Democracy’s Winning Streak with David Pepper — ‘There’s a Timetable for Democracy’
Notes from Pepper’s Pep Talk at our Tuesday Speakeasy
For those who were unable to attend our impromptu Pepper Pep Rally on Tuesday at Bette’s Happy Hour — our weekly wellness check for global newsies — below is a transcript of the conversation so you can send this to your networks for inspiration and guidance. All unpaywalled posts are free for two weeks. Please support my work here. I keep extending our half-off special so membership is affordable for all, and I need financial support to continue doing this work.
‘A Timetable for Democracy’
On Tuesday, November 14, pro-democracy author and activist David Pepper had just flown in from Kentucky and was returning to Ohio. He was kind enough to join our weekly Speakeasy to update us on Ohio’s victory, our statewide challenges, and next action steps for pro-democracy activists.
Here is that interview:
David: We have spent an entire year in Ohio — and you all helped — fighting for democracy and reproductive freedom. We had to stop the terrible idea they tried to use in August to change the threshold on the amendment process — we won that, we kept fighting in November and that was absolutely a historic win for women in Ohio, all of Ohio, thank you for doing that.
Needless to say, Virginia was a great victory. All around the country we absolutely destroyed these Moms 4 Liberty school board candidates.
The Big Picture
Just the Big Picture here — these are the years we are supposed to lose everything because we have the White House. So to see us continue a winning streak that started in Kansas last August and continued through Wisconsin and other states last November and April, and then to see the victories last week, as much as people want to focus on poll numbers and national stuff, on the ground in the states, we are building quite a good winning streak. And we need to figure out why that is, why it’s happening and keep building on that.
It really is historic how we’re defying the conventional pattern that we normally lose when we have the White House. We’re winning some very impressive wins.
A lot of that goes back to the activism of people like yourselves and all over the country, who kind of figured out that activism at the state level can lead to real victories.
Heidi: Before we get to Ohio, what’s the vibe in Kentucky?
David: The event I was at in Kentucky was to say, ‘We won the governor’s race but just like everywhere else, we’ve got to start making progress in these state house races, because those state houses — whether it’s Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee — that’s where the most damage is being done.’
Now, we’ve got to dig deeper, we’ve got to run everywhere, we run in all parts of Kentucky and go on offense.
We have to focus on races we’ve overlooked for too long.
Heidi: We learned from you, that we celebrate for an hour maybe a day then we get back in the trenches - I just wrote a story about the erosion of the separation of church and state, and I always thought turning people into single issue voters over abortion was a diabolical plot, but do you concur that overturning Roe was one bridge too far and we’re seeing that in voter turnout?
David: What happened there — a lot of voters who agree with Roe and abortion access — they didn’t really think it would go away.
So overturning Roe woke those voters up, who now know they weren’t kidding and it’s really happening.
It woke up voters to turn out who might not have turned out. It made some voters realize it could no longer be a secondary issue.
We often talk about democracy, which can feel very 30,000 foot to people, Dobbs made the consequences of lacking democracy very real, like, the reason they’re attacking democracy is to impose on your life difficulties or worse that you don’t agree with — the reason they’re attacking demcoracy is to do that, so you need to vote to prevent that.
So Dobbs created the very real life consequence of states that don’t have democracies.
Ohio voters came out and said they want democracy — it’s made the battle for democracy far more real.
‘More Lawless’
Heidi: What devious plots are the Ohio GOP retaliating with, because whatever happens in Ohio will be replicated some place else…
David: The lessons that I’ve learned in 11 years in Ohio, and we saw it with January 6 too, is when they feel especially threatened and are close to losing power, they don’t quit — they get more lawless, more shameless, more aggressive. That was Donald Trump after he lost the election. He does January 6.
That’s what they do when they lose in states. They lost this thing badly. They immediately announced they were going to defy the will of the people and the new law — they announced that the day after.
Some have said they’re going to try to strip away courts of the power of all the laws that violate our new constitution.
The lesson for all of us is — just like in Wisconsin when our justice candidate won — they started saying they’re going to impeach her.
In Ohio, when we won the gerrymandering issue at the ballot, they ignored it, they went lawless and defied court orders. They are doubling and tripling down on lawlessness to undermine and overturn the election that just happened.
‘A Million People at the State House’
If they really follow through on what they’re saying, we need a million people at that state house.
