Vindman raised $20 million. Nixon raised $1 million.

Vindman had the DSCC. The party establishment. A joint fundraising account with the Democratic Party infrastructure that blocked out Nixon. He had name recognition, institutional backing, and a campaign operation so confident in its inevitable victory that he had post-primary events already scheduled for weeks after the election. So confident in his win, he refused to even debate her. When asked why, he said he was “just focused on November.”

He won’t be there in November.

Angie Nixon won—by double digits. And the margin is not just a number. It is a mandate. And it is critical we understand why she won, because in her victory rests the example of how we retake the House, Senate, and White House.

Let’s Address This.

Why Angie Won—And What It Means

Let me be precise about what happened in Florida last night, because corporate media will spend the next 48 hours getting it wrong.

Angie Nixon did not win despite being outspent 20 to 1. She won because the Democratic voters of Florida have been paying attention—to what their party actually believes, to what they have actually been demanding, and to which candidate was actually listening.

• 73% of Democrats want to abolish ICE. Only Nixon listened.

• 92% of Democrats want Medicare for All. Only Nixon listened.

• 92% of Democrats oppose funding Israel’s genocide. Only Nixon listened.

• Most every Democrat in this primary wanted a debate. Only Nixon showed up.

This is not a mystery. This is democracy functioning as designed—voters choosing the candidate who represents their actual values, not the candidate the establishment decided was “electable” because he had a famous name and a well-funded consultancy operation.

And here is the thing about electability that corporate media refuses to report: polling already showed that Nixon performs better against Ashley Moody in the general election than Vindman would have. She was never just the progressive choice. She was the most electable choice. The voters knew it. The establishment ignored it.

Floridians overruled them.

I have written extensively about Alexander Vindman’s record—his documented anti-Muslim bigotry, his genocide denial, his refusal to debate, his campaign of dismissal and dehumanization against a Black woman lawmaker. I documented Rachel Vindman’s racist attack on Angie Nixon—mocking her clothing and her shoes, calling her a “shitty human,” deleting the post, bragging about it, and then issuing a non-apology. I warned that the Vindmans had shown us who they were.

Florida believed the receipts.

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What This Victory Represents

Black women are the most loyal Democratic Party voting base in America, followed by Black men. They have shown up for this party in every election cycle—through disappointment, through betrayal, through being taken for granted over and over again—and they have delivered.

The party’s response to that loyalty has too often been to back wealthy, well-connected candidates while blocking out the Angie Nixons of the world. The DSCC decided—without asking Florida Democrats—who the nominee should be.

Florida Democrats answered anyway. And the answer was Angie Nixon—by double digits. We need more Angie Nixons. Not as a symbol, but as the actual standard of what Democratic leadership looks like: rooted in community, accountable to people, funded by working families, and willing to fight without apology for the things Democrats claim to believe. But all is not well in Florida.

The Contrast That Cannot Be Ignored: FL-20

Let’s keep things fully transparent. Last night was not a clean victory for the Democratic Party’s soul everywhere in Florida.

In Florida’s 20th congressional district, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz chose to run in a new district—not her old one—because it would be easier for her to win. In doing so, she ran against four Black candidates in what is a minority-majority district, effectively pushing them out and leaving one fewer Black-represented seat in the House.

Wasserman Schultz won with less than 50% of the vote—meaning the majority of voters in that minority-majority district voted for a Black candidate. The voters wanted Black representation. The corporate wing of the party delivered a wealthy white incumbent who prioritized her own political survival over the community’s right to self-representation.

The Democratic Party can scream about diversity and representation as loudly as it wants. But when a wealthy white incumbent runs in a minority-majority district specifically to avoid a competitive race in her old district—and the party approves—the rhetoric rings hollow. Performative diversity is not representation. It is destructive.

This is precisely why Angie Nixon’s victory matters beyond Florida. It proves that when the establishment blocks out candidates of color with corporate money and institutional power, the people can still win—if we organize, if we show up, and if we refuse to accept the narrative that the establishment decides.

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Now We Turn to Ashley Moody

Ashley Moody is a Trump rubber stamp and the replacement for Marco Rubio in the United States Senate. She has no opinions of her own and no values of her own—she simply does whatever the convicted rapist, Epstein-Files-implicated, Democracy-destroying Donald Trump tells her to do. She is MAGA extremism in a Senate seat, and she has spent her career serving the powerful at the expense of the Floridians she was supposed to represent.

Angie Nixon is everything Moody is not.

Nixon is a lifelong Floridian—born here, raised here, elected here. She is a mother. She is a state representative with a record of actual legislative accomplishment, including critical gun safety legislation she fought for and won. She supports universal healthcare as a human right. She condemns the genocide in Gaza. She demands corporate money out of politics. She is people-funded, principled, and prepared.

And she knows how to win against the odds.

Her first race for state legislature was against an incumbent. She won—while nine months pregnant with COVID. Let me say that again: nine months pregnant, COVID, against an incumbent. She won.

As Nixon said in a post-election interview: she is not nine months pregnant. She does not have COVID. And she absolutely will fight to win in November.

She is ready. The question is whether we are ready to get behind her.

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What This Moment Demands of Us

I have written throughout this cycle about what people-powered politics actually looks like. Abdul El-Sayed won his Michigan Senate primary—outspent 11 to 1, facing $60 million in outside spending—because he ran on values, not corporate money. Angie Nixon won her Florida Senate primary—outspent 20 to 1—for the same reason.

This is not a coincidence. This is a pattern. And it is the pattern that should guide the Democratic Party’s strategy going into November—not the failed centrist playbook that has cost us election after election by telling working people that the party hears them while governing for corporate donors.

Finally, consider this.

Corporate media did not cover Angie Nixon as the most electable candidate in this race—even when the polling said she was. Corporate media did not cover Rachel Vindman’s racist attacks on Nixon—even when the receipts were right there. Corporate media did not cover Alexander Vindman’s refusal to debate, his anti-Muslim bigotry, his genocide denial, his refusal to support extraordinarily popular policies like universal healthcare—even when the documentation was exhaustive.

Let’s Address This covered all of it. Because this platform is funded by readers—not by the same corporate interests that fund the candidates the establishment prefers. We answer to you. And because we answer to you, we can tell you the truth that corporate media is incentivized to suppress. And people listened. Here’s just a snapshot of the hundreds I’ve messages sent to me in the last 24 hours.

You have my promise to continue to hold power to account. That work continues. And it requires your continued support. Subscribe to Let’s Address This — free or paid — so we can keep covering the races, the candidates, and the accountability that the corporate press refuses to deliver.

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In Conclusion…

Angie Nixon made history last night. She did it without the party’s institutional support, without the DSCC’s joint fundraising account, without the consultants and the establishment machinery that backed her opponent.

She did it with people. With organizing. With a message that listened to what Floridians have been demanding and refused to pretend otherwise.

Now we take that people power into November against Ashley Moody—Trump’s rubber stamp in the Senate seat that belongs to Florida’s working families.

Angie Nixon is the champion Florida has been waiting for. She knows how to win. She has proven it. And she is ready to prove it again.

Let’s make it happen. We can make it happen, and flip Florida blue this November.

Donate to Angie Nixon’s Senate campaign.

Follow and amplify: @angieforfl

Volunteer.

Let’s take the successful message and strategy Angie Nixon deployed to earn a historic and seismic win this week, and repeat it to flip Florida blue this November.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, people-powered politics, and the accountability that corporate media refuses to deliver. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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The legal system spoke swiftly, loudly, and with the full weight of the state and federal government behind it.

But here’s the question corporate media will never ask: In those same 624 days since Brian Thompson was killed, how many Americans died preventable deaths because HELL Corporations—Health Exploitation Limited Liability Corporations—prioritized profit over their lives?

I did the math. A new study by the Yale School of Public Health finds that a single-payer universal healthcare system could cover all 330M+ Americans, save more than 100,000 lives annually, and still cost $1 trillion less than the current system.

That is 274 preventable deaths every single day.

Over 624 days since Brian Thompson’s death, that is 170,958 preventable deaths.

If all those Americans were one city, it would be—ironically, devastatingly—the 171st largest city in the United States.

Luigi Mangione is in federal custody. The CEOs who enabled the deaths of 170,958 Americans are in their corner offices, collecting bonuses, and gracing the covers of Forbes and Fortune. Does it have to be this way? Let’s Address This.

Which Lives Matter?

One of the most telling facts that has emerged from the Luigi Mangione trial is how he figured out where Brian Thompson would be, and when. Reuters reports:

Mangione said he emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership seeking details of its 2024 investor conference, pretending to be an investor managing more than $50 billion in assets. He said he received a response within an hour, which he said was quicker than ‌previous interactions ⁠with insurers.

This encompasses the entire problem with the for-profit healthcare system. When a person is desperate for life-saving healthcare, the response apparently requires time, due diligence, and multiple verifications that a person is really sick — then every attempt to deny the claim anyway. Then suddenly, when a random person wildly claims they have $50 billion to invest, the response is immediate, with no verification, no validation, not even basic security protocol.

This is what unregulated capitalism looks like. And far from anecdotal, Mangione’s experience reflects UnitedHealth’s cruel practices.

For example, a five-year investigation into UnitedHealth’s practices by the FTC found that OptumRx—the group’s pharmacy benefit manager—along with its two main peers, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark Rx, pocketed an extra $7.3 billion over cost through price gouging, overcharging cancer patients by more than 1,000%.

I have questions.

• How many of UnitedHealth’s patients suffered financial ruin because they were overcharged by more than 1,000%?

