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- The Gov Hub Newsletter: October 15, 2024
The Gov Hub Newsletter: October 15, 2024
"Staff bros in bow ties" are writing abortion laws [per Rep. Gluezenkamp Perez], Trump freeze frames on stage, Dept. of Energy projects in Florida get $ to turn the lights back on faster, and West Virginia's absentee governor
Gov Hub
October 15, 2024
Welcome to The Gov Hub Newsletter by Girl and the Gov®. This weekly pop of politics is designed to share action items, resources, & quick links to civic engagement tools & topics. Find a typo? Congrats, today is your lucky day!
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THE ACTION ITEMS
Get ‘em done from your phone
ACTION 1 – REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
Brought to you in partnership with Dose of Democracy & Reproductive Freedom For All
The Ask: Help fund the fight for the restoration of reproductive rights nationwide.
The Background: Our friends at Reproductive Freedom For All have been advocating for exactly what the name of the organization is – reproductive freedom for all. Making sure that message is heard and that advocacy is effective requires loads of conversations, boots on the ground, and thoughtful strategies. Help make more of that happen by making a donation today.
ACTION 2 – FEMA FUNDING
The Ask: Tell Congress to return to D.C. & pass more funding for FEMA.
The Background: Two major hurricanes have taken a huge swipe at FEMA funding, and more funding is needed ASAP to provide impacted communities with the help they need. Tell Congress it’s time to help their constituents and pass more critical funding.
ACTION 3 – VOTING
The Ask: Grab a coffee and make a voter plan.
The Background: We told you we’d be reminding you about making a voter plan – so here we are, reminding you to make a plan – not a concept of a plan.
Looking for more action items? Check our library of past Gov Hub’s.
FULL SEND…TO A FRIEND
Just about guaranteed to make it to the group chat
The Trump campaign proved to have only concepts of a plan when they left hundreds of Trump rally attendees stranded in the Coachella Valley with no transportation, forcing many to walk two-hours at night in the desert to their cars. They also hosted said rally on a day with 100+ degree temperatures. Oh, and then yesterday, while several medical emergencies delayed a town hall, he did whatever this is.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Nazi Swastika flags were flown during a Trump boat parade. So, you can do the math of 2+2=4 on that one, which is also further validated by Trump’s former Joint Chiefs Chair, retired General Mark Milley saying “No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump.” “Now I realize he’s a total fascist."
For further proof that misinformation and disinformation are incredibly dangerous, a suspect in North Carolina was arrested [and released on $10K bail] after there were reported threats against FEMA workers – ya know, the government employees working around the clock to bring hurricane impacted communities aid. As a result of the threats, FEMA offices in several communities had to temporarily close this past weekend.
VP Harris announced a set of initiatives focused on solidifying support amongst Black males voters. The five core pillars are outlined here by NPR, but include the legalization of recreational weed, one million forgivable loans of up to $20K for Black entrepreneurs, a plan around crypto rules, investments in Black male teachers and related apprenticeship opportunities, and a National Health Equity Initiative focused on health challenges like sickle cell disease that disproportionately impact Black men.
We debated whether this debate clip should be in this section or Election Szn, but we won’t debate that Congresswoman Marie Gluezenkamp Perez nailed it in the debate with her opponent that “staff bros in bow ties” are writing abortion laws.
GOOD NEWS BEARS
Positive political wins [yes, those do exist]
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN. CREATES NEW NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY: The result of a more than ten-year effort by members of the Northern Chumash Tribe, 4,543 square miles of ocean located off of the central California coast will now be federally protected. The national marine sanctuary will be the first led by Indigenous people according to NPR, and will be aptly referred to as the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. The protected area will be the third largest of the 17 U.S. national marine sanctuaries and be protected from oil and gas drilling – the same goes for undersea mining. The sanctuary may grow in future years, pending ongoing negotiations and compromises made with the wind industry.
$612 MILLION TO GO TO SIX DEPT. OF ENERGY PROJECTS INCLUDING IN FL & NC: As extreme weather becomes the constant main character [TYSM climate change], the Department of Energy is making big time investments in equipping the power grid, across the country, with the capabilities to withstand weather conditions that are no dice. There is however no funding to handle the continual riff between lineman’s wives and the bucket bunnies, sorwz. Anyways, the funding comes via the Department’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships [GRIP] Program, and has projects slated for Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Florida has two funded projects – one with Gainesville Regional Utilities, which will receive $47 million to update response methods in north central Florida, including with self-healing devices. The second Florida project involves Switched Source, which will work with Florida Power and Light to “deploy Phase-EQ, which optimizes power flow in distribution circuits. It’s set to increase the system’s capacity by 200 MW and improve circuit reliability,” according to The Hill.
