My home state of North Carolina, right now, is not a democracy. With gerrymandered state legislative maps and a woman elected in a 60% Democratic district who switched parties and gave the rightwing a supermajority in the State House, the people are being silenced.

https://twitter.com/rachelcrumpler_/status/1674822475341869056

With a 1-seat supermajority thanks to Cotham's party flip the rightwing is able to overturn @RoyCooperNC's veto on bills that restrict abortion, defund public education & restrict LGBTQ+ rights. They have the power to do this b/c of 1 vote from an elected in a *60% Dem district*!

So, after the Feb shooting at Michigan State, the new Dem majority in Lansing started working to pass policies that will ensure safe gun storage, require universal background checks, and prevent people who are a danger to themselves or others from buying a gun. Quick 🧵 These policies have been proven to save lives. They are able to move in Michigan because democrats won majorities in the state house and state senate in 2022.

The only movement on gun laws in YEARS has happened in state capitals, true power centers of policy.

Yes, this headline is meant to grab you. It also happens to be true. It's complicated, so I'm gonna break it down a little. But know this: The path to fight for democracy in 2024 is simple. It's flipping a few 🔑 state legislative seats. And you can help.
theatlantic.com/politics/archi… A SCOTUS case, Moore v. Harper, will be heard this session. The upshot is: "Republican litigants want the high court to affirm what’s known as the independent-state-legislature theory..."

This is not about kids. It's about riling up a base to WIN ELECTIONS. /thread

washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/… "The heartfelt appeal is not the product of a grass roots groundswell. Rather, it is a template drafted and circulated this week within a conservative network built on the scaffolding of the Koch fortune and the largesse of other GOP megadonors."

“Closing Time” came on during my run and I was thrown back to how, even as an English major who read quite a bit of poetry, I felt the *poetry* of this song in spring of senior year because phew that was an emotional time

“You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here” 😭 “Time for you to go out to the places you will be from” 😭

Everyone should read this @JaneMayerNYer article but of course it's a sprawling New Yorker piece and in case you don't get all the way through it, let me sound an alarm and point to an action. 🚨 /thread
newyorker.com/magazine/2021/… First, the main takeaway is this: A large-scale, under-the-radar attempt to overthrow democracy is happening. And it's happening via state legislatures (and yet we continue to stare at DC, focusing resources, energy, and attention THERE instead of looking at state capitols).

I didn’t watch the impeachment trial. I’ve followed it lightly, but we knew. We knew.

My drumbeat remains: state elections matter. We are a country built on the foundations of state legislatures.

Thread. That means things like Medicaid expansion, civil rights, environmental protections, voting rights, education funding ++++...those are decided in state capitols, not in DC. Tell me you know who your state senators & state house reps are. If not, look here: openstates.org

I commented on this article and got a funny pseudonym somehow, so I'll say it here: "Gerrymandering is an essential point in the 2020 elections, but let’s not forget that state legislatures also control environmental policy, education funding, civil rights, voting rights..."

https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/1147115521776803840

"...healthcare (many red states haven't expanded Medicaid), reproductive rights & more. Yet most Americans cannot name their state reps. State capitols should be laboratories for democracy, but many are controlled by rightwing corporate-interests who have paid attention while..."

I just learned about a type of gerrymandering that blows my mind. A thread. (With real action at the end, I promise! Silver lining coming.) Catching up on #PodSavethePeople with @deray, @samswey, @MsPackyetti + @ClintSmithIII. A thing that the Census Bureau is doing: Making residence rules for incarcerated people so that their legal home residences don’t matter, but the locations where they are incarcerated do.

#DougJones supporters: Turning out voters of color in #Alabama is key, so it’s important to give to the local orgs that are working on that. A thread. The last day to register to vote in #Alabama is 11/27; the special election is 12/12. Make this ask at your Thanksgiving table! If people who see this thread in their feed each gave $10, efforts would be funded.