• How many died preventable deaths because they and their families could not afford the spiked cost of cancer medications?

• If the state can deploy hundreds of officers to hunt down Luigi Mangione for killing one CEO, why can’t they investigate and determine who was responsible for illegally overcharging cancer patients—enabling their financial ruin and death?

Or do all lives not matter anymore? The answer is simple. In this society, a single murder by gun is illegal, but mass murder by pen is just increasing shareholder value.

The killing of the UnitedHealth CEO is a symptom of a system that is already broken—one in which HELL Corporations implement cruel policy at will, no matter the number of people who die as a result, as long as it makes them profit.

You might be wondering why I use the term HELL Corporations. It is not just a play on words. It is because we must stop using the sanitized term “health insurance companies” to describe what these corporations actually do.

These are not benevolent entities providing care—physicians and nurses provide the care. They are not insuring health—we insure our own health with exercise and healthy eating. Instead, they are exploiting illness. And then, after denying us the care we need, they limit their own liability to prevent meaningful accountability.

So let us call them what they are: Health Exploitation Limited Liability Corporations.

HELL Corporations.

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The Yale Study Changes Everything—And Nothing Has Changed

Yet despite this systemic exploitation, some (Hakeem Jeffries anyone?) still claim there’s no easy solution to our healthcare system. But there is—universal healthcare. Something every developed nation in the world has implemented, and as a result ensured lower costs, more accessible care, and higher life expectancy.

And now, a new study by the Yale School of Public Health delivers a finding so clear it should end this debate permanently:

A single-payer universal healthcare system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the [current] system.

Every American covered. More than 100,000 lives saved annually. $1 trillion in savings.

You see, the opposition to universal healthcare has never been about cost, quality, wait times, or government inefficiency. Every study on this subject—22 reviewed in comprehensive analysis, including from the right-wing Mercatus Center—reaches the same undeniable conclusion: universal healthcare costs less and saves more lives.

SEE ARTICLE: DEBUNKING EVERY ARGUMENT YOU HEAR AGAINST UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE

The opposition to universal healthcare has always been about one thing: $700 million in annual lobbying investment by HELL Corporations ensure that the politicians who write our healthcare laws remain accountable to them—not to us.

Here’s the bottom line: As of August 18, 2026, in the 624 days since Brian Thompson was killed, 170,958 Americans have died preventable deaths. That is a city. That is parents, children, grandparents, neighbors, coworkers—people who woke up one morning and could not access the care they needed because a HELL Corporation decided their life was worth less than a quarterly earnings report.

Luigi Mangione pled guilty for killing one person.

Who pleads guilty for killing 170,958?

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When UnitedHealth Came After My Son

My anger over this disparity isn’t just an abstract theory—it’s in lived reality.

In 2017, I received a call from my wife Ayesha—frantic—as she drove our then 4-year-old son to his doctor while he suffered an asthma attack. I was out of state. I felt helpless. Our son’s doctor would not see him because our insurance company declined coverage on the spot. Ayesha offered to pay out of pocket, clearing out what little we had in our savings. The doctor explained they could not accept cash payments either—our insurance company had a provision restricting cash payments while they were our insurer. Our insurance company was simultaneously denying us coverage and preventing our doctor from treating us.

Finally, Ayesha rushed our son to the emergency room. It took us more than a year to pay the several thousand dollar emergency room bill.

Our insurance company—the one that denied our child care during a medical emergency—was UnitedHealth. UnitedHealth leads the industry in denials.

My son was among the 32% of patients suffering a medical emergency denied care because UnitedHealth determined their right to profit was more important than his right to live. In 2024, UnitedHealth fired its intake team and implemented AI technology to process insurance claims for senior citizens—resulting in the rejection of more than 90% of claims, leaving many seniors without critical medications they needed to survive. All while raking in literally billions in profit.

This is not negligence. It is a system designed to prioritize profits over human lives. So beyond civil lawsuits—when do the criminal trials begin?

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The Path Forward: Elect People Who Answer to People

Despite how divided our nation seems at times, the American people are not confused about the need for universal healthcare. One, because the 100,000 annual preventable deaths do not account for the tens of millions more who suffer in agony, receiving just enough care not to die, but not enough to regain health. Red or Blue, we see our families and neighbors needlessly suffering, and we reject it.

And two, because the American people have shared their verdict in public. A Pew Research Center poll shows that 90% of Democrats want universal healthcare. 59% of Republicans want universal healthcare. And 66% of Americans overall want universal healthcare.

Far from division, two-thirds of the country—across party lines—want guaranteed universal healthcare. Congress has not passed it because the the same HELL Corporations exploiting us are buying our politicians.

And I’m willing to bet most Americans have no idea how united we are in demanding universal healthcare, how much money it will save all of us, and most importantly, how many lives it will save annually.

This is where legacy and corporate media have completely failed. They’ve convinced you to be furious at Luigi Mangione for snapping and killing a CEO, but simultaneously to excuse the CEOs who happily choose policies that annually kill 100,000 people for profit, and put the lives of our children at risk for an extra buck.

The lesson once more is that corporate media will never hold HELL Corporations or bought politicians accountable. They will continue to whitewash the exploitation, downplay the systemic violence, and protect the powerful. Again, we are not helpless in response. This reality is why independent voices like Let’s Address This exists. We are funded by readers like you, accountable to no corporation, beholden to no donor, and committed to one thing: the truth. It’s why we have grown from a few hundred subscribers in 2024 to now more than 200,000 regular readers.

But independent media alone is not enough. We need to elect people who answer to working families, not HELL Corporations. I’ll share two quick and inspiring examples.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed just won his Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan—outspent 11 to 1, facing $60 million in outside spending, running against a coordinated anti-Muslim disinformation campaign. He won because he has never taken a dollar of corporate money, champions universal healthcare as a human right, and has spent his entire career making the case that a better system is not just possible but proven.

Peggy Flanagan, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, likewise just won her primary for US Senate on the same universal healthcare platform—while being outspent by tens of millions.

Abdul and Peggy are two examples of the leaders who will go to Washington and fight for us—not perform for HELL Corporations.

We need more of them. Everywhere.

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A Final Word

170,958 Americans have died preventable deaths in 624 days. Another 274 will die today. And another 274 tomorrow.

Some might deem it hopeless, but remember, it does not have to be this way. Every single developed nation on Earth guarantees healthcare to its residents—except the United States. Every single one of them has higher life expectancy, lower maternal mortality, lower infant mortality, and zero medical bankruptcies. The Yale study confirms what every previous study has confirmed: universal healthcare costs less and saves more lives.

Right now, Luigi Mangione is in custody. Meanwhile, the people responsible for 170,958 preventable deaths live in luxury.

If that enrages you—good. Channel it. Vote for and elect people-funded candidates who champion universal healthcare. Demand that your representatives answer for every HELL Corporation donation they have accepted. And support independent media that will never stop naming this violence for what it is.

Subscribe to Let’s Address This. Your support is how this work continues—and right now, it has never been more necessary. Corporate media is funded by the same HELL Corporations exploiting you. We are funded by you. That difference is everything.

United across politics for the human dignity we all deserve, one thing is for sure—all HELL can’t stop us now.

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, healthcare justice, and the accountability that corporate media refuses to provide. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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On Episode 236 of The Qasim Rashid Show:

Sara Wiles and Amanda Informed held down the mic for me and put together an all-Florida lineup. With Florida's primary election tomorrow, August 18, they sat down with four Floridians running for federal office—Oliver Larkin, Bernard Taylor, Elijah Manley, and State Representative Angie Nixon—to talk about why they're running, what they love about a state that keeps getting written off, and what the rest of the country still misunderstands about the people who actually live in Florida. Tune into the full episode above.

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First up Oliver Larkin, running for Congress in Florida’s 25th District, returns once again to the show. After a decade in the progressive movement as an organizer and strategist, he’s challenging Rep. Jared Moskowitz’s record—rated Florida’s least effective member of Congress and the first Democrat to join DOGE—with a vision for South Florida free of corporate PAC money and congressional stock trading.

Learn more about Oliver's campaign

Then, Amanda and Sara interview Bernard Taylor, a fourth-generation Floridian, longtime EMT and paramedic, now running for Congress in Florida’s 21st District. He explains how years of reacting to preventable crises—seniors discharged after Medicaid and Medicare cuts, families rationing medication—convinced him it’s time to legislate instead of just responding to the fallout.

Support Bernard Taylor's campaign

You can watch those two interviews on our YouTube channel:

On the Qasim Rashid Show podcast, Sara and Amanda also sit down with Elijah Manley, an educator and organizer running for Congress in Florida’s 20th District, builds his platform on his own childhood experience with poverty, homelessness, and Medicaid. He argues that lived experience—knowing exactly what a Medicaid or SNAP cut means for a family like his—is what separates his advocacy from every other candidate in the race.

Learn more about Elijah Manley

And last up, State Representative Angie Nixon is running for U.S. Senate to unseat Ashley Moody. Drawing on her own years as a single mom relying on government assistance, Rep. Angie Nixon is calling for bold, unapologetic leadership in Washington that answers to working people instead of billionaires.

Support Angie Nixon

The Qasim Rashid Show has now surpassed 323,000 downloads. Thank you for tuning in each week.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney and host of the Qasim Rashid Show as well as Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights and the accountability that corporate media refuses to provide. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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Join our 1,000 Mile March to Memphis & help protect voting rights in the South!

A 36-day organizing campaign across the American South with 35 community stops, focusing on local engagement & voter registration. TN → GA → AL → MS → AR. Beginning in Nashville and wrapping in Memphis on August 27.

