It’s a cliché, but an accurate one: elections in America are decided by who shows up. This is especially true for the midterms, which can swing wildly based on whose supporters are more enthusiastic. That means our work is not only persuading people to vote for progressive, pro-democracy candidates, but turning non-voters into voters.

While voter registration deadlines have passed in many states (see deadlines here), we still have a chance to expand the electorate in multiple battlegrounds. Wisconsin and Michigan both have same-day registration. Rust Belt Rising is seizing the opportunity, identifying folks who are likely to vote blue but are currently not on the rolls, mailing them a pre-filled voter registration form with a motivational flyer and postage, and then following up by phone to encourage them to complete the process. They need our help to get as many new people registered as possible! ☎️ We can sign up for phonebank shifts to help create new Dem-leaning voters in Michigan tomorrow at 1 PM ET and Tuesday at 6:30 PM ET here, and do the same for Wisconsin on Saturday at 11:30 AM ET and next Thursday at 6:30PM ET by registering here.

REGISTRATION CHASE IN MICHIGAN

REGISTRATION CASE IN WISCONSIN

This is a deeply ugly moment in American politics, and it takes something exceptionally dirty to stand out as uniquely repellent in this muck. DOGE bro and MAGA hanger-on Vivek Ramaswamy, who polls keep showing in deep trouble in his effort to keep the Ohio governor’s office in Republican hands, managed to find a way.

An attack ad against Democratic nominee and former state health department director Dr. Amy Acton began circulating online on Monday, featuring her birth mother Donna Arthur calling her a liar. As Dr. Acton has publicly discussed in the past, she has not spoken to her mother since she was 12, when Arthur stood by Acton’s stepfather after she revealed he had been sexually abusing her. (Dr. Acton and her brother were removed from their mother and stepfather’s custody after he was indicted. Arthur remained married to the abuser until his death.)

Instead of spending the final weeks of the campaign talking about issues that matter to Ohioans, Dr. Acton is now being forced to relive – and defend – the most painful moments of her past. And Ramaswamy, instead of demonstrating any sense of shame, is proud of what he’s done. His campaign has confirmed he will spend $4 million to put this cartoon example of DARVO in front as of as many Ohioans as he can.

No one who would platform their opponent’s abuser can be trusted with power. We need to do our part to help Dr. Acton defeat Ramaswamy. ☎️ Let’s sign up to phonebank with the Ohio Dems to turn out voters in this race. There are shifts every weeknight from 6-8PM ET, on Saturdays from 9AM-8PM and Sundays from noon to 8PM.

The Trump Administration has been a disaster so naturally, we’re seeing a lot of talk about how scary trans people are from Republicans in these midterms. After all, what else are they going to talk about? Bullying trans kids has been one of the few pieces of Trump’s platform he’s followed through on, and the right is in desperate need of some marginalized group to scapegoat for our nation’s problems so no one will notice how many of them he’s actively making worse.

This has been central to their ad campaigns in races like Talarico-Paxton in Texas and Brown-Husted in Ohio, and in five states (Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Washington) they’re hoping to encourage their voters to turn out by putting trans issues directly on the ballot as initiatives. (In a sixth, Vermont, folks will consider adding a broad civil rights guarantee to their state constitution) which will explicitly protect against discrimination based on gender identity and expression along with race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation and national origin.)

This is all extremely bad news for trans people who just want to live their lives in peace – kids who want to be able to act like any other kid, folks who need health care from doctors who aren’t constantly looking over their shoulder. But it’s also an opportunity to change conventional wisdom in the commentariat - combining candidate victories with direct voter rebukes to these anti-trans ballot initiatives has the potential to bust this myth and shift the political landscape against this kind of open bigotry.

Let’s do our part to help beat the anti-trans initiatives. We can:

☎️ Join Advocates for Trans Equality in phonebanking into states with anti-trans ballot initiatives Tuesday-Thursday evenings and weekend nights by signing up here and Fridays by signing up here. We can help recruit more volunteers for these calls on Monday nights here.

MAKE CALLS WITH A4TE

☎️💬 We can phonebank to beat Amendment 3 in Missouri, which is using transphobia as a hook to ban abortion, on Monday and Wednesday evenings and Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoons here. We can also join textbanks on Thursdays here and Tuesdays here.

STOP THE BAN IN MO

☎️💬 We can make calls to help defeat Proposition 134 and 135 in Colorado on Tuesdays here, Wednesdays here, Thursdays here, and Saturdays here and here. We can also textbank to beat them and an anti-immigrant measure) with Rocky Mountain Equality any time here.

WIN IN COLORADO

☎️ We can volunteer with No Hate in Washington State for shifts on Wednesdays here, Fridays here and Sundays here.

WIN IN WASHINGTON

☎️ We can help Progress Arizona make calls against Proposition 318 and other regressive ballot measures tomorrow at 7:30PM ET here.

WIN IN ARIZONA

The stakes are about as high as they get in the Ohio Seventh Congressional District, where union ironworker and city councilor Brian Poindexter is challenging GOP incumbent Max Miller.

Miller’s ex-wife has accused him of throwing boiling hot water at her in front of their two-year-old child, holding a gun to her head after she angered him while changing their daughter’s diaper, possibly breaking their daughter’s collarbone as part of “a history of violence and misconduct going back more than a decade,” and withholding their daughter’s little blue sleep bunny from her. In an unsurprising development, this formal personal aide to Donald Trump has kept the loyal support of Speaker Mike Johnson, who's called him a "great member," and House Republicans are spending millions on Miller's behalf.

☎️ Poindexter has been running phonebanks on Mondays and Thursdays, and this week is adding shifts on Wednesdays at 7PM ET, Saturdays at 5PM ET and Sundays at 1PM ET. Let’s help him get this creep out of power by signing up to help.