In this issue
GET A HEAD START ON 2020:
Attend Indivisible MA’s Together for 2020 Conference on December 7
Get a Sneak Peek at Our 2020 Strategy Kickoff Party Plans
Take in the First Installment of Our Super State Series
Volunteer Opportunities for Savvy Students Recap of Voter Suppression Evening in Cambridge See articles below
Recurring
Cambridge
Sunday, December 1
Cambridge Activist Afternoons (CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY)
Want to add your event to the newsletter?
Submit your event at our website by clicking the button below!
Don’t Be Left Out!
Join volunteers from Swing Left and other progressive organizations at
the annual Indivisible MA conference on December 7.
On most Saturdays, the Swing Left Greater Boston newsletter is Boston’s Best
Resource for defeating Trump and defending our democracy. That’s definitely NOT the
case next Saturday. Because that’s the date of the Together for 2020 statewide
activist conference. If this newsletter gives you hope, just wait ‘til you join us
at the conference.
Register here.
Need a ride / offer a ride? Sign up for conference carpools here.
Be the First….
Introducing SLGB 2020 Kick-Off-Party-in-a-Box
Be the First to sign up!
Host a Swing Left Greater Boston 2020 Strategy Kick-Off-Party during the January 18-19
launch. You’ll find everything you need
right here.
Look for updates in the coming weeks.
Did your kids come home for the holidays?
Great Opportunity for College Students
If you saw college students over Thanksgiving — or if you know anyone who is part of that generation — it’s time to have
The Talk. College students can (should?) play a significant role in restoring democracy, human rights, and the environment in 2020.
Swing Left is offering exciting and powerful ways for anyone enrolled in a college or university to move the bar.
For students who want to get on board, tell them to think about the
Swing Left College Fellowship. In this program (applications due January 13), students will learn leadership and organizing skills they need to fight Trump and the GOP in 2020.
For those already active in a campus group or recently graduated from the Fellowship, the
Swing Left College Network
will enable them to take their own organizing skills to the next level.
If you know a student who wants to get involved in the 2020 elections, forward them this email and encourage them to apply!
Environmental Voter Project Spring Internship
Can you help us spread the word by forwarding this email to anybody who might be interested in joining us this winter/spring? The Environmental Voter Project is now accepting applications for its Spring Internship Program. Located in the Environmental Voter Project’s Boston office, the Spring Internship Program is great for anybody who’s interested in learning more about environmental politics, cutting-edge voter turnout techniques, and data analytics.
All interested parties are encouraged to apply.
Click here for more information and details on how to apply.
SLGB Signs Up for PA
While Swing Left as a whole is working in twelve states across the country, Swing Left Greater Boston is zeroing in on Pennsylvania, Florida, and Maine. Over the next six weeks, we’ll be taking a state-by-state look at what’s at stake, in a new section we’re calling SUPER STATE SPOTLIGHT… … and we’re starting with Pennsylvania.
Swing Left Greater Boston is focusing on elections in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, home of the Liberty Bell, the Rust Belt, and Cheese Steak Hoagies, as well as the closest Swing State to Massachusetts save Maine.
Pennsylvania offers a huge opportunity for Democrats to make progress on goals central to the party, including:
A Democratic Washington: Donald Trump won Pennsylvania by only 44,292 votes … less than a single percent of more than six million cast. Plus, Pennsylvania has the most electoral votes of all the critical battleground states.
A rollback of gerrymandering: The Pennsylvania GOP has spent 10 years rigging district maps to protect their political power. The State Supreme Court recently threw out these gerrymandered congressional maps, widely considered the most partisan in the country. The new map in use today is temporary. Democrats must win a majority to keep the GOP from putting Republicans’ own interests ahead of Pennsylvanians’ in 2021.
Criminal justice reform: Pennsylvania’s incarceration rate is higher than the national average, with 96,000 people in jail as of 2018. In the same year, the state ranked last in corrections when measured by incarceration rates, racial equity in jailing, and other related factors.
Health care: There are still 685,400 Pennsylvanians who don’t have health insurance, even after expanding Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Flipping the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the White House to Democratic control are essential to improving health care access for Pennsylvania.
Next week’s Super State Spotlight will present Pennsylvania by the numbers and outline the Swing Left strategy, including actions you can start taking (right after the holidays).
Last Sunday, over 75 people came to Workbar on a rainy afternoon to learn about voter suppression in Georgia … and how it changed the elections in 2018.
Bostonians Fighting Voter Suppression
Much of the film was shot in Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta, where GSU professor Carolyn Bourdeaux ran against Republican Rob Woodall, in what became the closest race in the country.
Thousands were thwarted from voting, and Bourdeaux lost the election by 433 votes.
After the film, Bourdeaux’s sister Margaret described the many challenges faced by naturalized citizens, LGBTQ voters, young people and people of color faced as they tried to exercise their right to vote. Carolyn Bourdeaux is running again in 2020 and her supporters in the Phoenix Club would love to keep you posted on when she will be in Boston for house parties and on what’s happening in her 2020 campaign.
The second guest speaker, Quentin Palfrey, emphasized the need to take action now in order to mitigate voter suppression in November 2020. Palfrey’s organization, the Voter Protection Corps, is fighting back by creating a state-by-state, anti-voter suppression playbook and assembling a nationwide roster of poll watchers for next November.
Swing Left Greater Boston is offering postcard writers opportunity to write to voters in Texas who have been deregistered from the rolls. The next postcard writing event is the evening of December 6 at Joe Sent Me in Cambridge. Email info@swingbluealliance.org for details.
Swing Left Greater Boston is offering postcard writers opportunity to write to voters in Texas who have been deregistered from the rolls. The next postcard writing event is the evening of December 6 at Joe Sent Me in Cambridge. Email 