We need you to join us: 1000milestomemphis.com.

Join us, register to vote, donate

Let’s Address This on the State Level

Your support has helped Let’s Address This continue to grow. Especially if you live in these states, please subscribe to our local chapters:

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Your ongoing support helps us continue to expand. We have ambitions to expand to at least 4 more states in 2026. Join us as a free or paid subscriber.

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Interviews & Articles from This Week

1. Monday

2. Wednesday

3. Wednesday

Feel Good Action

Islamophobia is on the Rise

Last week, Abdul El Sayed won the Democratic primary election in Michigan, winning the party’s nomination to face Republican Mike Rogers in November for a seat in the U.S. Senate. While anti-Muslim attacks are not new to his campaign (or the campaigns of any other muslim candidates in America), the past week has seen an explosion of hateful rhetoric. Ev…

Read more

8 days ago · 23 likes · 1 comment · Feel Good Action and Qasim Rashid, Esq.

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4. Thursday

5. Friday

6. Sunday

What Is The Public Thinking?

This week, prediction markets put Democrats' odds of winning all four core Senate seats—Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Maine—around 51%, ticking up after Minnesota's primary wrapped last week. Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic nomination and will face Republican Michele Tafoya in November.

Dad Joke of the Week

By popular demand, rather than a monthly subscription, you can now make a one-time contribution to support our human rights platform at any amount that fits your budget.

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the fight against the disinformation and hate that corporate media refuses to name. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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On July 24th we launched 1000 Miles to Memphis on a rainy day in Nashville. It seems like a lifetime ago. We stepped out at 5am to a relentless Nashville, Tennessee rainstorm. In some ways it was symbolic of the storm of opposition we face in the fight for voting rights. A fight that is difficult, uncomfortable, and unending—but undeniably necessary and undeniably worthwhile. It mandates we must persist.

So, nevertheless, we persist.

Today we are 674 miles into our 1,000-mile march for voting rights. To date, what the thousands of you have helped us build quite simply continues to exceed our expectations. Here is where we stand, and how you can help us bring it home in these final 10 days. Let’s Address This.

What You Have Helped Us Build So Far

Since launching on July 24 on the corner of 8th and Rosa Parks Ave in Nashville, TN, we have held more than a dozen organizing events across the south. Several hundreds of people have joined us to march on the ground in real time, through the pouring rain, the blistering heat, the side streets, and even on major highways. (Throughout this march we have maintained safety as a top priority and are proud that we’ve experienced zero injuries to date, and intend to keep it that way). Hundreds more have shown up collectively at our events along the route. Thousands have participated virtually by donating to the march. And tens of thousands of you are with us online—sharing, posting, amplifying, and holding this movement accountable to its mission. And finally, analytics show that our views for this march are already in the tens of millions of view counts and impressions across social media.

None of this happens without community and without courage. The communities that have shown up for us have been extraordinary. And the courage that the leaders leading this march exemplify has been inspiring.

Bearing Witness to America’s History of Anti-Black Terrorism

A major reason for the success of this march so far are the people leading the charge—and Bri Woodson, who serves as our Georgia State Director, exemplifies that courage. This is a photo of Bri on Day 21 of 1000 Miles to Memphis at the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Alabama, moments after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I asked how that moment made her feel. She responded.

I stood there, not in fear, but in fascination. The unsettling intimacy of standing face to face with an object built to terrorize people who look like me. I’d never seen the robe filled out before only hanging or folded. It was different.

The KKK was founded by white supremacists who lost the Civil War and couldn’t cope with their insufferable mediocrity. Rather than acknowledge the simple fact of human equality, they launched a yet ongoing 160-year-long sustained terror campaign against Black, brown, and Jewish people in the name of Christianity. Obviously, their message is antithetical to everything Jesus Christ stood for. But make no mistake—the legacy of the KKK is not dead. Instead, we see the direct through line from the KKK to Jim Crow voter suppression. Thus, why it is that much more important we continue to bear witness to these horrors in real time, call them out in real time, and fight back with persistence and courage. On this march we are grateful to Bri for leading by example, bearing witness, and fighting back.

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The Organizations Leading the Charge

And along with the thousands of ordinary people who have supported this march, dozens of amazing orgs have led the way. We are deeply grateful to the organizations that have partnered with us on the ground and will continue to work alongside us as we march toward Memphis. While Just Win Humanity will be directly supporting these orgs, I link each of them and encourage you to support them directly as well.

• The Equity Alliance

• StandUp Nashville

• NAACP Nashville

• Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

• The Apex Museum in Atlanta.

• Dreaming Justice Project

• Georgia Alliance

• The Voting Rights Museum and Institute

• League of Women Voters

• Fair Count (In Mississippi this week!)

These organizations represent exactly what this march is about—rooted, hyperlocal, community-driven organizing that does not wait for permission and does not stop when the cameras move on. We are honored to march alongside them.

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The Organizations Helping Fund This Voting Rights March

Moreover, we are profoundly grateful to our sponsors who put real resources behind this movement when it mattered most:

• ActBlue—our Gold Sponsor—whose support made this launch possible and whose commitment to voting rights infrastructure is unmatched.

• Congressional Black Caucus Pac—our Gold Sponsor—whose support further exemplified their focus on elevating the cause of voting rights and voting access.

• Feel Good Action and Common Defense—our Bronze Sponsors—whose early investment sent a signal to the entire movement that this march was real, urgent, and worth backing.

These organizations are not sitting on the sidelines. They are leading by example. And we are asking you to do the same. If you are reading this, I am asking you commit to at least one of the following. Ideally two. And if you can, all three calls to action.

How You Can Get Involved

ONE: Show Up. Walk a mile, a day, or a full leg of the route.

March in 1000 Miles to Memphis

TWO: Donate. The 1,000 Miles to Memphis march is a project of Just Win Humanity—a 501(c)(3) public charity. Small dollar tax deductible donations make all the difference in the world.

Donate to 1000 Miles to Memphis

THREE: Register Yourself and Your Network. You do not have to be in Nashville or Memphis to register voters. You can do it right now, from wherever you are.

Register to Reach 100,000 Voters

Closing Thoughts

Perhaps the biggest reason we launched 1000 Miles to Memphis is to elevate the local orgs doing the work. The local, Black led, women led, immigrant led organizations who are on the ground every single day leading the right for voting rights. And in doing so we’ve built wonderful friendships that I know will be long lasting. Most of all, we remain angry and hopeful. Angry at the status quo for our country, and then channeling that anger into action, because we remain hopeful for a more perfect union in the days, months, and years to come.

You can help hasten that future. Especially as we enter the final 10 days of this march, when fatigue hits new levels we didn’t know existed, when those marching have been away from their families—sometimes for weeks—we need you to continue to show up.

Sign up to march, donate if you can, and register yourself and at least 10 friends to vote. As you post online, use hashtags #1000Miles and #CourageNow on every post. Follow and tag @JustWinHumanity on Instagram so your community can find us. Partner with us in whatever capacity makes most sense for you—we are grateful for every bit of the support. Let us persist, together.

I will continue to provide updates as we wind down this march. Thank you for your incredible and continued trust. It is truly making all the difference.

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Tune into our live interview now. And make sure you subscribe to Let’s Address This on YouTube to support our independent human rights platform.

This is the throughline of Johnson's tenure: safety comes from investment, not intimidation, and moral clarity doesn't wait for permission. Chicago is proving both are possible in the same city, at the same time, under the same administration.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the fight against the disinformation and hate that corporate media refuses to name. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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We saw it with Obama in 2008, winning the Democratic nomination over the sure bet of Hillary Clinton, and then winning the presidency.

We saw it with AOC in 2018 who organized so effectively that it left Joe Crowley’s head spinning, before winning in a historic upset.

We saw it with Mamdani in 2025 who began by polling at 1% and ended with a historic primary and general election win that left dozens of billionaires flabbergasted.

And we’re seeing it again with Dr. Abdul El Sayed in Michigan in 2026—only, corporate media is wholly missing the moment. Let’s Address This.

Attacks From The Right

Throughout the primary campaign Dr. Abdul El Sayed faced criticism on things unrelated to his policies. But as I share below, he’s overcome them successfully. Meanwhile, the attacks from the right have faced ungodly levels of abuse, and corporate media is either ignoring it, or is complicit in advancing it. Let me break it down by the numbers. A new study by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate found the following:

• Anti-Muslim hate targeting El-Sayed jumped twentyfold after the primary. Posts naming him averaged 155 a day between June 1 and August 3. Between August 4 and 10 they averaged 3,099 a day, an increase of 1,895%.

• Seven days produced more abuse than the preceding seven months. The 21,690 posts recorded between August 4 and 10 account for 56.7% of all 38,280 Islamophobic posts targeting El-Sayed since January 1.

• Overall anti-Muslim bigotry on X (formerly Twitter) hit its highest single day of the summer on August 5, the day when El-Sayed was declared winner of the primary: 11,883 posts, 115% above the previous 30-day average and the highest daily figure recorded since June 1.

• The surge has not subsided. Six days after the result, general anti-Muslim volume remains 59% above its pre-primary baseline, and daily abuse aimed at El-Sayed remains an order of magnitude above its June-July level.

Put yourself in Abdul’s shoes for a moment. You’re a husband and father, you’re running for Senate on a 100% people-funded platform, and you face more than 3,000 documented hate messages per day, every single day. The mental fortitude to block out the hate, much of which threatens your family, and stay focused on the mission at hand, must be commended. But even when you do that, the President of the United States himself personally attacks from his global platform.

