Daily Dems Doing the Work, Making Noise and Fighting Back Day 25
As I started yesterday, which worked really well on Threads and Blue Sky, I can only include a handful of things, so please comment with other stories you saw that I missed! Comments are on for paid subscribers only, so it would be awesome if you could subscribe that way!
Hopefully together, we can spread it all!
Senate Judiciary Dems
Senators Dick Durbin, Richard Blumenthal, Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff, Sheldon Whitehouse and Peter Welch braved the cold and held a press conference outside of the FBI building at 9 am before Patel was unfortunately confirmed.
I constantly get comments of people complaining that there aren’t press conferences and if they had them daily, the Dems would be “doing something.”
Well, they do have them daily, they just don’t get any sort of attention so it’s as if they don’t exist at all. This video, which was live, has only 2,300 views.
So before you say the Dems aren’t having daily press conferences, look into it, maybe they’re just not going viral. And that’s also a problem, except it’s one that’s completely on us to solve.
Rep Mike Levin (CA-49)
On the same subject of press conferences, Mike Levin also held one today. However, the House is on recess so his was at a community clinic in his district. He spoke about how important it is to support medicaid and exactly what Republicans are trying to do to it.
This aired on local news, which is so important, but it literally has 36 views on YouTube.
I also want to mention that he put care to make it accessible for everyone, adding captions before he posted it.
Sen Martin Heinrich (NM)
He doesn’t get enough, if any credit, for his explainer videos. I’ve been seeing them around, and considered including them, but today’s is so good, it made the cut. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been kind of confused how DT’s cuts affect firefighters, it never seemed as simple as him hiring career firefighters, and after watching Sen Heinrich’s video, it’s very clear that it is more complicated.
But, also after watching his video I now mostly understand it, because he explained it clearly and simply. He does this pretty much daily, on a variety of issues. So, if you don’t follow him, you should be.
Rep Melanie Stansburry (AZ-01)
She’s become kind of a mainstay for this series. But can you blame me? Today she had an in-person meeting in her conference room with a handful of constituents. Based on the wording, it seems like these are federal workers.
This shouldn’t be worthy of praise or even acknowledgment. This should be a given. Our elected officials are supposed to be available to us like this when we need them. So, if yours isn’t, they aren’t doing their job.
That said, I’m so glad she posted it. So many people have no idea what our electeds actually do, so it’s great when they tell us.
Tonight is Vote-a-rama in the Senate, one of those strange congress traditions that is really inside baseball. Several of our Democrats understand how confusing this concept sounds, and made video posts explaining.
Sen Elissa Slotkin (MI)
She definitely wins the award for best video on this subject. And, I love that she put it on YouTube as well. So many, in fact, most, of our electeds, only post something on one or two socials, so not everyone can see it, but by putting it on YouTube the link is available to add everywhere, even something like Blue Sky where videos can only be 59 seconds….still.
Sen Chris Coons (DE)
Chris Coons did a pretty great job as well. Though, given what I said about Slotkin, you can guess my issue. One day all our Dems will learn the art of social media. If he’s your senator, when you call his office, just let his staff know to post the same video on ALL socials, and join Blue Sky while he’s at it.
Sen Chuck Shumer (NY)
And honestly, Schumer’s is pretty great too. His is a little more playful and a little less explanitory, but, sometimes playful is important for understanding something.
I am happy to say that this is just a small collection of the many videos that went out in the last couple of hours explaining this event.
You can watch it on the Senate floor livestream and C-SPAN , but The Hill also has it on YouTube.
Reps Darren Soto (FL-09) and Maxwell Frost (FL-10)
Yesterday they held a joint town hall specifically for veterans. I love this idea. Town halls shouldn’t just be one and done. Our elected officials should be having as many of them as possible on as many specific issues as possible.
I’m sorry this is on Facebook. Unfortunately, it’s not available anywhere else.
Rep Gerry Connolly (VA-11)
I am mostly including this because people insist on this idea that he’s not doing anything. I mean they say that about all Dems, but he gets it mor than most. Well, tonight, he was part of the Democracy Forward “One Month In” virtual town hall. It’s only about half an hour so you should check it out when you have a few minutes (plus you can always put it in 2x and then it’s only 15 mins.)
And finally…
Rep Robert Garcia (CA-42)
He kinda got a threatening letter from the DOJ today regarding their inability to understand sarcasm and exaggeration. And instead of dealing with it privately, he’s using it to mobilize the forces. This is both brilliant and brave, and I wouldn’t expect anything less
He also may genuinely need help with legal fees so if you are able to donate, He’s more than earned all of our money at this point.
I hope it has opened your eyes to the fact that Democrats are doing something, a lot of something, every single day. And, anyone who says otherwise is sabotaging us, be it intentionally or unintentionally.
Please don’t fall for it.
Can’t wait to see what other stories you include in the comments!
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them
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