Campaign #155 is for Marc Friedenberg in PA
What? Special Election
When? Tuesday, May 21
Who? Democrat Marc Friedenberg
For? Congress
Why? Mark your ballot for Marc as your new Rep.
How? Be a voter!
A campaign calls. They have a candidate running in a May special election who ran for the same seat in November 2018 and lost by 36 points. Not only is the Republican incumbent a 4-term State Representative, the size of the district is described as “massive.”
They want postcarding help.
What do you do?
I tallied up the “pros” for helping
- It’s Pennsylvania and we’ve enjoyed some stunning upset wins there with past #PostcardsToVoters candidates.
- A very large district meaning both campaigns will struggle to reach every voter. It’s perfect for our mailbox magic that will visit every single Democratic voter.
- More than a month away giving us time to finish the whole list.
- It’s a Congressional race and our volunteers love the Federal contests and stakes.
I checked out the Democratic candidate
- Marc, of State College, is an assistant professor at Penn State University, where he teaches cyber security and cyber law courses.
- He’s a native of Northeast Philly.
- Moved to State College fifteen years ago to enroll at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology, where he graduated in 2006 with a Master’s thesis.
- His Master’s thesis was focused on helping emergency responders locate each other in the field.
- Studied cyber law and internet privacy at and graduated from Columbia Law School.
- Went to work for two law firms and pursued cases against the Wall Street banks that caused the Recession.
- Is NOT accepting any PAC money.
I asked why he was running
After Congress tried to kick millions of Americans off their health insurance to give a massive tax break to the ultra-wealthy, Marc felt called to act. He first started a group called PA5 Truth and Action, dedicated to organizing local activists and concerned citizens and mobilizing them against the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The repeal effort was successfully beaten back, but it became clear that Congressional Republicans — the recipients of millions of dollars in donations from the health insurance industry, Big Pharma, and Wall Street banks — had decided to stop listening to their own constituents altogether. Marc decided to step up and run to give the people of Pennsylvania a chance to vote for a representative who would work for them, rather than for big corporations and ultra-wealthy donors.
Since the last campaign was so soundly defeated, I checked out what they were doing differently this time around
- The new team is investing heavily into a grassroots-led field program.
- Supporting this are 3 field organizers each with 1/3 of the district.
- They’ve opened 3 additional field offices that he didn’t have before.
- They’re seeing lots more local activists coming out to help – maybe because it’s the only election in town and is drawing help from all over.
- The grassroots organizing they’re conducting is being done in a way to encourage those volunteers to continue working on party and community-building after the election.
- They are knocking on doors daily without fail.
Ok. So, what’s the county like? What’s the opportunity as well as the challenge?
- This seat, though in a deep red district, represents a fairly liberal voting base.
- 70% of the district want a better-funded public education system, even if it means raising taxes.
- 60% of the district want either Medicare for all or a public buy-in option.
- The local GOP party nominated an extremist career politician who is opposed to these solutions supported by a strong majority of the voters.
I made a decision. Now, it comes down to you.
Do you have the time and supplies to write 5 or 10 fun, friendly election reminders against all the odds (again) to give Democratic voters in a deep Red district the chance to show up and blow up pundits’ predictions?
If everyone does 5 and a few do 10, we will be able to finish this list and know we’ve done our part. We won’t have any regrets the day after the vote comes in.
What do you say?
I hope it’s “Write on!”
~Tony The Democrat
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