Indivisibles,

Think about it: In about five weeks we get to stop obsessing over GOTV --
and start obsessing over using our new Democratic Congress and presidency
to codify reproductive freedom and pass democracy reform. It’s a good
thought -- let’s make it a reality. Welcome to the bi-weekly-ish
newsletter, where I get to share some reflections on what I’m seeing, brag
about what the Indivisible movement is doing, and engage in some genuine
discussion -- and occasionally share adorable pics of our kids (read on).
With that, let’s start with a quick summary:

The News: This week, Harris became the first presidential candidate in
history to run on reforming the filibuster as a means to passing a
transformative legislative agenda. This is good policy, and smart
politics, that shows she’s not just serious about winning, but serious
about governing too.

The Brag: The arc of this fight for filibuster reform has been long, but
it’s bent towards us winning the damn thing. Indivisible has been on the
forefront of this fight for years -- taking it from impossible to nigh on
inevitable.

The Discussion: I heard from hundreds of you about Harris’ performance and
what your GOTV plans are. There’s a lot happening on the ground, and the
first and only VP debate comes this Tuesday. Why don’t we chat about it
live the next day? [ [link removed] ]Register for another Q&A coffee chat this Wednesday
at 3pm ET/noon PT -- and if it’s your first time, let us know and we’ll
make extra effort to get to your questions.

The News: The “F” word I was waiting to hear on the campaign trail

I can’t tell you how thrilled I was at the news this week.

The first presidential candidate in history to take this on. Some [ [link removed] ]are
reporting that Kamala Harris isn’t after an “FDR-sized” presidency. But
Harris herself contradicted that on the campaign trail this week when
[ [link removed] ]she became the first presidential candidate in history to campaign on
filibuster reform as a means to enacting a transformative policy agenda!
Harris is pursuing a very specific and practical kind of F-D-R presidency:
Filibuster reform, Democracy legislation, and Reproductive rights. 

Harris is building an electoral mandate for the legislation and reforms
she wants enacted as president. The Biden-Harris campaign launched earlier
this year with its [ [link removed] ]first ads focused on January 6th and the need to
protect our democracy, and Harris has committed to passing the democracy
reforms to ban gerrymandering, get money out of politics, and protect
voting rights. On reproductive freedom, [ [link removed] ]Harris started the campaign
season with a nationwide tour on reproductive freedom, and a commitment to
restore these rights is part of just about every speech she gives.

Harris took a big step further when she became the first presidential
candidate in history to campaign on reforming the filibuster this week.
“[ [link removed] ]I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe, and get us to the
point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back into law
the protections for reproductive freedom.” This would be an odd move for
someone planning to play small ball as president, but it’s a perfectly
reasonable move for a presidential candidate taking serious steps to enact
an ambitious legislative agenda with a small senate majority.

Reforming the filibuster is an unskippable first step to reproductive
freedom and democracy legislation. Without filibuster reform, much of her
legislative agenda is impossible, for the simple reason that Republicans
-- even in the minority -- could veto it with the filibuster. Republicans
in the Senate will not give Harris the votes to codify abortion rights; to
protect IVF and birth control; to end gerrymandering; to get money out of
politics; to project and expand voting rights. Similarly, raising minimum
wage, preventing gun violence, protecting union rights, and economic
proposals like childcare that don’t fit neatly into the annual budget
process are all DOA in the absence of filibuster reform. 

If you need any other evidence that this was an excellent move by Harris,
[ [link removed] ]read about Mitch McConnell crying about it. He knows this is smart, he
knows it unlocks the potential for an historic legislative presidency, and
he is not happy about it.

That’s big news, and it’s news I particularly delight in seeing given the
Indivisible movement’s long history in the fight.

The Brag: From impossible to inevitable

This brag has been a long time coming.

Indivisible has taken this fight from the fringes to the forefront. In
2018, Leah and I started writing [ [link removed] ]the Indivisible book with one clear
first policy recommendation: reform of the filibuster. At our first
national Indivisible convening in 2019, we brought Indivisible leaders
together from all across the country with trainings on democracy and
filibuster reform. We interviewed presidential candidates and asked all of
them: would you amend the filibuster? And when Democrats secured the
presidency and Congress in 2021, Indivisible immediately shifted into a
national campaign to reform the filibuster. Everyone was, in short, really
tired of hearing us talk about the filibuster.

