Hey Bill,
Don't forget we're planning on meeting up in October. We're not sure where yet. Lexi, Jenna and your fav Erika will be coming.
Hopefully, we can meet for coffee soon.
Speak to you soon,
Britney:)
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Friday, May 29, 2020
Dramatically increased costs
Jason, right now, our mission is simple, but huge: register hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in Texas.
This could not only help us win a majority in the State House – but also stop Donald Trump forever by denying him Texas's 38 electoral college votes.
So far, our expectations have been shattered by the thousands of volunteers who signed up, ready to do the work to win, and the huge numbers of calls we've made together to register Democratic voters.
It will take tens of thousands of us doing the tough, necessary work to win. By donating today, you'd be stepping up to commit to that historic effort with us.
Let's do this, y'all!
Kate
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Why these calls are so essential
Hi Jason, we're making phenomenal progress. But to win a Democratic majority in the State House and stop Trump forever, we need to do a lot more.
Last night alone, Powered by People volunteers made 192,038 calls to unregistered Democratic voters. We need more volunteer power if we're going to help register 500,000 currently unregistered, likely Democrats.
That's why I'm asking you to join a virtual phone bank with Beto. Here are two opportunities:
| Upcoming events: | |
| Virtual Voter Registration Phone Bank Virtual Voter Registration Phone Bank | |
It is imperative that we all show up, no matter where you live. This work will have national consequences.
If we register 500,000 new Democratic voters in this presidential election cycle, we could deliver Texas's 38 electoral college votes to the Democratic nominee and stop Trump's second term in the White House.
That's why these phone calls are so essential.
I couldn't be prouder to be part of this team. Let's stay focused and make more calls, y'all!
Thank you,
Kate
Friday, May 22, 2020
A picture of progress
Dear Jason,
This is a picture of progress:
More than 1,000 people signed up for our voter registration phone bank on Monday.
We all Zoomed into a video gathering at 6:30pm, got ourselves pumped up, and were off to the races, our first phone calls going out ten minutes later.
By 8:30, this group of amazing, persistent volunteers had made more than 80,000 phone calls to known Democrats who'd recently moved to Texas.
We called people who had reliably voted in the Democratic primary in their former home state, but have yet to update their voter registration in Texas. They'd been mailed voter registration forms a few days before our calls. We were calling to remind them that all they have to do now is sign it and put it in the mail.
Some people made 20 phone calls, some made over 100. I was able to make 88 over the two hours of our phone bank. Some wrong numbers here and there (which is OK, helps us to clean up our list) along with more than a few answering machines... but when you'd connect with someone it sure felt good.
My favorite was a special education teacher who lives outside of San Antonio. She answered the phone as she was walking her dog. "I'm so glad you called me!" she said. "I've got that form on top of the rest of all my paperwork and bills. I'll sign it and send it in tomorrow!"
We talked a little more and she told me how hard it is to teach in the midst of this pandemic. I shared my newfound respect for her after helping Amy supervise our kids' distance learning with their teachers here in El Paso and told her about the wonderful special ed teachers my sister Erin's had along the way. I wanted to her to know that we really appreciate what she's doing.
At the end of our phone bank, Kate told us how many calls we'd made (big cheers at the news that we cleared 80,000) and then drew two names for our big prize: home delivery of O'Rourke-baked chocolate chip cookies (our winners were Bella from Flushing, NY and Letti from Laredo, TX).
This coming Tuesday, we'll do it again — we have over 1,400 people already signed up to make calls — and then otra vez on Thursday.
We'll keep doing this until we've called nearly one million of our fellow Texans to make sure they get registered.
We are making the most of everyone's time at home by helping to create the conditions that will allow us to elect a Democratic majority in the Texas State House and stop Donald Trump by denying him our state's 38 electoral college votes.
Very grateful to be doing this work and to have your support to get it done!
Thank you,
Beto
Friday, May 15, 2020
Imagine
Dear Jason,
More than a million people have moved to Texas in the last three years, and I'm trying to get in touch with them.
The good news about this group is that it's comprised of folks who have reliably voted in the Democratic primary in their previous states.
The bad news is that they have failed to update their voter registration. In other words, they're still registered to vote in Illinois or California or New York. If they just updated their registration, they could vote in the next election in Texas.
Imagine if we were able to register just 50% of them ahead of November. It would mean we'd likely WIN the State House and help deliver the 38 electoral college votes to the Democratic nominee for President, denying Donald Trump a second term.*
(*Historical perspective: in the midterm elections of 2018, despite significant voter suppression and a cycle that typically favors Republican turnout over Democratic turnout, in Texas we won two new seats in the U.S. Congress, twelve seats in the State House, and I came within 2.6% of defeating Ted Cruz.)
With 500,000 new Democratic voters in a Presidential election cycle, there is no stopping us.
So how do we get these proven Democratic voters registered and to the polls so that they can save Texas and our country?
That's where you and I and hopefully a lot of other people come in.
I've organized a series of national phone banks with thousands of volunteers to call these reliable-but-unregistered Democratic voters who will have just received a voter registration application in the mail. Our phone calls just make sure that these voters have signed the form and mailed it in. That's it.
Something like this:
- Hi, is this John Doe?
- Yes, who is this?
- Hi John, my name is Beto and I'm calling to make sure you've signed and mailed back the voter registration form we mailed to your house.
- That must be the letter sitting on my kitchen counter. Alright, I'll fill it out and send it in!
- Thanks!
Pretty easy, right?
Would you be up for spending a couple of hours with me Tuesday, May 26th making calls to unregistered Democratic voters in Texas? No pressure, but if you say yes you might very well make the difference in the most important election in our lifetime.
