Where we, the people, have power
The midterm elections are your and my big — some say last — chance to prevent a full authoritarian takeover of our country.
So I want to provide as much information as I can to help all of us maximize our and others’ power.
Yes, a lot of money is being poured into races at the last minute by Elon Musk and others. But I still believe what I ran every day on my previous website, from former Rep. Barney Frank: “Money is important, but votes will beat money any day.”
Election interference and voter intimidation sound scary, but understanding what to expect and, crucially, how to respond, can make it less so.
And, as voting-rights lawyer Skye Perryman writes in her book, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times,” we can act in a spirit of joy: “Humans across the world and across time have found ways to experience joy even in the darkest circumstances — joy has fueled movements for justice and freedom. Indeed, it sustains us on a long and difficult journey. We must challenge ourselves to find joy.”
We can take friends and family with us to the polls — and to a mass mobilization if that becomes necessary to overcome election interference or voter intimidation. When the frog costumes sell out, we can be Santas.
I found the Wednesday night No Kings online webinar to be energizing. There’s another one tonight, Thursday, Oct. 22, from 8 to 9 p.m. It’s a training to “prepare for engaging in sustained mobilization and results protection work depending on opposition response to election results,” No Kings says.
You can RSVP to attend here.
We know the 3.5 percent rule, that nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging just 3.5 percent of the population never have failed to bring about change.
We can do this!
The latest news:
Judge blocks most DHS field operations aimed at unearthing voter fraud, citing likelihood of hampering voter engagement, registration
States prepare for surge of DOJ election watchers
Democratic Party leaders sue to block Trump administration from usurping states’ authority to administer elections
D.C. attorney general issues know-your-rights advisory on poll monitoring and voter intimidation for D.C residents
“The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.” — late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., civil rights activist
Here are regularly updated voting rights resources for the November midterm elections, on John Dineen’s briefing.center website. And here is John’s daily commentary on his briefing.center home page.
NYTimes investigation: How Venezuela public housing towers were built to fail
U.S., Israel draw up plans for renewed strikes on Iran after elections
Russia agrees to resume negotiations on Ukraine war with Ukraine and U.S., Kremlin says
Russia frees American Stephen Hubbard after more than 4 years behind bars; U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff calls Putin a ‘humanitarian’
Russia launched covert influence campaign to undermine U.S. candidates supportive of Ukraine, Intelligence Committee lawmakers say
Politico: Pentagon is quietly building elite new tech sabotage agency
Supreme Court blocks Trump from denying gender-transition care to federal prisoners, for now
After years of bipartisan effort, Arizona’s former Chiricahua National Monument becomes America’s 64th national park
AP analysis: Many states deciding control of Senate are seeing big boost in early voting
AIPAC says it’s ending candidate endorsements, PAC contributions
Takeaways from AP report on the taxpayer-funded growth of classical Christian schools
AP: U.S. military base schools putting new emphasis on Western civilization and Christianity
Some websites go dark as operators address AI-detected flaw in PHP web programming language
Meta ordered to pay New Mexico $25 billion — the biggest-ever fine against the tech giant — for deceiving users about privacy on Facebook
How Mark Zuckerberg pushed Meta to protect him from proposed California wealth tax
Consumers’ Checkbook: Sixty-five things you (probably) shouldn’t pay for
Paul Krugman: ‘Trump is destroying Americans’ healthcare’
KFF: Job-based healthcare plan costs rise, with little relief in sight
You can call the Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121, and be connected to the offices of your representative and senators. To email your House member and your two senators, you can connect to their websites at Congress.gov. Most lawmakers seem to only accept emails from their constituents, but these leaders accept emails from Americans nationwide, at:
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
Senate Majority Leader John Thune
Related Knowledge Center: Voting rights
As Republicans move to restrict voting rights, and Donald Trump appears to be preparing for another confrontation about election results, a wide range of organizations are pushing back.
Top guidance in the run-up to Election Day
- Ben Wikler, a political organizer who was chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin from 2019 to 2025 says, “The very most powerful thing you can do as a volunteer in politics is to talk to your actual friends and family who are fence-sitters.”
- He quotes Abraham Lincoln, who wrote in a letter to a campaign committee in 1840: “Keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to time have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence.”
- The place to put our energy, Wikler says, is on the people whose votes will matter most because they live in a place with high-stakes, very close elections, as well as the people where we live.
- ACLU: Know your voting rights | How the ACLU is safeguarding the election
- Report intimidation, at the polls or elsewhere, immediately to the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español).