We Are Resilient, Persistent, and United

Thank you to every one of you who helped in any way with the Democratic primary election!  Here are just a few of the political actions we saw you take:

• Donated to a Democratic candidate

• Worked the polls (early or election day)

• Knocked doors for a candidate

• Phone banked to get voters to the polls

• Attended candidate forums, meet & greets, and fundraising events

• Wrote "Dear friend" letters

• Texted & messaged friends to get out the vote

No matter how you helped support a candidate or encouraged people to vote, know that we appreciate you! Many of our members supported Sarah Klee Hood in the primary, and so her NY22 loss hit hard. Some of us may still feel disappointed and sad--it was a hard fought race and a tough loss.  The good news is that our efforts did have an impact. Sarah won in the places where IMV spent the most time and energy, and even though voter turnout was very low (primaries are often low turnout), the places where we spent the most time contacting voters showed higher turnout.  Our political activism makes a difference!

Now, with the primary behind us, it's time to move forward in unity, and commit wholeheartedly to:

1) Defeating Brandon Williams and flipping NY22
2) Spreading positive messages about President Biden and what Democrats have been doing and will do to help Central New Yorkers and all Americans if we have a Democratic Congress and White House and Democrats representing us in Albany.
3) Building a strong political activism community in coalition with other groups like Democratic committees, labor unions, and progressive parties, groups, and issue advocates that share our values.  

Here are our next action steps:

• IMV is co-hosting the NY22 Central NY Unity Rally on Tuesday, July 9th in Syracuse. Please register and show up for this critical event to kick off our efforts for a NY22 Blue Wave in 2024!

• IMV is finalizing the 2024 Slate Cards, our primary method of direct voter contact.  We used these cards in 2022 to educate voters at the doors about all the Democratic candidates on the ballot; where, how, and when to vote; and what is at stake in the election.  We're doing that again. Once we have those cards, we'll start talking with voters in person at their doors. 

• IMV will continue to help us connect with each other, invite new people to join, and build relationships and get the work done. We will have regular canvass events across our area so that we can spread the word about James Meyers for State Senate--our IMV friend and the first Democrat to challenge Joe Griffo in 14 years. We'll write postcards, phonebank, distribute lawn signs, and support James as well as Assembly member Marianne Buttenschon, Assembly candidate Adrienne Martini, and congressional candidates John Mannion (NY22) and Paula Collins (NY21).

We don't have an endless amount of time to do the work and we know that this election is going to be one of the toughest we have seen, and also the most consequential.  So please start thinking about friends you can recruit to join you at events and commit time in your calendar for political activism. We will start holding canvasses and other events very soon after the July 9th unity event.  For now, breathe, because after July 9th, we are going to PUSH!

Our Utica Reproductive Freedom March Last Sunday

Thank you to everyone who came out to our event on Sunday held to commemorate the 2 year anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs' decision. The loss of constitutional and basic human rights for women has been catastrophic across the country, and we have only begun to experience what the MAGA Republicans and their justices have planned for taking our freedoms.  

Our signs were artistic and our speakers were motivating.  About 60 people attended--a good crowd for a Sunday with looming storms, but nothing like what we saw at our many protests and marches in 2022.  Are we like frogs in a pot of boiling water, just adjusting to the conditions, until we have no rights left?  Hmmm.  Let our activism from now on prove that theory wrong!

 It will be critical that we continue to remind voters as we head into the election season that #OurFreedomsOurFutures are on the ballot.  Those freedoms are literally on the ballot in New York state, when you flip it over and see the Equal Rights Amendment, which protects rights and freedoms, but also we need to elect Democrats to every level of office because Republican electeds have ceded their party to the MAGAs who have the goal of taking away not only abortion, but prescriptions women need for a variety of procedures and conditions, qualified and trained medical professionals, clinical settings, IVF, and even birth control. 

Action Item: 
If you can, share this video ad on social media, and tag it with #OurFreedomsOurFutures--or go to the IMV Facebook page to share it from there.  If the video doesn't click for you, how about this one?  Let's spread the word about the threat that Republicans pose to reproductive freedom, to women's health, and to the lives and futures of our children and grandchildren. In fact, show these videos to your older teen/young adult kids and grandkids and nieces and nephews and ask them to share on the social media platforms you're not on! 

Join a Fourth of July Parade!

The Oneida County Democratic Women's Club is walking in the Utica 4th of July Parade and requests a crowd!  The group is hoping to lineup near the teams for James Meyers and Marianne Buttenschon.  This is a family friendly event.  Friends and supporters of the Club are welcome--membership not required.  Please plan to meet at Lady of Lourdes Church (2222 Genesee Street, Utica) parking lot at 9:30am on Thursday.  The march goes down Genesee Street to the Parkway & then over to the Rec Center. It takes about an hour.  

If you prefer a later in the day parade, the Club is also waiting for confirmation from the Town of Kirkland to march in the Clinton parade that lines up at 5:30 pm on Elm Street (near the Clinton Cider Mill) and steps off at 6:30 pm. The Kirkland Town Democrats will be there to march as usual, and so either way, please show up to join the parade.  Kids, families, friends, and pets are welcome.  The goal is to let the spectators know that Democrats are here, and we're proud!

Happy Fourth of July!  See You After the Fireworks!

We wish everyone a Happy July 4th, whether you make it the local parades or not.  We celebrate our 246 year old independent nation!  We also worry about its future.

If you watched the Presidential debate last night or have heard about the Republicans' conservative Project 2024 Playbook, then you know just what a dystopian future we face if the MAGAs win in November. It's the takeover of the courts, plus the dismantling of the civil service and competence in science and governance. It's the rollback of climate and environmental protections, the control of government by religious ideology, the dismantling of public education, Head Start, affordable health care, and anti-poverty efforts. It goes on and on.  What can we do to stop Trump and the MAGA movement from their assault on the rule of law and our long standing tradition of expanding, not destroying human and civil rights? 

We encourage everyone to sign up for the July 1st Coffee Klatch with Leah and Ezra, co-founders of Indivisible, to hear their takes on the Presidential debate.

Then make sure you are signed up for Neighbor to Neighbor, Indivisible's new tool for talking to a few of your neighbors in a 1:1 community conversation. If you want to have the biggest impact on voter turnout, this is the most effective way that Indivisible has found to mobilize community members (the numbers prove it!).  It's really good, low stakes practice for the direct voter contact we're going to need to do from mid-July to Nov. 5th. 

Finally, please join IMV, and our friends from across Central New York at the Unity Rally in Syracuse on July 9th.  And save the evening of Monday, July 15th for our next IMV meeting! We can't wait to see everyone there!

First the fireworks...then the work we need to do to save democracy!

Democracy is not a spectator sport.
IMV: We make political activism local, bite-size, and fun.

You can follow us on Instagram's Threads.net/@indivisiblemohawkvalley, on X (Twitter) using @indivisiblemv, and, of course, on our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.