In my personal newsletter this week: Book recs!! 19 books I read over the last two months that I think you might like -- a mix of general fiction, romance, thrillers, & non-fiction (mostly memoirs.) amandalitman.substack.com/p/december-a...

I’m all for making endorsement criteria public - that’s why @runforsomething.net’s application has always been online for anyone to see. And I say this genuinely, since I like many of their candidates, but I would love to know what Majority Dems’ criteria is, too! www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Good candidates - people with strong values, deep community roots, and enough self-knowledge & confidence to show up authentically - can make any race competitive. It’s (probably) not too late to run this year - sign up at runforwhat.net and @runforsomething.net can help you get started.

True in 2025 and will continue to be true in 2026: The establishment is not unbeatable. They only go unchallenged.

True in 2025 and will continue to be true in 2026: The establishment is not unbeatable. They only go unchallenged.

🎶 Anything can happen 🎶

FYI: @runforsomething.net is currently hiring for two open roles -- a senior technical lead and a director of people & culture. More details (including JDs, salaries, & how to apply) on our website. runforsomething.net/about/jobs/#...

We've always done this, but in particular in 2026, one of @runforsomething.net's top priorities is recruiting candidates who have lived experience with the affordability crisis. That's not about ~identity politics~ -- it's about giving people a sense that their leaders *care* because they *get it.*

it's gonna be 🔥

One of the many @runforsomething.net projects I'm excited about this year is a tool we're building that helps candidates best prepare for when voters ask ChatGPT (or any other LLM) who to vote for.

Chicagoans: @runforsomething.net is partnering with Guerilla Press for a five week run of live podcasts featuring some of our amazing Chicagoland candidates. Don't miss this. www.guerrilla-press.com/p/guerrilla-...

My actual job description is activist and here’s what I tell people in despair all the time: do not underestimate how much harm you can prevent by being just a little bit annoying.

TBH, the last 20 years makes a lot more sense when reconsidered thru the lens of "nearly every major institution was being led by someone either directly in or complicit in a massive sex trafficking ring involving minors."

Local power looks like this. RFS alum and Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii is naming the parallels between today’s ICE presence and her family’s incarceration in internment camps. Leadership rooted in memory and courage matters. https://bit.ly/3M5y6ns

This is both morally bankrupt and also bad politics for the GOP. ICE agents might scare off low-propensity voters -- meanwhile, anyone eager to show Trump they hate what's going on be mad enough to metaphorically crawl over broken glass to vote this November.

Remarkable: Trump's planned migrant prison camps are hitting deep resistance in red areas. In Virginia's partly rural Hanover (+26 Trump) opposition is intense. GOP leaders in other states are opposed. Voters are rejecting mass deportations big time. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2060...

We had nearly 200 people sign up for tonight's @runforsomething.net & Dirt Road Organizing rural leadership recruitment call -- we're all-in to help people run in rural communities, even & especially when it's hard.

Hundreds of Texas public school students walk out to protest ICE killings

This short piece is the best analysis of what drives voters to one candidate (or party) I have read in a long time. www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...

This @bostonreview.bsky.social piece by @adambonica.bsky.social and @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social is an absolute must-read, as are many of the responses to it. Spread this one far and wide.

I’ll be at the DFL Caucus night tomorrow. However, I cannot in good conscience say it is safe for our undocumented neighbors to show up. Please show up & push for resolutions in support of an eviction moratorium, the repeal of the Laken Riley Act, & no funding for “immigration enforcement”.

🔥 from @amandalitman.bsky.social Candidate recruitment and party management is the harder, more crucial work than poll-following

I join a debate about moderation in order to declare the entire argument stupid, besides the point, and entirely removed from how voters (or candidates!) experience politics. www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...

