[On the last Friday of each month the Grassroots Collaboration Project teams up with the Friday Power Lunch podcast (a weekly podcast amplifying the voices of the grassroots on politics, culture, and women making change) to produce a program spotlighting the work of grassroots activists to raise awareness about issues, connect with voters, and get Democrats elected.]
The February 23, 2024 podcast focused on the grassroots muscle behind two incredible wins: New Hampshire Biden Write-In Campaign and NY-3 Tom Suozzi for Congress.
GUESTS
The program opens with the video “Rise Up for Democracy” written and produced by two of the guests: ELLEN SCHWARTZ & ROGER BRUNO. This video version features excerpts from Tom Suozzi’s victory speech, Simon Rosenburg’s comments on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and New York Representative Grace Meng on ALL IN with Chris Hayes thanking the grassroots and singling out postcard writers.
COLIN VAN OSTERN, volunteer co-lead of the New Hampshire write-in campaign, and TERIE NORELLI, former Speaker of the New Hampshire House and former President of the National Conference of State Legislatures, tell a fascinating story about what inspired them to form the Biden Write-In Campaign and how they managed a win by a larger margin than the Republican candidates who were on the ballot. They raised $70,000 which covered the cost of hiring 1½ staff people and paying for “signs, signs, and more signs”. They used weekly Zoom calls to motivate volunteers who gave their all.
CONGRESSMAN-ELECT TOM SUOZZI joins the conversation with hosts KATHERINE WHITE, FINALE NORTON, and SUSAN WAGNER to talk about working with the grassroots. The Congressman-Elect could not have been more positive about our grassroots support and is clearly ready to hit the ground running. Susan graciously noted that our participation made the difference in the campaign. She emphasized the importance of people investing their time and energy and said the party infrastructure only works when people are involved.
JODY KASS, founder of Concerned Citizens of NY-03, and NATE MUNSON-PALOMBA, the grassroots liaison with the Tom Suozzi campaign, discusses how the Suozzi campaign partnered with grassroots groups in an unprecedented way to produce a decisive win. They explained how their work can be a road map for victory for all campaigns in 2024.
ABOUT: The Friday Power Lunch is a weekly podcast produced by the unstoppable women of Network NOVA to amplify the voices of the grassroots on politics, culture and women making change. The program is recorded before a live Zoom audience every Friday at 12pm ET. To sign up to attend the live recording, click here. The video recording is available on YouTube and the audio version is available on Apple Podcast and Spotify. To experience the Friday Power Lunch through the platform of your choice, visit the Friday Power Lunch page.
We Did it Again! Democrats Keep Winning