ossoff and the resulting $1 million in grassroot donations in Georgia is a game changer. This is what we can accomplish if we focus on elections regardless of geography. Each election is one more opportunity to get one more Democrat elected. And we desperately need more Dems in office.
Dark money doesn’t care about geography. It follows the elections wherever they are and so should grassroot Dems especially since the Democratic Party, from the top down, has been slow to to support and help these candidates but that’s another post.
Dem candidate, James Thompson, has raised $250,000 from from individuals vs. Estes with $190,000 but Estes has also received $100,000 in dark money. No one seems to think Thompson can win but given the support from individuals, maybe he can pull it off. James is a veteran and civil rights attorney, and liberal. His website www.votejamesthompson.com to donate or sign up for the PhoneBank.
Election day is next week, April 11.
His biggest challenge now may getting his supporters to the polls. It’s tough enough to be a Dem in Kansas but the GOP has created a few extra obstacles. Republican Governor Brownbacker set the election day to happen during the Easter Holiday week. Holidays generally reduce voter turn out and to make things worse, many of the district’s established voting locations are in churches. No surprise that that churches are busy with Easter and can’t host polling sights. The result was a scramble to find new locations which causes voter confusion and transportation issues for some voters. Lower voter turn out more adversely effects Dems than Reps which the GOP well knows. Here’s the story from AP hosted2.ap.org/...
Additionally, Kansas State Democratic Party hasn’t been as helpful as it could or should have been. From the Wichita Eagle www.kansas.com/...
James needs our help to run his ad and get out the vote during the final push. Money, PhoneBank, Social Media, reminders to district family and friends to vote. Whatever you can offer.
We can change the harmful, political environment one campaign at a time.