And yet, Dr. Abdul El Sayed has maintained his calm, his integrity, and laser-like focus on fighting for working Michiganders. Perhaps this is also why his new attack from the left is so obscure.

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Attacks From the Left

Surprisingly, Dr. Abdul El Sayed is also getting attacks from the left. Why? Because he accepted an endorsement from former VP Kamala Harris. The criticism alleges that because VP Harris and President Biden continued to arm Netanyahu, therefore, Dr. El Sayed should not accept her endorsement.

Let me be clear, as someone who was and remains deeply critical of the Biden administration for its catastrophic failures over Palestine: This particular criticism of Dr. Abdul El Sayed is short-sighted, illogical, and harmful.

In reality, Abdul has achieved something powerful and historic. He has received the endorsement of one of the most popular and influential Black leaders in contemporary America, and done so on his terms. I could agree with this criticism launched at him if, to earn the VP Harris endorsement, he changed his views on AIPAC, retracted his affirmation that Israel is committing genocide, or reversed his stance on reeling in out-of-control military spending. But far from changing his views, he’s doubled down and held firm to stop funding Israel. He’s made clear, as Dr. King reminded us, that he condemns the triple evils of militarism, racism, and poverty. He’s leaned in to his values, and in doing so, has expanded his coalition.

Far from criticism, this leadership should be commended. He’s advancing his campaign on his terms—not capitulating to other politicians. That is what true leadership looks like, and we are fortunate to see it happen in real time. So if you are among those on the left criticizing him for growing his coalition—just remember that this is the moment to get behind Abdul for growing the coalition without compromising his values and principles. That courage is what we expect of principled leaders, and that is what Dr. El Sayed is delivering.

Which leads to the third prong of his historic run—he’s united Michigan.

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Uniting Michigan Despite It All

No one can deny it was a rough and, at times nasty, primary election. Senator McMorrow and Congresswoman Stevens both levied some significant personal attacks on Dr. Abdul El Sayed. Governor Whitmer endorsed Stevens over Abdul. And the establishment wing of the party was clear that Abdul was not their choice.

Yet, on election night as the race was called and the people had spoken in favor of Abdul, Senator McMorrow wasted no time and offered up her support. The following morning, Congresswoman Stevens and Governor Whitmer did the same. And since then, Rep Stevens has remained firm that as a Democrat, she is fully behind Abdul to win in November, and is calling on her supporters to vote for him.

Credit to Senator McMorrow, Rep Stevens, and Governor Whitmer. And credit to Dr. Abdul El Sayed for leading by example, leaving the past in the past, and staying focused on his mission of money out of politics, money in your pocket, and Medicare for All. His maturity to meaningfully embrace (figuratively and literally) his earlier opponents to continue to fight for Michiganders, and indeed all Americans, is commendable.

Moreover, he’s earned the endorsement of the Michigan Black Caucus, a pivotal partner necessary for him to win in November. Abdul has also earned the first-ever Senate endorsement from Jewish Voices for Peace, another historic achievement in its own right. He’s continued his outreach to Jewish Michiganders, making clear in powerful words that he views the safety of Jewish people through the same lens as he views the safety of his own daughters. This collective work must continue to ensure a November victory—and it will. And for now, one impact it has already had is a frightened Mike Rogers. And we need to talk about it.

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Striking Fear Into Mike Rogers

Trump’s Florida neighbor decided to finally wake up and run for Senate in Michigan, again. No really, he literally owns a $1.7M mansion in Florida.

So frightened is Mike Rogers that he’s so far refused to accept a debate against Dr. Abdul El Sayed. The macho MAGA man is happy to generate AI pictures of himself to look muscular and in shape—but he’s too much of a manchild to step into the ring with Abdul. No, really, while Rogers’ campaign did not put out the image directly, it was put out by Rogers’ media firm, Convergence Media.

Mike Rogers has decided that his strategy will be to sit in his mansion in Florida, go on Fox News and friendly outlets to field softball questions, and insult Abdul. Or, Rogers will spread disinformation about Abdul’s ideas and values and beg for corporate money from the same exploitative healthcare corporations who have funded his political career. This is the epitome of cowardice.

Because the one thing Mike Rogers apparently won’t do is be an adult and hold a debate with Dr. Abdul El Sayed on the actual policies that matter—like how Rogers exacerbated the opioid epidemic, or how he supports data centers even as they decimate our environment, or how he defends a literal rapist in the White House who is all over the Epstein Files.

Abdul deserves all the credit in the world for striking the fear of accountability into Mike Rogers. Michigan voters should take note that in doing so, Abdul is demonstrating that he will not back down from a fight to protect working people. Again, this is what real leadership looks like.

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Conclusion

Dr. Abdul El Sayed is leading a movement at a pivotal moment in American history. He faces horrific attacks and dehumanization from the right, short-sighted critiques from the left, and a frightened and back-footed Mike Rogers. Through it all he’s united the Democratic Party in Michigan, is strengthening bridges of trust, respect, and partnership with Michigan’s Jewish and Black communities, and remains firmly committed to his values of money out of politics, money in your pocket, and Medicare for All.

Corporate media is silent on this courageous fight because acknowledging it would mean conceding that Abdul is doing exactly what he’s promised to do his entire career—serve as a relentless fighter for working families.

As Americans, and for those of you reading this who are Michiganders, we have the opportunity to continue to raise our voice. Red and Blue, this is an opportunity to unite as working class people for Dr. Abdul El Sayed, and against a corporate funded elitist who is more worried about his tee time at a Florida golf course than addressing the opioid epidemic he enabled in Michigan.

We saw a similar moment in 2008, 2018, and 2025. Let’s make it happen again in 2026.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the fight against the disinformation and hate that corporate media refuses to name. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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The Pope was asked point blank if he thinks Islam is a threat to Christians—and the answer he gave is a masterclass on leadership.

Right now anti-Muslim hate is at record levels in the United States, in Europe, and in much of the Western world. This is due to a well-funded, coordinated political and media strategy to make Muslims the scapegoat and justify never-ending war in the Middle East. And the impact is devastating. This fear mongering has long-played an integral role in justifying the “War on Terror,” mass surveillance, and the gutting of our civil rights under the guise of national security.

In other words, the harmful impact of anti-Muslim hate doesn’t just stop with Muslims—it extends to broader society. Every bomb dropped on a school in Gaza or Iran is funding denied to a school here in the United States. Every expansion of Flock cameras is a gutting of our privacy. Every NSA wire tapping of our phones is a stripping of our rights under the 4th Amendment.

This is a much longer conversation, to be sure, but one of the voices leading the charge against this hate and fear mongering is none other than His Holiness Pope Leo. His is an example world leaders could follow, should follow, and benefit from—for all of our sakes. Let’s Address This.

Does the Pope Think Islam Threatens Christian Identity?

On a recent flight, His Holiness was asked:

Some Catholics in Europe believe that Islam is a threat to Christian identity of the West. Are they right, and what would you say to them?

Listen to the Pope’s response:

I appreciate several things about how the Pope answers the question.

First, it’s grounded in lived experience. He is not asking his followers to do something he is not doing. He is leading by example and engaging with Muslims across the world to show the need for meaningful dialogue and engagement.

Next, the Pope’s answer acknowledges the fears some may hold, and acknowledges the fear generated by xenophobic and anti-immigrant sentiment. He doubles down that despite these fears, dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians is possible. He points to Lebanon, which is about 40% Christian and 60% Muslim, to show how two large religious communities can live in peace.

Finally, he notes that despite religious differences, both Christians and Muslims are in this together. For example, he points out that both Christians and Muslims have had their villages destroyed [by the Israeli government] in Lebanon. This part is critical, because the Pope exemplifies that at the end of the day, a bomb does not discriminate in who it harms or kills, and therefore we must remain united against all forms of violence and injustice.

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Conclusion

Pope Leo is modeling a path forward that actually works—grounded not in theory, but in lived reality.

The alternative is one we’ve seen fail for the past five decades, yes, from even before 9/11. A path of scapegoating Muslims, of the manufactured threat of WMDs, of endless war justified by anti-Muslim hate. This 50-year track record goes back to Ronald Reagan arming the Mujahideen in Afghanistan—enabling what would later become the Taliban. Has that made anyone safer, anywhere in the world?

Absolutely not.

We have tried that politics of fear. It has made us less safe, less free, and less human.

The Pope gets it that Muslims and Christians are not each other’s enemies. We cannot let billionaire-funded fear campaigns, complicit corporate media, and warmongering politicians funded by defense contractors tell us otherwise. The sooner we reject that propaganda, the sooner we can build the world that both our faiths, at their best, have always demanded. Indeed, the world that people of all faiths and no faith demand, one committed to universal human rights and absolute justice. His Holiness is courageously leading by example—even withstanding threats from the Trump regime. The rest of our leaders should find the courage to follow.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the fight against the disinformation and hate that corporate media refuses to name. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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I recently invited Minnesota LG to Let’s Address This to discuss her run for US Senate. We discuss ICE killings, the need to abolish ICE, and the need to get corporate money out of politics. Watch, share, and support our work!

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I launched Let’s Address This with Qasim Rashid 27 months ago to ensure my readers had timely, critical, and accurate information on the human rights issues that impact us all. This week we published our 900th piece!

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A Final Word

Anti-Muslim and white supremacist hate is skyrocketing. I see it in my DMs, in the death threats I get in my emails, and in the questions my children ask me about whether its safe for them.

Content warning. This is what my evening DMs look like on the daily.

