Good Democratic messaging here

The gun violence situation looks very bad in America right now. We’re averaging more than one mass shooting every day. One of the latest such shootings took place in Allen, Texas last Saturday, where a gunman wearing a tactical vest with an “RWDS” (“Right Wing Death Squad”) patch opened fire with an AR-15-style assault weapon at a shopping mall, killing at least eight people, including two young children, and injuring approximately nine others. Meanwhile, Republican-run states are going the wrong way on guns, with Florida passing a law allowing residents to carry concealed guns without a permit, and a 2015 tweet from Texas Governor Greg Abbott resurfacing again this week, in which he complains that Texas lags behind California in gun purchases, and that Texans therefore need to buy more guns. To top it off, Republican Megyn Kelly, who should know better about toxic harmful behavior, tweeted the following last Saturday:

Serious q for gun control advocates: you’ve failed to effect change. Pls face it. You can’t do it, thx to the 2A. We’re all well aware you don’t like that fact, but fact it is. What’s next? Must we just stay here sad, concerned, lamenting? Could we possibly talk OTHER SOLUTIONS?

Then, after being reprimanded for her tweet, she doubled down with the following:

No YOU F off. I am sick and tired of nothing changing after mass shootings bc we get mired EVERY TIME IN THE DAMN GUN DEBATE. You have LOST. It’s DONE. For the love of God what else can be done? You are ruining any chance at change by not admitting that the gun debate is lost.

But giving up on fighting gun violence is the last thing we should do. First of all, let’s take a lesson from the Republicans, as we suggested back in 2011, and go on offense. Specifically, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that the Constitution provides for the right to an abortion, did the anti-choice Republicans give up? Quite the opposite! They embarked on an effort lasting nearly 50 years to fight that ruling, and they made steady progress at the federal level and in various states (waiting periods, parental consent, protests, closing clinics, late-term abortion bans, etc.), until, with the right combination of Republicans in the White House and the U.S. Senate to confirm enough right-wing justices, the Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson ruling. Along the way, outlawing abortion became one of the Republicans’ chief unifying issues and rallying cries.

California Governor Gavin Newsom

Republican ideas are not very popular, as is reflected in GOP election losses at the presidential level, in control of the U.S. Congress, and in a number of states. Nowhere is this more apparent than in California, where the voters routinely choose Democrats for virtually every statewide office. Rather than coming up with better policies and trying to sell them to voters, however, California Republicans instead have tried to circumvent the regular election process by commencing recall petition drives against California Governors. Backed by Republican millionaires, these recall petitions, which can get on the ballot as special elections, attempt to throw out the Democratic Governor and replace him with a Republican. The last time the Republicans tried this in California — against Governor Gray Davis in 2003 — it worked, and the result was the disastrous era of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, the Republicans are at it again, and have forced a special election on September 14 to determine whether Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom should be recalled (and, hopefully for the GOP, replaced by a Republican).

However, Governor Newsom and the Democrats are not standing by idly. They have launched various “Vote No” campaigns, including personal appearances by Newsom and others. Even President Joe Biden is lending his support:

Gov. @GavinNewsom is leading California through unprecedented crises—he's a key partner in fighting the pandemic and helping build our economy back better. To keep him on the job, registered voters should vote no on the recall election by 9/14 and keep California moving forward.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 13, 2021

Part of this Democratic campaign is a large effort to get out the vote by sending hand-written postcards to California Democratic voters. We have a bunch of postcards on the way here to be written, and are really looking forward to joining this grassroots effort. The following are some resources to be part of this nationwide postcard writing campaign to save Governor Newsom’s duly won seat: