If you haven’t figured this out already, I’m running for Congress because I care. I’m honestly not a fan of “party politics.” That includes backdoor deals, hidden agendas, and corruption of any kind – whether or not it threatens our democracy.
This kind of corruption does. 🧵 /1
While we were busy celebrating Kamala announcing Tim Walz as her running mate, the Georgia Election Board passed a new rule that could give Trump loyalists a free pass to reject the election results in November.
What does this mean? /2
The new Georgia Election Board rule is so vague that all we know for sure is it gives partisan election officials an easier path to send the election to the courts. And the officials who voted for it talked to Donald Trump first. /3
I was raised Republican. I became a Democrat largely because I realized the party didn't reflect my real values and I couldn’t vote for Donald Trump. I didn’t want to be a part of a movement that was focused on hating people instead of helping them. /4
I knew a lifelong con artist would con the country, and I realized early on that the GOP leaders would help. That the party I thought had my back was only in it for power… It was a sobering realization.
But I DIDN'T know that dark money and extremist think tanks ran the GOP. /5
Before Trump, we didn’t think an election could be stolen or democracy could end or militias would show up at state capitols to fight MASKS.
Now it’s all most of us think about in regards to government: desperation, the destruction of our rights, and threats to democracy. /6
The dark money donors that control the GOP want us hopeless. It doesn’t help anyone: not me, not you, not Democrats, and not even Republican voters. I’m over feeling hopeless. Aren’t you?
Kamala’s right. We aren’t going back. But you know what else… We aren’t staying here. /7
We don’t have to feel hopeless any more.
Help me defend us from the corrupt Trump crony in OH-12’s seat, and I swear I will use this power to help you and your family as if it were my own, and I will make myself dark money extremists’ #1 enemy. /8
🧵Remember when I said I’ve learned a lot about our country during my campaign, things I didn’t know as the average American voter?
One of the biggest takeaways is that Republicans DO NOT care about election security. Like… AT ALL. /1
In 2020, Democrats introduced bills to:
1. Require campaigns to alert the FBI & the FEC if a foreign gov't offered them assistance (Russia 👀)
2. Increase funding for election security.
3. Ban voting machines from connecting to the internet.
Republicans blocked ALL THREE. /2
By the way, in October 2016, President Obama & DHS announced Russia was interfering in the election.
It was lost in the news cycle because, a few hours later, the Access Hollywood tape leaked, and Trump’s team told WikiLeaks to drop a new batch of Clinton campaign emails. /3
🧵 Let’s assume Donald Trump, the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025, or some other authoritarian freaks do have a plan to end free and fair elections so Republicans “won’t have to vote any more."
Here are five ways I could see them doing it, and they absolutely can. /1
1. Extreme voter suppression in GOP-controlled states. This could happen in a variety of ways. If you live in Georgia, the state just made it so that anyone with your driver’s license number can CANCEL your voter registration. /2
2. Change who can vote. Extremists like J.D. Vance have suggested giving men an extra vote for every child they have, only allowing homeowners to vote, and giving married men two votes instead of letting women vote.
Republicans would still need to vote, but less of them. /3
🧵We KNOW Donald Trump is a criminal. But not enough Americans know what happened to the criminals around him. You’re not going to like the answer.
What if I told you that the New York City mob never disappeared, and it’s alive and well in the GOP? /1
In the later half of the 1980s, U.S. District Attorney Rudy Giuliani… Yeah, that guy…managed to convict the heads of all five of New York City’s Italian mob, and it decimated their criminal empires. But contrary to popular belief, it didn’t end organized crime in the city. /2
Giuliani cleared NYC of the Italian mob, and Brighton Beach’s Russian mafia to move in. This time, organized crime had his support. Just ask Trump. /3
🧵In 2016, the head of CBS explained why the media was normalizing Trump: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS… The money’s rolling in… It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.” 1/9
Our media’s even worse now. I can’t be the only one who’s noticed it. They are acting like this man didn’t extort our allies, leave us to die from COVID, and try to overthrow the 2020 election. You might even forget he’s a convicted felon. 2/9
Guests at the RNC were given signs to hold up that read “MASS DEPORTATION NOW!” Speakers insinuated that Biden was responsible for the assassination attempt days earlier.
But NBC News praised the GOP for toning down their messaging. 3/9
🚨🧵 The ex-leader of a religious right group reveals he recruited wealthy volunteers, including a top Dayton, Ohio evangelical couple, to wine & dine conservative Supreme Court justices—while pushing their stance on abortion, homosexuality, gun laws, and more. 1/9
Rev. Schenck said that his group “would rehearse lines like, ‘We believe you are here for a time like this’” to flatter the Federalist Society’s Supreme Court justices and encourage them to kill Roe v. Wade. 2/9 politico.com/news/2022/07/0…
This has to be connected to CNP. This coalition of GOP operatives, Christian fundamentalists, and wealthy donors control our courts and red states. They want to end equal rights, risk our lives for corporate profits, and write their beliefs into law. 3/9 deprogramamerica.com/cnp/
🧵I wrote most of this thread last week, but I couldn’t post it. It was too fresh in my mind. Honestly, I was too uncomfortable. I know this is vulnerable, but I need to share it. Here goes...
My employer gave me a choice: keep my income or keep running for Congress. What would you do?
I could provide for my family or my country. Not both. I chose to continue running for Congress and sacrifice my job.
The way I see it, keeping my job was the safest path forward. But the people of this district need me for a different job - as the U.S representative for OH-12.