Here’s the thing—I am not backing down. I know that anti-Muslim hate is spewed by the same people who spew antisemitism, racism, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ hate, anti-immigrant hate, and the list goes on and on.

And I believe, firmly, that none of us are free until all of us are free.

My mission remains clear and firm—uphold absolute justice and human rights in all I do and advocate, and do so with the people, by the people, and for the people. This is why I seek and want your support. Every dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of future we want. Help me build a future more committed to justice and universal human rights.

Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

Thank you for your trust.❤️

Sincerely,

Qasim

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Interviews & Articles from This Week

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What Is The Public Thinking?

This week, prediction markets put Democrats’ odds of winning all four core Senate seats—Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Maine—around 46%. Minnesota’s primary is next week, August 11.

Dad Joke of the Week

Last week, a dozen of my Jewish friends sent me congratulatory messages. I guess eventually we all get hit with a mazel tov cocktail. #DadJokes :)

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the fight against the disinformation and hate that corporate media refuses to name. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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Next, I also documented Vindman’s genocide denial—his refusal to acknowledge Israel’s genocide as confirmed by the UN, ICC, ICJ, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and Israeli genocide scholars. Finally, I documented his brother Eugene Vindman’s voting record—so conservative that GovTrack placed him to the right of nearly 75 Republicans in the House.

I told you who the Vindmans are. Now, Alexander’s wife Rachel Vindman has further inserted herself into this campaign and publicly confirmed the Vindmans are comfortable with anti-Black racism, and comfortable mocking working class people.

I share those receipts below. We cannot allow this kind of racism, misogynoir, and open bigotry to advance in our party and in our country. Let’s Address This.

What Rachel Vindman Did—In Her Own Words

I have zero interest in mentioning family members in political campaigns. But when those family members launch racist attacks in public, they have made the decision to insert themselves into public campaigns. Last week, Rachel Vindman—wife of Alexander Vindman, Florida Senate candidate—posted the following to her 400,000 followers about Angie Nixon, a Black Florida state legislator and accomplished lawmaker running for US Senate:

“If your campaign events with less than 20 people devolve into you making personal attacks on your opponent, you are a shitty human. I know you’re checking my page and, yes, I am talking about you, but I won’t say your name because you’re not worth it. Also, buy some professional clothes for the love of everything (that includes shoes).”

Angie had more than 250 people at her last campaign event, but it isn’t surprising to see Rachel Vindman try to diminish a Black woman’s success.

Let’s break this down.

First, Angie Nixon has made zero personal attacks against Alexander Vindman. Instead, Rachel Vindman calls a Black woman a “shitty human” for being critical of Alexander Vindman’s policy. That’s indefensible.

Next, Rachel Vindman dehumanizes Angie Nixon by stating “she’s not worth even saying her name.” White southern enslavers actively erased the ancestral names of Black people to deny their humanity because they saw them as less than human. Rachel Vindman’s attack follows that exact horrifying view.

Finally, at a time of massive economic disparity, when more than 200 million Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, Rachel Vindman mocks Angie Nixon for her apparent lack of professional attire and lack of expensive shoes. Angie Nixon is a mom of 5 and proud of her thrift shopping. If you ask me she looks fabulous.

But apparently working class clothing isn’t enough for the millionaire Vindmans.

After facing predictable online backlash, Rachel Vindman then deleted her post—apparently hoping no one had seen it—but with more mockery.

When called out, she posted: “Fine. I deleted it. But I proved my point that you’re watching.”

Finally, after continued condemnation, Rachel Vindman later issued what she called an apology: “Earlier today, I posted comments that were not appropriate and done in poor taste, and I sincerely apologize. I will be more thoughtful about what I post going forward.”

Her non-apology claims she’ll “be more thoughtful.” But here’s the thing—she’s done this before. She’s shown us who she is, and her racist attack on Angie Nixon is who she is. It’s who the Vindmans are. Let me be direct about what happened here. A white woman—with a documented history of anti-Black behavior, which I will address momentarily—publicly mocked a Black woman’s clothing and shoes, dehumanized her a “shitty human,” said she was “not worth it,” deleted the evidence, bragged about proving her point, and then issued a non-apology designed to close the story rather than reckon with the harm.

This is misogynoir—the specific intersection of racism and sexism directed at Black women. It is not a slip. It is a pattern.

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This Is Not the First Time

Rachel Vindman has done this before.

When Virginia Delegate Joshua Cole—an accomplished Black state legislator—dared to ask where Eugene Vindman had come from after Eugene moved into the Virginia Congressional district specifically to run for Congress, Rachel Vindman attacked him viciously online. The audacity of a Black elected official asking a legitimate question about a white candidate’s residency was, apparently, intolerable.

She openly declared that she had “entered this fight” and taunted “Also, who are you? Never heard of you.” While several people questioned Eugene Vindman’s sudden move to the district to run, Rachel Vindman attacked the Black lawmaker who asked that question.

Apparently, it’s a “fight” to merely ask who a candidate running for office is? And excuse me, but Delegate Joshua Cole is one of the most accomplished state lawmakers in Virginia over the past decade. And he lives in the district in which Eugene Vindman was running. To attack a Black constituent, who is an elected official, for rightly asking where a person came from, shows a deep level of detachment and arrogance.

And speaking of Eugene: Eugene Vindman’s voting record has been devastating for Democrats in Virginia and nationwide. GovTrack’s nonpartisan ideology scoring placed him among the most conservative Democrats in the House—to the right of nearly 75 Republicans. He is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, the centrist caucus built to make corporate donors comfortable and working families suffer.

And while some might call it unfair to hold Alexander accountable to his brother’s voting record, I could not find a single example of Alexander disagreeing with his brother’s voting record—even as Eugene voted against Trans rights, and even as Alexander has readily criticized other politicians.

A white male candidate with a history of anti-Muslim bigotry and genocide denial. A spouse with a history of anti-Black attacks on Black elected officials. A brother whose voting record is further right than 75 MAGA Republicans. And a campaign that—rather than make its case on policy and merit—attacks, demeans, and dismisses the accomplished Black woman running against him.

MAGA Republicans have already committed to being the party of white supremacy. Democrats must not do the same. The Vindmans have shown us who they are. We should believe them. Because here’s one more fact the Vindmans hope voters don’t realize.

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He Won’t Debate Her. That Alone Should Disqualify Him.

Here is something Alexander Vindman does not want Florida Democratic primary voters to focus on: he has refused to debate Angie Nixon.

When asked on camera why he will not debate Nixon, it took him less than 30 seconds to give a non-answer, make an excuse, and have a staffer interfere while he turned his back and walked away.

This is cowardice. And it is cowardice with consequences—not just for his campaign, but for the Democratic Party.

Primary debates give voters the tools to make informed decisions. They create the kind of substantive comparison that drives enthusiasm, builds coalitions, and ultimately determines which candidate is best equipped to win in November. It lets voters know that even if their top candidate did not win, the democratic process played out and now its time to unite. By refusing to debate Angie Nixon, Vindman is not just avoiding accountability—he is depressing Democratic turnout, suppressing voter enthusiasm, and deliberately preventing Floridians from critically examining his record. He is telling Angie’s sizable support base that they do not matter.

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The Polling Supports Angie over Alexander

Also devastating to Alexander Vindman’s campaign is that polling shows that Angie Nixon performs better than him against Republican Ashley Moody in the general election. So for the Democrats who obsess over electability—Angie Nixon is your most electable candidate.

Fact is, if Alexander Vindman actually believes his stated goal of flipping Florida blue, then the data demands he step aside and get behind Angie Nixon. Or, at minimum, lead with dignity and make his case transparently in a debate. Instead, Vindman is running on name recognition alone—coasting on the credibility he earned nearly a decade ago when he testified against Trump—all while refusing to engage with the voters, the issues, or the opponent standing in his way.

Using celebrity and name recognition as a campaign strategy instead of policy and accountability is one of the reasons we despise Trump. And running to the center, as Vindman is, rather than towards the needs of working people, is a tactic that’s repeatedly failed. Janet Mills in Maine ran to the center—she lost. Raja Krishnamoorthi in Illinois ran to the center—he lost. Haley Stevens in Michigan ran to the center and took $60 million in AIPAC money—she lost.

The lesson is not complicated. Running toward corporate money and centrist positioning does not win. Running toward what working people actually demand—economic justice, universal healthcare, an end to endless war—does win. The polling on Nixon versus Moody is proof. Vindman either does not understand this or does not care. Neither option is acceptable.

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On Policy—There Is No Contest

And finally, let me make the policy comparison that Vindman refuses to make in a debate.

Angie Nixon supports universal healthcare as a human right. She champions a living wage. In this climate crisis especially, she demands a moratorium on data centers devastating working communities. Angie loudly demands an end to funding Israel’s genocide. And she has passed critical gun safety legislation as a Florida state lawmaker—not theoretical positions, but actual laws she fought for and won.

Alexander Vindman’s website reads like a Republican moderate’s platform—boilerplate policy language that in many cases is verbatim what a center-right candidate would argue. He is mediocre, absent, or flat out refuses positions on universal healthcare, ending the genocide, climate justice, and economic accountability for corporations. He moved to Florida three years ago. He has refused to debate. He has run a campaign of dismissal and insults rather than engagement and vision.

And oh yeah, his wife mocks Black women’s shoes on social media.

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What Vindman Gets Right—And Why It Is Not Enough

And lest someone allege I don’t see the good in people, I am happy to give credit where due. Alexander Vindman’s testimony during the first Trump impeachment was courageous. He put his career and his safety on the line to tell the truth to Congress. I commend that service.