Looking forward to doing this with you,
Beto
| Upcoming events: | |
| Virtual Voter Registration Phone Bank Virtual Voter Registration Phone Bank | |
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Here’s the plan:
Jason, the COVID-19 crisis reveals exactly why we need new leadership, which means we need to get to work immediately.
Texas is one of worst states in the country in COVID-19 testing, and even before this pandemic we were last in access to health care. We can do better. That's one major reason why Powered by People is launching an aggressive voter registration effort (read our full plan below). But right now, we don't have enough volunteers.
Will you be part of launching this critical effort? Sign up for a virtual phonebank with Beto now.
| Upcoming events: | |
| Virtual Voter Registration Phone Bank Virtual Voter Registration Phone Bank | |
Jason, we've got a 3-part plan to win, and right now we're at part 1:
- Register Democratic voters: Hundreds of thousands of known Democrats have moved to Texas and are not yet registered in this state. As we all know, Texas does not make it easy to register or to vote. We need to grow the electorate to win.
- Contact voters in key State House districts: We will use phonebanks and relational organizing tools to provide important voting information until we can safely knock on doors again.
- Turn out every Democratic voter in Texas: This is the final all-out push to win the State House and stop Trump by delivering one of the biggest electoral college prizes in the country (38 electoral college votes) to the Democratic nominee.
Thank you,
The Powered by People team
P.S. If you can't volunteer, please contribute to fund our organizing across the state.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Phonebank to register voters
Jason, we need your help.
Today, our team is launching an aggressive voter registration effort to win a Democratic majority in the State House and change our government in Texas for the better.
Obviously, that's no small undertaking. To accomplish that huge goal, we need to contact new Texans and help them register to vote for our upcoming elections.
We have multiple phone banks scheduled to reach out to those folks, which means we need as many people helping us make calls. Please sign up for a virtual phonebank with Beto:
| Upcoming events: | |
| Virtual Voter Registration Phone Bank Virtual Voter Registration Phone Bank | |
The only way we can make things better is if thousands of people – like you – pitch in and put in the effort to bring new voters into the fold.
We can do this – we've gotten so close before, which means we know exactly how to get across the finish line.
Winning in November starts with us making sure every Texan is registered to vote. Please help us out and do your part by signing up for one of our virtual phonebanks.
Thank you for everything,
Powered by People team
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
What’s next?
Dear Jason,
Over the last five weeks Powered by People volunteers have devoted themselves to feeding our fellow Texans in the midst of the greatest health and economic crisis we've ever known. To put the challenge in perspective, twice as many Texans filed for unemployment in the last month as did in all of 2019.
With millions out of work and no real expansion of the SNAP nutrition program, this has produced extraordinary demand on our food banks. El Paso, for example, has seen an increase of more than 400%.
In response, thousands of everyday Texans from all walks of life, including our Powered by People volunteers, jumped into the breach. They've helped pack food in the warehouses, distribute it on the line, stand up food pantries and even deliver food to those who can't leave their homes.
To date, our in-person volunteers have worked over 12,000 hours at Texas food banks and our remote volunteers have made 15,000 phone calls to try to recruit new volunteers for the effort. We've reached out to you and other email subscribers to raise $196,435 from over 35,000 individual donors, all of which has been distributed to the 21 food banks in Texas (THANK YOU!!).
But we've also been listening to our volunteers and the Texans they've been serving to think through the bigger picture and advocate for clear policy changes based on our experiences and what we've learned. I co-wrote a piece in The New York Times this week that lays out how to improve access to food without overwhelming our food banks, taking what I've learned from volunteering at the food bank in El Paso and listening to farmers, public health experts, food security champions like José Andrés and the common sense of my fellow Texans.
Perhaps most importantly, we've been paying attention to what this crisis has laid bare in this country: the stark disparity in economic opportunity, healthcare access and co-morbidities that put some of our neighbors at far greater risk of sickness and death. We know that Black, Latino and Native Americans are dying at greater levels than white Americans. They are more likely to work lower-wage jobs, less likely to have health insurance, and all too often live on front lines of environmental injustice that increases the likelihood of asthma, heart disease and hypertension.
Which brings me to this point. While I am grateful that we have the chance to help feed our fellow Texans through our work with Texas food banks, if we do not use what we've learned from this crisis to address the systemic inequity and inequality that is now so glaringly obvious then ultimately we will have failed.
While we will continue to help food banks by volunteering and raising money for them, we must also begin to focus more of our attention and efforts on ensuring that we elect those into positions of power and public trust who will address the underlying causes and conditions that have made this such a challenging time for so many.
When you have a Lieutenant Governor who claims that "there are more important things than living" and a Governor who prematurely re-opens the state — even though that means that those who will die will disproportionately be people of color, and older and sicker — then you understand we need a change in leadership in Texas. When our state is one of the last in the country in COVID-19 testing per capita, it's clear that we've got to act. And when you think about the fact that even before this pandemic we were DEAD LAST in America in access to healthcare, you understand that we can't wait and hope that things will get better on their own.
So, in the coming weeks we will begin to ask more from our Powered by People volunteers in an effort to change our government in Texas and produce a new Democratic majority in the State House.
We will begin with an aggressive voter registration effort, pursuing hundreds of thousands of known Democrats who are not yet registered in this state. We will follow that up with voter contact efforts in targeted State House districts, using phone banks and relational organizing tools (until we are able to knock on doors again). And we will conclude with an all-out push to turn out every Democratic voter in Texas — to win the State House and do everything within our power to deny Trump one of the biggest electoral college prizes in the country.
That's how we do our part to make things better for the long term. It will only be possible if thousands of people are willing to put in the effort to help.
Thank you for supporting our work. I am grateful and excited to be in this with you.
Beto
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