Over the course of these last six years this issue has moved from the
fringes to the frontlines of politics. When we first started talking to
presidential candidates in 2019, none of them were in favor of filibuster
reform publicly. [ [link removed] ]Elizabeth Warren became the first, and some -- though
not all -- followed. As a candidate in 2020 and early in his presidency,
[ [link removed] ]Joe Biden declined to endorse filibuster reform. In the summer of 2021
in a eulogy for civil rights legend John Lewis, Barack Obama embraced
reform for the first time, calling the filibuster a “[ [link removed] ]Jim Crow relic.”
Towards the end of 2021, as negotiations stalled around the John Lewis
Voting Rights Act and related democracy legislation, [ [link removed] ]Biden relented
and finally supported reform. But by then it was too late -- the vote to
reform the filibuster in order to pass democracy reform failed by two
votes -- with then-Democrats [ [link removed] ]Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema siding
with Mitch McConnell against the proposal.

But that’s history, and campaigns are about the future. And the future
Harris is campaigning on is clear: The filibuster is on the way out.

Since 2018 when we started this campaign, we’ve moved essentially the
entire Democratic Party. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that
there will be no more pro-filibuster Democrats elected to higher office.
Sinema and Manchin -- the last opponents who caucused with Democrats --
are both retiring from Congress this year. Sinema is likely to be replaced
by Ruben Gallego, a pro-reform senator [ [link removed] ]endorsed by Indivisibles across
the state last year. And every single other candidate running in a
competitive Senate election against a Republican this cycle -- in Montana,
Ohio, Florida, Texas, and Nebraska -- is publicly running on filibuster
reform. 

All of those are tough races, but none of them is impossible -- and only
one of the pro-filibuster reform candidates needs to win to secure the 50
votes necessary for reform. As Senator Jeff Merkley, one of the key
architects and historians of filibuster reform, told me in an interview
earlier this year: If Democrats hold the Senate, we’ll have the votes for
reform. 

After we win, we have to run through the tape. Even if we elect Harris,
and even if we manage to retake the House and hold the Senate, the fight
won’t be over. In response to Harris’ comments this week, some sitting
Democratic senators who have supported filibuster reform in the past
[ [link removed] ]are pumping the brakes now. 

Here’s my commitment: For the next 37 days, we’re going to do everything
we can to secure the White House, House, and Senate. Then we’re going to
protect the results from inevitable Trump shenanigans that will fail. Then
we’re going to celebrate. And then we’re going to get to work using
grassroots pressure to push our newly elected Democratic trifecta to
finally finish the filibuster job. [ [link removed] ]If you’re into that, you can
support that by clicking here to pitch in:

[ [link removed] ]Donate >>

The Discussion: GOTV, VP Debate, October surprises -- let’s talk about it live!

This election is within the “margin of effort.” Thank you for the hundreds
of quite detailed responses you sent to my last questions about the
presidential debate and about what you’re doing on the ground for GOTV!
Here’s something that will not shock you: Indivisibles believe Harris
crushed Trump in the debate. And also, Indivisibles are doing a TON of
postcarding, textbanking, phonebanking, canvassing, and
Neighbor2Neighbor-ing in battleground states and across the country. 

In 2020, we won the election by 44,000 votes across three states. This
year, the polls are just as close (if you believe them). This election is,
as we say, within the “margin of effort.” I am so proud of this movement
taking nothing for granted and leaving everything on the field. 

There’s lots going on, and the first and only VP debate is this coming
Tuesday, so let’s talk! Leah and I will host another [ [link removed] ]Q&A coffee chat
the day after the debate at 3pm ET/noon PT to debrief and chat about the
status of campaigns. If you’ve never come before -- welcome! These chats
are pure Q&A to discuss organizing, strategy, messaging, and anything else
on your mind 5 weeks before the election.

Here’s my ask to you: If you have come before, bring someone new to build
this community. [ [link removed] ]Folks can register and submit questions ahead of time
here, and we’ll aim to make sure folks who are first-timers get their
questions considered. As always, we’ll also take a lot of questions live.

I’ve filibustered enough. Hope to see you out there on the campaign trail!

In solidarity,
Ezra

Ezra Levin

[20]Indivisble Co-Executive Director

Pronouns: He/him

PS: Updates from the Greenberg-Levin Household: This morning, I made
purple pancakes -- but Zeke took the whole stack and is hiding out with
Lila in her room, feeding them to her while he “reads” books to her. In
other words, the nearly 4-year-old Zeke and the now-18-month-old Lila have
reached a classic milestone: telling us parents to go away so that they
can play together without us.

[21]Zeke with a plate of pancakes and Lila sitting wrapped in a blanket.

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