ELECTION SZN 2024
Guides, chatter, who’s who
VP Harris has agreed to do a sit down interview with Fox News this week. It’ll take place in battleground PA and will air on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 at 6:00pm EST.
The Commonwealth of PA unveiled an easy-to-use voter prep tool called Vote Bestie, which can be used to figure out your [eligible high schoolers and college students] voter registration and voter plan.
These five state leg candidates are all Dem rising stars to know about – WV Delegate Kayla Young, Anna Thomas - candidate for PA state House, Vermont State Rep. Mary-Katherine Stone, Debra Shigley - candidate for Georgia state House, and Michigan state Rep. Jaime Churches.
In West Virginia, an absentee governor is well-positioned to become an absentee senator if he [Jim Justice] should win the seat per reporting by Politico that found that the man with the Babydog was not so easily found during his time in office. The opposing candidate is Democrat and former mayor of Wheeling, Glenn Elliott.
In endorsement land, the California firefighters’ union endorsed VP Harris. The endorsement proves to be a fiery one as the national union declined to endorse in this presidential round, and comes after Trump repeatedly threatened to withhold federal aid for wildfires in CA if re-elected.
What’s the line of defense on election integrity? These governors and their election administrators, including Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
In Maryland, there’s one U.S. candidate that wouldn’t get rid of the filibuster to codify Roe, and there’s one U.S. Senate candidate that would.
Apparently NYC Mayor Eric Adams has been leading a ‘trash revolution’ which makes the decently recent presser with ‘revolutionary’ trash cans make more sense. The revolution will make its way to the polls this year, with this trash/sanitation-centric ballot measure.
It’s no secret that the ownership behind the Kansas City Chiefs is conservative, which makes the business that’s behind the team being behind a radio ad campaign in Missouri to dissuade people from voting for Amendment 3, [the abortion-rights amendment], 0% surprising.
Social Media Managers, this is for YOU
Some would say Christmas came early, others would say miracles still exist – either way, the news of the moment is that #VIRAL, The Newsletter is now available for free to all subscribers. The weekly newsletter is filled with need-to-know content trends and concepts for political digital and comms professionals. If you’re new to the world of #VIRAL, you can expect a variety pack of social media ideas that work for political applications, sent to your inbox every Tuesday. As they say, ~it’s like a reward~ and now it’s free, so you can have more free time back on your cal. Scroll for ideas and forward it to a social media manager in your circle.
HGW LISTENS
Hit play on these pods
This member of Congress is considering a run for Governor in NJ next year. Who is it? Find out with this episode of Girl and the Gov, The Podcast.
Sometimes ‘boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider,’ other times they find themselves at odds with the gals on politics, which seems to be on full display this election – a happening that’s at the heart of this episode of Politico’s Playbook Deep Dive.
For fans of The View [raises hands], Behind The Table is its sister podcast, and this particular episode with Alyssa Farah Griffin discusses being on the other side of Trump’s attacks and what it was like hosting an event with Liz Cheney.
TOP TIKTOKS
Vids making their ‘rounds
What does “controlling the weather” look like? This creator has it down to a science and a [trending] sound.
Honey, wake up – another Kamala x I’ve got a glock remix just dropped, and it’s this banger.
When the math doesn’t math, it looks like this – at least in 2024 presidential election terms.
VP Harris chatted with voters in the Univision town hall last week and this moment of her speaking with a voter about both of their mom’s is poignant and touching.
Congresswoman x candidate for U.S. Senate’s campaign RV is literally called Pork Chop 3 and this is why.
Trump’s make-up mishaps, like this one, showcase his inability to receive feedback per this creator.
THE VARSITY VOTER COLLECTION
Don’t just be a voter, be a varsity voter
Join the varsity voting team with our new merch drop [and by checking-in with all of your friends to make sure they have a voter plan]. Perfect for voting from your couch – the Varsity Voter Collection includes cozy crewnecks and joggers, which BTW are also great to do phone banking in.
KEY READS
Important stories from around the USA
BEFORE YOU GO…
..say hello
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