Help win the next Blue Wave

By Heidi Rand

Deadline: Now & ongoing – We are the resistance, and hell yeah we can chew gum and walk at the same time! In fact, even as we work to impeach the Traitor-in-Chief and his evil minions (chewing them up & spitting them out), we’re also walking and knocking doors in our communities to register voters, Get Out the Vote (GOTV), and more!

But time is flying; the California Presidential Primary is March 3, 2020, and the Presidential election is November 3, 2020, not even 400 days from this writing. There are also countless elections nationwide that many groups are laser targeting. Indivisible East Bay members worked tirelessly to make the 2018 Blue Wave happen, and we’re busy planning for 2019 and 2020 canvassing trips, text and phone banks, postcard parties, and more! For now, please join us at these events:

• Oct. 21, 6:45-8:45 PM: Popcorn & Postcarding in Oakland’s Glenview District. Join us in writing postcards for Reclaim Our Vote, the co-sponsored project of the NAACP, Black Voters Matter and others to do outreach to voters of color. RSVP for address.
• Oct. 27, 1-3 PM: Indivisible East Bay All Members Meeting, at Sports Basement, Berkeley. We’ve got a spooktacular AMM coming up! Bring all your ghoul-friends to hear updates and take action! Info & RSVP.
• Nov. 5, 6:30-9:30 PM: Join Indivisible Berkeley, IEB, East Bay Activist Alliance & Swing Left East Bay at our Election Night Watch Party for Virginia elections. At Spats, Berkeley. No RSVP needed

And find many many more, organized by great local groups we work with (in random order). Find updated lists in the “Phone! Canvass! More!” section in our weekly newsletter.

1. East Bay Activist Alliance:

[I]s a coalition of elections activists located in the San Francisco Bay Area’s East Bay region. We work to help elect Democrats all over the US, especially at the state level, particularly in areas that can flip red to blue.

The East Bay Activist Alliance is an affiliate of the Sister District Project.

2. Swing Left East Bay:

[I]s fighting to end the destructive policies of the Republican Party and Donald Trump by taking back the political levers of power.

We organize activities in the San Francisco East Bay with the goal of flipping Senate seats in Arizona and Colorado, holding congressional seats in California’s 10th and 21st districts that were won in 2018, and working on other elections as needed to have the greatest strategic impact.

3. Indivisible Berkeley:

[B]rings the Trump Resistance to 4000+ of our closest neighbors in Berkeley and surrounding communities.

Our mission is to resist the Trump agenda by engaging our elected officials at all levels of government and promote progressive and democratic values. Read our entire mission statement here.

4. Flip the West:

During the 2018 election, Flip the West, then known as Flip the 14, made more than 1.5 million voters with allied organizations and helped flip seven House seats in California. We’re now taking the fight to the U.S. Senate and White House.

Flip the West is working to strengthen the Resistance in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, and Texas, while continuing our work in California. We organize meaningful volunteer opportunities to reach voters, recruit volunteers, and provide a number of services to Resistance organizations.

5. Democracy Action:

[Is] an independent group of volunteers dedicated to combating the dangerous Republican agenda and advancing Democrats nationally through local action.

6. Indivisible SF:

[B]elieves in an America that embodies equality, justice, and opportunity for all — a society in which the regressive and dangerous agenda led by Trump has no place.

We work to protect each other and the integrity of our democratic institutions from this agenda, support progressive policies, and hold our elected officials accountable to their constituents.

7. West County Organizing: phone and text banks for state and special elections in El Sobrante. Tuesdays, 1-3 PM, and  every Saturday in October through GOTV, from 11 AM- 1 PM. For info and list of all dates, contact Nancy Klein at 510-917-4045, or by email to nancyklein@westcountyorganizing.com

Whatever your skills or experience, no matter how much or how little time you have to give, everyone can do something, please help in any way you can! If you want to host your own event, or can help us organize ours, email info@indivisibleeb.org

Wave, photograph by Hippopx

Heidi Rand fights the evil empire with skills honed as a Ninth Circuit staff attorney and civil rights lawyer, using words to resist, and to inform and inspire others to take action. She also wields a mean camera and knitting needles, though not at the same time.