People For Kamala: Winning from the White House to the State House
On July 31st, People For held a member briefing with People For President Svante Myrick, Executive Vice President Marge Baker, Vice President of Campaigns and Programs Raquel Jones, Senior Fellow Mandela Barnes, National Political Director Markus Batchelor, and Artist For Democracy Victoria Cassinova to talk about how we win in 2024.
Notable moments from the briefing
People For President Svante Myrick
"For so many of us, you know, particularly for women, for people of color, for the LGBTQ community, the 40 years that People For the American Way has existed, has been one march up a hill towards more rights. … But on January 6th it really hit me. These folks aren't playing the same game that the rest of us are. This is not a movement, the MAGA Republicans, intent on trying to win over hearts and minds. They will take this by force unless we show up and win overwhelmingly. And I think now we have an opportunity to do that, because of who's at the top of the ticket.”
People For Executive Vice President Marge Baker
“It's absolutely joyful. I've been waiting a really long time for this. The country's been waiting a really long time for this – 46 presidencies. And we're here, and we have this opportunity. [Kamala Harris] really believes in a better future, and that we can all make a better future together. It's really hard to put into words how much it means for so many young girls coming up to be able to see themselves in this. It's inspiring. And it's akin to what we felt when Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed to the Supreme Court, that same breakthrough in terms of imagining who we are and what we can be, and what we can do."
People For Vice President of Campaigns and Programs Raquel Jones
"I’m extremely excited about this moment, but also just hopeful. I think that we are living in very tough times, very divided times, and I am extremely excited to have a candidate who is uniting us, who is spreading positive messages, and someone that we can look up to, someone that's inspiring. I was 16 when Barack Obama was elected, and so I’m very excited to be the age that I am now, and to have a daughter and experience this moment with her, and to hear her reiterate to folks what this moment means to her has just been so exciting and hopeful."
People For Senior Fellow Mandela Barnes
“Whether or not Vice President Harris is victorious in Wisconsin, whether or not she assumes the Presidency on January 20th is up to us. We cannot repeat the same mistakes that we've repeated before. If my race was any lesson, I hope that folks will learn that. Candidates being invested in early helps them on the back end. Sometimes we want to play the wait and see game. Our democracy is too fragile to play. The strength of her campaign will determine whether or not we have a majority in the United States, and it will determine whether we have a majority in the US House of Representatives.”
Artist For Democracy Victoria Cassinova
"I have a strong belief that art has the power to change narratives and shine light on truth and justice, and I always like to think of art and artists as the ones who are not afraid to say what everyone else is afraid to say or shine light on the shadow of politics and everything happening in our social climate. And a big concern of mine personally is women's reproductive rights, and Harris has unapologetically championed reproductive rights, and she's framed Republican’s attempts to limit abortion as an attack on Americans. ... We can use art to emphasize that we must vote in order to have a country where every person has bodily autonomy."
People For National Political Director Markus Batchelor
“The MAGA Movement really doesn't know what to do with Kamala Harris. All of the attacks on her fall flat or seem cheap, and I think that is our advantage. And I think that that's why we're all here tonight and that we're newly energized by the opportunity to reframe the race as a choice between the future and the past, between bickering, between settling old scores and really thinking about our future.”