And my guess, we can get them. It was so clear. This was a fight that took place for so long. So much of what they do is hidden — this would not be hidden.
We must be prepared to go full-on massive resistance, if they try to do some of the things they’re talking about.
‘The Bat Signal’
Your help along the way — I’ll send you the bat signal if they do what they’re saying they’re doing — your help to raise the roof would be very helpful.
Heidi: It would be an honor. I view you as a major hero David Pepper. What do you want us to do next where can we be most of service to democracy?
David: You have a following beyond California, and I don’t just write about Ohio. As you said, Ohio is a bellwether. If it’s happening here, it’s going to be happening in other states.
The first thing I would say is take stock where you are, wherever you are, where there’s a democracy battle and figure out if there’s a role you and others can play. If you’re in California, one part of that battle will be the seats that we did not win in Congress that we can win back in 2024. There’s just no reason we can’t win the House back in 2024.
Think about the fights and battles in your state.
‘Start Where You Are’
Start where you are. If you’re in Oklahoma, the fact that 60 percent of the Oklahoma Republicans were uncontested in 2022 is a crisis — so start there. If you’re in New York, the low turnout is what got us George Santos, start engaging voters now, lobby your legislators which are Democrats to improve voting laws so you have higher turnout so start there.
Wherever you are there’s a democracy battle taking place — don’t only think about a few swing states that we need to win next year.
First of all, think about your own battles where you are.
And secondly, there will be battles in 2024 like Virginia and Ohio, and let’s all figure out what they are. We are only a couple seats away from winning the Arizona state house, just like we won Virginia. Arizona will be key to winning the US Senate and it will be key to winning the presidency.
So if you’re in California and feel pretty good about being blue there, adopt Arizona for a year. Adopt some candidates who are running for that state house. Help win it up and down the ballot.
By doing that, you’re helping win the state house in Arizona, you’re helping win the Senate, and you’re helping win the presidency.
Georgia had 50 percent of the state house seats uncontested two years ago — that’s not good enough.
There are many places in need, but be clear the reason we won in Ohio and Virginia is because people way further away sent dollars, made phone calls, and wrote postcards. When these democracy battles go national and people like yourselves decide to put in some work for that battle, it really makes a difference.
They may have the Koch machine — and they do — but we have armies of volunteers and activists helping in these races so keep doing that in 2024.
Heidi: We have people on this call who were so motivated by you to volunteer for Ohio.
David: Can you imagine getting a postcard in Ohio from someone out of state warning you that your democracy is at stake? That’s a powerful motivator. That may be the best wake up call.
Heidi: Mike Johnson is the best example of why we need to run everywhere. He ran uncontested multiple times. But also, no place is safe. My blue state is not safe. You know I was campaign manager for a winning candidate last year. I saw the team a few weeks ago, and the campaign was war, but the job is war, too. There are continual active measures to make it look like democracy is failing in my state. It’s not failing, it’s under siege. It can happen here. It is happening here, and we have to know that there are no rear areas in an information war.
***(David answers questions about his books, The Fifth Vote, Laboratories of Autocracy, and we discuss where best to put our social media energy and how we’ll show up if Ohio needs us)***
David: If they try to overturn the will of the people, we can raise so much hell.
Be information warriors, and make noise, but Facebook is by far the most used platform.
Heidi: Last words, make them brilliant.
David: When they are cornered, they double down. We never can be surprised again when they do outrageous things. It is what they do, expect it. When you win, the fight will resume as soon as three days later.
We gotta pace ourselves, but know that your activism may really matter to stop really bad ideas.
Where you are, there are deadlines to run for office all over the country that fall before we’re all gonna be paying attention. There’s a timetable for democracy that is the one we should be focused on.
Protect our wins but right now, be sure you’re recruiting wherever you are in America so that extremists in state houses are being challenged next year and those deadlines are fast approaching.
We’ve got an incredible winning streak — it’s almost perfect. That winning streak is happening for a reason. They’re too extreme and our pro-democracy activists are fighting for races in states when we used to only fight for the federal races. We are fighting and winning battles at the state level like our democracy depends on it, because it does.
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We just have to see that the battle for democracy is broader. It's deeper.—David Pepper
I need people to see they're on the frontline. Wherever you live, if you’re doing this work, you are the frontline.—David Pepper
The message should be a fair deal… fairness everywhere.—Martin Sheil
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