And, can we all agree that courage in 2019 does not purchase a lifetime exemption from accountability in 2026? It certainly does not license him to move to Florida, run as a Republican-lite, refuse to debate his life long Floridian primary opponent, deny genocide, demonize Muslim Americans, and campaign through his wife’s racist attacks on an accomplished Black woman.

During his 2019 testimony, Vindman repeated the phrase “truth matters.” I agree. But does he still believe it? If so, then he should have the integrity to debate Angie Nixon, to publicly apologize for the horrific way his wife and his campaign have treated one of the most accomplished lawmakers in Florida, and to let Florida voters make an informed decision.

He has done none of those things. And that is indefensible.

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Florida, This Is Your Moment

In closing, remember this. Angie Nixon is a lifelong Floridian. She was born in Florida, elected in Florida, has put her safety on the line by protesting DeSantis and getting arrested in Florida, and has spent her career fighting for Florida’s working families.

What she did not do is parachute in from out of state with name recognition as a substitute for policy.

Angie is right on universal healthcare. Right on climate. Right on ending the genocide and never ending wars. Right on economic justice. Right on gun safety—with the legislative record to prove it. She is people-funded, principled, and prepared to fight for Florida in the general election against Ashley Moody.

And best of all, Angie is polling better against Moody than the man who mocked her through his wife’s social media account and then refused to stand across a debate stage and make his case.

The primary is August 18th. Early voting opens by August 8th.

Florida Democrats have a chance to do something historic. You have a chance to send a change agent to the general election who can actually flip this state blue. Not by running to the center. And not by trading on a decade-old moment of courage while demonstrating current moral failure. But instead, by running toward working people, toward justice, toward the kind of bold politics that the moment demands.

Angie Nixon is that leader. And the time is now.

Vote Angie Nixon for US Senate by or before August 18th.

And if you can, support her campaign financially—because she is running the kind of people-funded campaign that the Democratic Party desperately needs more of.

Donate to Angie Nixon

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the people-powered politics that corporate media ignores. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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He was outspent 11 to 1. His opponents deployed more than $60 million in outside spending against him—including AIPAC money, corporate PAC money, and a coordinated, grotesque anti-Muslim disinformation campaign designed specifically to disqualify a brown Muslim man from seeking public office.

He won anyway. And you can donate to his campaign here to help him win in November. But understand this, Abdul won not despite his values. Because of them. And we need to understand why so we can duplicate it nationwide.

Let’s Address This.

Abdul — The Man Uniting Michigan

Abdul’s full name is Dr. Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. I use his full name on purpose, because MAGAs are already attacking him over his name. As Abdul said today at his press conference, “Mike [Rogers], if you can’t pronounce my name, keep it out of your damn mouth.”

This disingenuous attack from Mike Rogers is designed to divide and create hate, nothing more. Indeed, I am reminded that Nimarata Nikki Randhawa ran as Nikki Haley, Piyush Amrit Jindal ran as Bobby Jindal, Raphael Edward Cruz ran as Ted Cruz, and we still don’t know what JD Vance’s actual name is because it changes every few years.

But yes the real issue is Dr. Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed is running as Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. Every MAGA accusation is a confession.

Within hours of the results, the Democratic Party in Michigan began to unite around Abdul in a way that should give every working family in this state genuine hope.

Both of his primary opponents—Mallory McMorrow and Haley Stevens—have endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for Senate. Mallory did so immediately as the race was called last night—just as she promised she would earlier in the day. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who had previously endorsed Stevens, announced that she has also endorsed Abdul. Former Vice President Kamala Harris has endorsed Abdul. This is significant, given the propaganda claim that Abdul “campaigned against Harris.” In truth, Abdul endorsed VP Harris literally the day after Joe Biden dropped out in 2024.

The coalition forming around Abdul is broad, energized, and built on the critical point that Michigan is a must win Senate seat in November. Moreover, that Abdul El-Sayed is the candidate to win it.

But not everyone has gotten the memo, and we need to acknowledge that to move forward.

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The Voices of Dissent—And What It Reveals

Representative Hillary Scholten, Democrat of Michigan, announced she will not support Abdul, stating: “I will not stand beside someone who has allowed distinctly anti-American sentiment to enter our public dialogue.”

I want to address this directly.

First: “vote blue no matter who” apparently only applies when the blue candidate is white. We saw this when Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic nomination in New York City, and numerous centrist Democrats either refused to endorse him or instead endorsed credibly accused sexual abuser Andrew Cuomo. We saw it when AIPAC targeted Congressman Jamaal Bowman and unseated him in the primary—Democratic leadership remained silent. And we saw it when AIPAC targeted and unseated Congresswoman Cori Bush in the primary, and once again the Democratic establishment refused to denounce AIPAC’s meddling. The pattern is too consistent and too targeted to be anything other than what it is.

Second: the profound irony of calling the brown Muslim candidate “anti-American” while his opponent—the candidate Scholten presumably supported—benefited from $60 million in foreign-influenced dark money PAC spending apparently escapes her entirely.

Third: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not mince words when he wrote from Birmingham Jail that the white moderate is “worse than the Ku Klux Klanner”—more devoted to order than to justice, more committed to comfort than to conscience. Scholten’s statement is a living example of exactly what Dr. King was describing. He did not lie then. The evidence continues to vindicate him now.

But we do not have to settle for this demonization. We never did. And Abdul’s victory last night proved it, by showing us what electability actually means.

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What Electability Actually Looks Like

The political establishment has spent decades telling us that electability means moderation. That it requires corporate funding. That it forces softening your positions, avoiding controversy, taking the AIPAC check, and never making the donor class uncomfortable. And therefore, candidates like Abdul “just aren’t electable in purple Michigan.”

But Abdul El-Sayed just demolished that theory—empirically, on election night, in one of the most important Senate primaries in the country.

He was outspent 11 to 1. He faced $60 million in coordinated outside spending. He endured a months-long anti-Muslim disinformation campaign that traced its roots directly to the same racial delegitimization playbook used against Barack Obama, Ilhan Omar, and Zohran Mamdani. He was lied about on debate stages. He was smeared in mailers. He was told, in a hundred different ways, that a brown Muslim doctor who supports universal healthcare, is openly critical of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, who rejects Chuck Schumer and corporate money cannot win in Michigan.

Michigan said otherwise. And that matters. The voices of Michiganders matter because they prove something that we must accept as true if we hope to win in the future: Electability is determined by values and ideas—not SuperPACs and the status quo. That is not a progressive talking point. It is last night’s election result.

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Abdul’s victory points toward something larger than one Senate race. It is further affirmation of a model of Democratic politics that the establishment has resisted, the donor class has fought against, and working people have been waiting for.

It is the affirmation of a politics of people-funded campaigns. A politics of working class issues. A politics of universal healthcare as a human right. And it is a politics that rejects Islamophobia and antisemitism, racism and anti-LGBTQ hate, xenophobia and anti-immigrant hate—not as a campaign strategy, but as a foundational value. Abdul’s win exemplifies the possibilities of running for something—a unified country, a working class coalition, a big tent built on dignity—rather than running on a politics of hate and division and culture wars.

But unity doesn’t come from mere endorsements. It comes from meaningful and deliberate engagement. That is the task Abdul has before him—to convince Black voters who voted +20 for Stevens that he’s got their back. To convince Jewish voters that he sees their safety and the safety of his own daughters as one and the same. And to convince rural voters who traditionally vote red that he’s their working class champion. This part is messy, but necessary. This is the moment to extend grace to each other. To extend vulnerability to each other. To build the truly working class coalition that lifts all of us—regardless of race, faith, background, or zip code.

The Road Ahead

Joining Abdul in Michigan as victors are William Lawrence—Sunrise Movement co-founder and one of the most important progressive organizers of his generation, and Donavan McKinney, who ousted a corrupt corporate centrist Democrat. Rep Rashida Tlaib comfortably won reelection.

Michigan is in a great place—and now we must keep the momentum going nationally.

Next week we have the opportunity to nominate Peggy Flanagan for Senate in Minnesota on their August 11 primary, Francesca Hong for Governor in Wisconsin’s August 11 primary, and Angie Nixon for Senate in Florida’s August 18 primary. Each of these amazing women are running principled, people-funded campaigns centered on working families, economic justice, universal healthcare, and the bold politics that this moment demands.

My ask of you—maintain hope for a brighter tomorrow. And practically speaking, stay subscribed to Let’s Address This. I will be interviewing each of these in the coming weeks—lifting them up, holding them accountable, and making sure this community has everything it needs to help them win.

Because last night proved something many of us have always known, but now have more receipts to show: when we fight for working people without apology, when we reject corporate money without hesitation, when we name injustice without equivocation—we win.

Abdul El-Sayed won. The movement is winning.

Let’s keep going. ❤️✊🏽

Be sure to click below to join Sway (for free) and get my voter guide in real time.

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, people-powered politics, and the accountability that corporate media refuses to deliver. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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On August 4, we are on the cusp of electing paradigm shifting leaders in multiple Democratic primary elections—all because we organized effectively. But before I get into the organizational work we’ve done to elect these amazing leaders named below, I need everyone to do one very important thing:

Sign up for Sway

Sway is a new (free) app designed to help us build collective voter influence at a scale politicians cannot ignore. Sway helps us elect public servants who actually care about working people. Let’s Address This.