“While democracy faces an existential threat, pundits and strategists remain stuck in the past.” Now online, @adambonica.bsky.social & @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social lead a forum on Democrats’ timidity in the face of authoritarianism, with @coribush.bsky.social @amandalitman.bsky.social + many others:

West Virginia Democrats are fielding a record number of candidates - we have folks up in 90 out of 100 state house races and 17 out of 19 state senate races. Expand your imagination for what might be possible - let’s gooooooo. www.wvdemocrats.com/news/histori...

My takeaway is that local races like school board elections can have larger impacts and not in ways that candidates can necessarily predict I'm sure Wambsganss thought nationalizing school board elections was her ticket to a career in national Republican politics

This. With Taylor Rehmet producing a 31 point swing to the left in a seat that the Rs thought was safe in Texas, it's time to expand our imagination!

"Foushee is accessible only through a gauntlet of aides & controlled town halls. Allam, by contrast, is almost unavoidable, especially on social media. Her claim to the progressive mantle is inseparable from her millennial-style campaign." @runforsomething.net alum Nida Allam is showing the way.

A quick thread of some of the highlights of @runforsomething.net's 2026 strategic plan to win big this year and prepare to win for the next decade+... runforsomething.medium.com/run-for-some...

NEW from @runforsomething.net: Our 2026 strategic plan. Everything sucks. It doesn't have to! We can have nice things -- we can win *and* we can have leaders we're excited about. Here's how we're going to get it done. runforsomething.medium.com/run-for-some...

This week's @runforsomething.net feel-good update: Some really GREAT news, for a change! Plus, details on our 2026 strategic plan on how we're going to keep the momentum going. rfsfeelgoodupdates.substack.com/p/rfs-feel-g...

Set up a recurring monthly donation of $10. You will help so many great young candidates get elected.

This. This is why I donate every month. You can too.

This is why I donate monthly to @runforsomething.net -- they run candidates everywhere and are building the pipeline we need for the future we want and deserve. Let's go!

My monthly donation to @runforsomething.net is the most effective money I spend to help elect young progressive leaders.

Run everywhere.

Huge victory. They told Taylor Rehmet this seat was unwinnable. They told us not to waste resources. Now the GOP lost a Texas State Senate race that hadn’t gone blue since the 90s. This is what early support + candidates with lived experience looks like. Run. Everywhere.

And this stat doesn’t even include the outside spending.

Taylor Rehmet, a Democrat (& @runforsomething.net candidate!) flipped a state senate district in Texas that Trump had won by 17 points. Expand your imagination. When great candidates rooted in community step up to lead, anything is possible.

He won 🥹😎😭🎉✨

Local columnist on the context of Dems flipping a deep red Tarrant County district last night www.star-telegram.com/opinion/bud-...

He won 🥹😎😭🎉✨

2026 is going to be a great year to run for office. Filing deadlines are coming up fast -- in most places, it's not too late to get on the ballot. We'll help you get started. runforwhat.net

As you see the reports out of Texas SD-9, keep in mind: This was the cash discrepancy. Money speaks -- but it's not as loud as it used to be.

Delighted to see @runforsomething.net alum @cdmenefee.bsky.social pulling ahead in his race for Congress. His ads this cycle have been peak millennial in the best possible way. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDkl...

Whether he wins or not, @runforsomething.net is so proud to be part of Taylor Rehmet’s team - and to have planted the seed for him to run back in 2019! 😎

Taylor Rehmet is our last 2025 @runforsomething.net still in elections this year -- he signed up in our pipeline years ago; this was the moment he decided to run. KEEP AN EYE ON THIS.

NEW: School hallways are silent. Grandparents patrol outside in shifts. Two more kids taken from Liam Ramos' school. Trump isn't deescalating ICE at all at MN schools. “I stopped wearing my high heels to work. I wear my boots to work because I have had to run." www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-mi...

On a politics of neighborliness. open.substack.com/pub/amandali...

In 2025, @runforsomething.net helped elect a DSA-affiliated candidate in Atlanta and a former Republican in Pennsylvania (& 163 others!). We are building the big tent Democrats need in all 50 states — tight on values, flexible on policy, and most importantly, rooted in community.