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The Candidates to Vote For

Virginia:

• Congressional District 1: Salaam Bhatti

• Congressional District 8: Mo Seifeldein

Michigan:

• Michigan Senate: Dr. Abdul El Sayed

• Congressional District 7: William Lawrence

• Congressional District 11: Aisha Farooqi

• Congressional District 13: Donovan McKinney

• Congressional District 12: Rashida Tlaib

• Michigan Attorney General: Eli Savit

Missouri

• Congressional District 1: Cori Bush

Why The Above Candidates?

Each of these candidates are 100% people funded, demand universal healthcare as a human rights, demand economic justice through a living wage, and are unapologetic about ending the genocide in Gaza, getting corporate money out of politics, banning congressional stock trading, and taking meaningful action to stop the existential threat of climate change. In short, each of these candidates care about working people and are not afraid to fight for us. This is why we must organize and elect them.

And Sway helps us do that most effectively.

Join Sway

What Sway Does—Simply and Powerfully

This is not a sales pitch to buy Sway. Sway is free. No donations required. No paywalls. No gatekeepers. Just action.

Here’s why Sway is so special and effective.

Sway allows voters to organize around clear policy demands and translate that organization directly into electoral consequences.

Here’s how it works.

• Voters join a group—like Qasim Rashid’s voting group—and receive a local voter guide showing which candidates have pledged to fight for working people.

• Candidates can publicly pledge their support and, in return, see real-time evidence of how many voters are organizing to support—or oppose—them.

This flips the traditional power dynamic. Instead of politicians making vague promises and disappearing, voters make their expectations explicit and visible. Elected officials can see, in real time, how many people are prepared to organize against them if they choose corporate donors over their constituents.

If they choose the will of voters, voters reward them with their vote. If they choose the demands of corporations, voters organize to remove them from office and replace them with someone who actually cares about people, not profits.

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No Data Harvesting. No Fundraising. No Spam.

Protecting our privacy and PII (Personally Identifiable Information) is a non-negotiable for Sway. Accordingly, after verifying your PII to check against the voter database, Sway does not store sensitive personal information like your full name, street address, or date of birth. The goal is not surveillance or fundraising; it is coordination. This takeaway should be simple and reassuring: Sway keeps data minimal, avoids sensitive PII, and exists solely to help voters organize more effectively and confidently.

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The Right Way to Use Sway

Sway works best when used collectively, not passively. Signing up is the first step, but the real impact comes from sharing. Once you join a voting group (in this case my voting group), step two is critical: share that information with your community.

Text it to friends and family. Post it in group chats. Bring it to marches, meetings, and organizing spaces. This is why we are seeking 1 million Swayers right now.

This is collective action without financial barriers. The only limit to the scale of our success is us!

Join Sway

What I’m Asking You to Do

So if you follow my work, join my ballot initiative on Sway. Here’s what that involves:

1. Sign up for Sway.

2. Share the link for Sway: https://www.sway.co/g/4ug5naoy?ref=76ia8ofh

3. Post the link across your socials.

4. Sign up neighbors to Sway at protests, meetings, and conversations.

We are on the ground floor with less than 1000 voters who have signed up for my Sway ballot initiative. Help us build a coalition and grow. This is how we defeat corporate money—not by matching it dollar for dollar, but by out-organizing it person to person. Organized people beat organized money. The will of the people is already there. Now we have the tool to make that will impossible to ignore. Let’s get to work.

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On Episode 234 of The Qasim Rashid Show:

First, Scott Michelman, Legal Director of the ACLU of DC and law professor at Harvard, breaks down qualified immunity—the judge-made doctrine that lets federal officers violate your rights without consequence, and why it's even harder to hold ICE accountable than local police. He makes the case for the Constitutional Accountability Act, the Senate bill that would close that gap.

Learn more about the ACLU-DC

Then, Nikki Porcher joins the show. She's running to become Georgia's next Labor Commissioner—one of eight Black women running statewide this cycle. Nikki lays out her platform: raising Georgia's rock-bottom unemployment benefits, treating childcare as a labor issue, and backing the small businesses that employ most of the state's workforce.

Support Nikki's campaign

The Qasim Rashid Show has now surpassed 318,000 downloads. Thank you for tuning in each week.

Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney and host of the Qasim Rashid Show as well as Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights and the accountability that corporate media refuses to provide. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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What You Have Helped Us Build So Far

Since launching on July 24 on the corner of 8th and Rosa Parks Ave in Nashville, TN, we have already held five organizing events in the first ten days. We have more than a dozen more planned over the next 25 days. Likewise, nearly 100 people have joined us to march on the ground through the pouring rain, the blistering heat, the side streets, and even on major highways. (I promise, we’re maintaining safety as a top priority). Hundreds more have shown up collectively at our events along the route. And tens of thousands of you are with us online—sharing, posting, amplifying, and holding this movement accountable to its mission. And finally, early analytics shows that our views for this march are already in the millions across social media.

In other words—we’re off to a great start and momentum is building.

None of this happens without community. And the communities that have shown up for us have been extraordinary.

The Organizations Leading the Charge

We are deeply grateful to the organizations that have partnered with us on the ground and will continue to work alongside us as we march toward Memphis. While Just Win Humanity will be directly supporting these orgs, I link each of them and encourage you to support them directly as well.

The Equity Alliance. StandUp Nashville. NAACP Nashville. Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. The Apex Museum in Atlanta (event forthcoming).

These organizations represent exactly what this march is about—rooted, hyperlocal, community-driven organizing that does not wait for permission and does not stop when the cameras move on. We are honored to march alongside them. Below is my one on one interview with Odessa Kelly, Executive Director of Stand Up Nashville.

The Organizations Helping Fund This Voting Rights March

Moreover, we are profoundly grateful to our sponsors who put real resources behind this movement when it mattered most:

ActBlue—our Gold Sponsor—whose support made this launch possible and whose commitment to voting rights infrastructure is unmatched.

Feel Good Action and Common Defense—our Bronze Sponsors—whose early investment sent a signal to the entire movement that this march was real, urgent, and worth backing.

These organizations are not sitting on the sidelines. They are leading by example. And we are asking you to do the same. If you are reading this, I am asking you commit to at least one of the following. Ideally two. And if you can, all three.

How You Can Get Involved

ONE: Show Up. Walk a mile, a day, or a full leg of the route.

March in 1000 Miles to Memphis

TWO: Donate. 1,000 Miles to Memphis is a project of Just Win Humanity—a 501(c)(3) public charity. Small dollar donations make all the difference in the world.

Donate to 1000 Miles to Memphis

THREE: Register Yourself and Your Network. You do not have to be in Nashville or Memphis to register voters. You can do it right now, from wherever you are.

Register to Reach 100,000 Voters

Closing Thought

We are off to a great start, and the goal is to keep building. You can help make that happen. Sign up to march, donate if you can, and definitely register yourself and at least 10 friends to vote. As you post online, use hashtags #1000Miles and #CourageNow on every post. Follow and tag @JustWinHumanity on Instagram so your community can find us.

I will continue to provide updates as often as possible throughout this march. Thank you for your incredible and continued support. It is truly making all the difference.

As an alternative to a paid subscription, by popular demand, you can now make a one-time contribution to support our human rights platform.

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It’s not too late to join our 1,000 Mile March to Memphis — help us protect voting rights in the South!

A 36-day organizing campaign across the American South with 35 community stops, focusing on local engagement & voter registration. Tennessee → Georgia → Alabama → Mississippi → Arkansas. Beginning in Nashville and wrapping in Memphis. August 2 — August 27.

We need you to join us: 1000milestomemphis.com.

We are marching because the Supreme Court gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais. And because the horrific “SAVE Act” is one step closer to becoming law, and permanently installing fascism in America.

Every mile is a voter registration opportunity. Every stop is an organizing event. Every city on the route—Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis—is a community that needs resources, visibility, and solidarity. And our target is measurable: 100,000 voter registrations.

Join us, register to vote, donate

We recently shared the expansion of Let's Address This to a new state— continuing our mission of bringing independent human rights coverage directly to local communities across the United States.

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And remember:

• If you live in Illinois, subscribe to Let's Address Illinois.

• If you live in Texas, subscribe to Let's Address Texas.

For us to continue to expand, we need your ongoing support. We have ambitions to expand to at least 4 more states in 2026. Join us as a free or paid subscriber.

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Interviews & Articles from This Week

1. Monday — INTERVIEW: State Rep Ryan Clancy (Wisconsin-19) | Local Police Training with the IDF

2. Monday — INTERVIEW: Rep. Pocan (WI-2) on the US Blockade of Cuba & Trillion $$ Pentagon Budget

3. Tuesday — ARTICLE: Austin Police Kill A 17-Year-Old Black Child, Because Police Have No Legal Duty To Protect Us

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4. Thursday — GUEST POST: The Coalition Beating ICE at the State Level

5. Friday — ARTICLE: Corporate Media Is Not Failing—It Is Collaborating

What Is The Public Thinking?

This week, prediction markets put Democrats’ odds of winning all four core Senate seats—Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Maine—around 47%. Michigan’s primary is next week, August 4.

Dad Joke of the Week

A reminder that sometimes the best way to respond to a bigot is by reading a calendar properly. #DadJokes :)

By popular demand, rather than a monthly subscription, you can now make a one-time contribution to support our human rights platform at any amount that fits your budget.

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Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the fight against the disinformation and hate that corporate media refuses to name. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.

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Experts Already Warned Us This Was Coming

This isn't speculation. It's the exact mechanism the Brennan Center for Justice—one of the country's leading authorities on election law—has been warning about. As the Brennan Center notes, generative AI:

now has the capability to convincingly imitate elected leaders and other public figures … The proliferation of deepfakes and similar content poses particular challenges to the functioning of democracies.

Meta handing Newsmax’s archive and AI infrastructure to hundreds of millions of users isn’t a hypothetical risk. It’s that exact threat, arriving right on schedule before midterms.

Call It What It Is—State Media

It’s no secret that Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg has done a complete 180. From banning Trump from Facebook after Trump incited an insurrection, to paying Trump $25 million as a settlement for banning him. Meta has continued to grovel before Trump in a pathetic attempt to gain favor with the aspiring autocrat, and this latest move with Newsmax is another example of that capitulation.

And now Meta is proudly announcing a partnership with Newsmax, which boasted:

Newsmax Inc. announced today that the Company has entered into an AI content partnership with Meta Platforms. Under the agreement, Meta will have access to Newsmax’s digital news content. Meta will be able to draw upon Newsmax’s significant current reporting as well as archived content across its platforms to support AI queries across Meta’s apps and devices. Newsmax views this agreement as an important step in its broader strategy to work with leading technology companies, expand the reach of its journalism and make the Company’s distinctive perspective available through emerging AI technologies.

NewsMax is the right wing propaganda outlet fined $67 million for election denialism. It regularly publishes such volatile headlines and false stories as this:

And this:

And this:

Meta is helping Newsmax expand this disinformation. Imagine labeling election denialism, dangerous misogyny, and anti-Muslim hate as “journalism.” Now, hundreds of millions of Meta users will be subject to grotesque disinformation right before midterm elections. This is catastrophic for our national security and public trust.

But now that you’re aware of this, what do we do to respond? If you know me, I do not cite problems without offering meaningful solutions—and I offer two such solutions below that I invite you to engage with.

How We Fight Back

First, we must understand that this isn’t an unfortunate lapse in judgment. It is collusion. A soft coup through compliant media executives and billionaire owners who are terrified of upsetting Trump—and more terrified of losing market share.

Corporate media is serving power, not truth. And we’re paying the price. Cowardice in journalism is not a neutral act. It is betrayal. And we don’t have time left for soft takes and polite critiques. Not when fascism is knocking on every door.

1. Support Independent Media

When I launched Let’s Address This, it wasn’t to comment on injustice—it was to confront it. More than 900 articles and 55 million readers later, we’ve built something powerful. We’ve exposed corruption, elevated marginalized voices, and challenged fascism at every step. But I can’t do this alone.

If you’re a subscriber, thank you. If you’re not yet, please join us. No paywalls. No billionaire backers. Just people-powered media. Every subscription, every share, every read chips away at the disinformation machine.

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2. Use Ground News to Cut Through the Noise

I am partnering with Ground News, and I invite you to join me. Ground News is more than a news website and app—it’s a critical tool in a disinformation age. I use it every day. If you care about getting the critical context missing from your typical newsfeeds, about recognizing disinformation immediately, and about finding accurate sources that you can trust, then you need Ground News.

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In addition to gathering related articles globally in one place and revealing source bias and factuality, Ground News cut through partisanship and sensationalism to focus on the facts. Ground News reports on who funds a media outlet.

Subscribe to Ground News

So even if you didn’t know that Newsmax had to pay $67 million for their election denialism, Ground News would show you Newsmax’s media bias. That matters. Ground News doesn’t tell you what to think. It shows you the historic narratives and biases of each outlet, so you can decide for yourself.

It’s also worth mentioning that Ground News itself is subscriber-supported, not billionaire-funded. So by subscribing, you directly support my newsletter and you contribute to keeping the media transparent. And right now if you subscribe to Ground News at my exclusive link below, you’ll conveniently get 40% off their Vantage Plan, the same one I use. That's $5/month to stop letting other people's agendas control how you think.

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Conclusion

This moment demands clarity. It demands courage. Freedom doesn’t vanish overnight—it’s eroded every time we choose silence over resistance, comfort over courage.

Subscribing to Let’s Address This, downloading Ground News, and simply sharing this article are three easy and effective ways to push the narrative towards facts over fiction.

I’m fighting like hell to stop fascism from taking permanent root in this country. I know many of you are, too. Let’s not do it alone. Let’s do it together. Subscribe. Share. Fight. Because truth still matters. And silence, now more than ever, is surrender.

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Read Gaby’s piece below, and go follow and support State Power.

State Power

Notes on state power, democracy, and collective action — by Gaby Goldstein, founder of State Futures

By Gaby Goldstein

State Legislators Are Linking Arms to Fight ICE—and It’s Working

The federal government is betting that a constant churn of new controversies will exhaust the public and keep states from responding. That bet is losing.

A Guest Post From:

Yesterday in Chicago, I joined nine state lawmakers from six states at a press conference to send a clear message: states are not moving on, and not backing down. The conduct of the federal government is an outrageous affront to the rule of law, and states have both the authority and the will to assert their own rights as states and protect communities.

The press conference, which my organization State Futures co-hosted with Illinois State Senator Graciela Guzmán (one of nine co-chairs of our State Futures Federal Response Coalition) brought together legislators from Illinois, Colorado, Maryland, Oregon, Wisconsin, and California who have been fighting hard and winning to protect civil rights, uphold due process, and defend communities in the face of escalating federal tactics and this administration’s constant degradation of constitutional norms and the rule of law.

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Joining Sen. Guzmán were Illinois Representatives Lilian Jimenez and Norma Hernandez, Colorado Senator Mike Weissman, Maryland Delegates David Moon and Nicole Williams, Oregon Representative Farrah Chaichi, Wisconsin Representative Ryan Clancy, and California Assemblymember Sade Elhawary. Sen. Weissman and Del. Moon also serve as co-chairs of the State Futures Federal Response Coalition.

The timing was fitting. Hours before we took the podium, WIRED reported that new draft ICE detention contracts include language declaring that state and local laws “shall not apply” to detention facilities – a contract clause attempting to erase state authority with the stroke of a pen. A federal judge in Washington state recently rejected nearly identical language. But the fact that the federal government is still trying tells you everything about the moment we are in.

And it underscores why the work these state legislators are doing matters so much.

What’s Happening In The States

During the 2026 legislative session, State Futures is tracking 284 bills introduced across 34 states. Our tracker is the largest publicly available resource on state-level immigration and rule-of-law legislation. In the past few months, we’ve published three in-depth playbooks for state legislators, which are menus of policy options states can draw from as they draft and pursue solutions.

Over 50 bills have passed in 15 states so far this year: bans on 287(g) agreements between local police and ICE, “No Secret Police” bills requiring law enforcement to identify themselves, protections for sensitive locations like schools, churches, and hospitals, new private rights of action for residents whose civil rights are violated by federal agents, regulations on detention facilities, data privacy protections restricting the sharing of personal information with federal authorities, and more.

That is real, concrete, enacted law. And it represents tremendous momentum. This may not be the narrative you see in the press, which is consumed by the crushing horror and chaos at the federal level. But the reality is that states are fighting back, hard, and - increasingly - together.

Indeed, what makes this moment different isn’t just the volume of legislation across statehouses. It’s the coordination behind it. Our Federal Response Coalition includes 112 lawmakers from 35 states and has been meeting regularly since late 2025. During the legislative session this year, they met weekly. They’re sharing bill language, comparing strategies in real time, learning from each other’s wins and losses, and building a body of law together that is far more coherent and powerful than anything any single state could produce alone.

As Sen. Guzmán put it yesterday: “One of the greatest gifts that State Futures, and in general our camaraderie-ship, have to offer is that no one state is fighting ICE and the federal government alone. Every single one of us has watched this administration test the limits of state authority. Every one of us has seen our communities become the testing ground for new forms of surveillance, intimidation, and detention. Every single one of us has had to ask themselves the same question: how do states respond?”

We are proving the answer. State legislators are coming together in a unified front — sharing tactics, resources, ideas, and lessons learned. Linking arms and getting it done.

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The Bigger Picture

I want to say something I’ve been thinking and writing about for a long time, and I want to say it clearly.

We cannot keep treating state-level policy as a tactic we reach for when we’re out of power in Washington. That short-term, unsustained investment in state-level policy, leaders, and infrastructure has been a critical — nearly fatal — mistake. For decades, one side of the political spectrum invested heavily in state-level infrastructure while the other treated states as an afterthought and a back-up plan. The results speak for themselves.

As Heather Gerken – former Yale Law School Dean and current President of the Ford Foundation – has observed, federalism has no partisan valence. It is just a tool, one that has been used far more effectively by one side than the other. She has also made the point that the familiar story of the states as 50 laboratories of democracy is a “campfire tale.” In reality, there are two laboratories: one red, one blue. And as political scientist Alexander Hertel-Fernandez has established, the red one has been winning.

That ends now.

State Futures recently celebrated our first birthday. In that time, we’ve grown to support a network of nearly 900 state policymakers who share our values — legislators and State Financial Officers across 49 states. It’s the counterweight to ALEC and the State Policy Network that has been needed for decades. Our side may be tardy to the party, but we’re growing fast and getting work done.

The federal government is betting that a constant churn of new controversies will exhaust the public and keep states from responding. Yesterday’s press conference, and our work over the last year, is proof that the bet is losing. State lawmakers are more coordinated, more resolved, and more effective than ever.

This is what collective state action looks like. And we’re just getting started.

Gaby writes State Power, tracking how states are fighting back against authoritarianism — and building real power together. She's also the founder of State Futures. Subscribe to support her work.

State Power

Notes on state power, democracy, and collective action — by Gaby Goldstein, founder of State Futures

By Gaby Goldstein

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