Yesterday marked TWO MONTHS before the midterms.

You know, the MIDTERMS — the federal elections halfway through Joe Biden’s presidency that will decide which political party holds sway over the House of Representatives and the Senate for the next two years, and hence whether President Biden can accomplish anything at all, ever again, and hence whether we hand the presidency right back to the red-hats in 2024 or not. 

The elections that will decide pretty much everything: 

• Whether women have the right to make decisions about their own bodies.
• Whether we take action on climate change before our entire world is a big game of Floor Is Lava.
• Whether the experiment of democracy earns the right to continue long enough for us to build some more secure safeguards around it.
  

Pretty much THIS.

On an electoral level, nothing could possibly be more important than these midterm elections. Everything hangs in the balance.

We know how fascinating it is to follow the latest national scandal: the investigation into top secret documents Trump stuffed down the back of his pants as he skulked out of the White House in January 2021; the investigation he’s now pulling all sorts of judicial shenanigans to s.l.o.w. d.o.w.n., in hopes of stalling past the “too close to the election” deadline and forcing the Department of Justice to put the thing on ice till post-election.

But in the very same hurtling race towards Election Day, WE here in NJ 11th for Change cannot afford to slow down. For us, it’s full-steam ahead. And we need all the volunteers we can get to support House candidates within our sphere of influence. 

First and foremost, that means Representative Mikie Sherrill!

Mikie is seeking her third term as our rep in CD11. Pretty much every day of every week, Team Mikie has volunteer opportunities where you can help get her re-elected. (Scroll down to our Events & Volunteer Opportunities section to see what’s coming up, and bookmark our Weekly Volunteer Opps webpage for easy reference.)

We are pleased to announce that NJ 11th for Change will be hosting some exciting (and fun!) Mikie Sherrill canvassing events in the weeks to come! There is nothing like talking face-to-face with an enthusiastic canvasser to turn an unreliable voter into a person with a solid voting plan and a real commitment to casting a ballot. We’ve finally firmed up the dates for our events, so mark your calendars:

• September 18 @ 12 pm — Mountain Lakes/Boonton
• September 24 @ 12 pm — Morris Plains
• October 2 @ 12 pm — Randolph
• October 15 @ 12 pm — Parsippany
• November 5 @ 12 pm — Montclair 
  
  

Will they be coffee gatherings to fuel us up for an afternoon of pounding the pavement?

Maybe. We’re fans of coffee. Fans of tea. Fans of good things to eat while drinking such things.

Will they be happy hours, where we can unwind and rest our weary feet after a successful day knocking doors? 

Chances are good. We’re happy people! And who doesn’t have a spare hour to hang out with friends and fellow activists?

Keep your eyes peeled for announcements soon, and get ready to work hard, play hard, and make a big difference!

Next up: NJ 11th for Change is pleased to announce TWO MORE ENDORSEMENTS! 

Thanks to all of our volunteers and donors who participated in the endorsement process and cast their votes for two more exceptional candidates who need volunteer support: Representative Tom Malinowski in CD7, and Representative Andy Kim in South Jersey’s CD3! 

Tom Malinowski is a steadfast, eloquent and outspoken advocate of progressive policy. To our great dismay, the 2021 redistricting process did a real number on his numbers. Malinowski’s redrawn CD7 boundaries saddle him with a much more competitive district and a much redder constituent base. With control of the House of Representatives hanging in the balance, we can’t afford to cede this seat. It will be up to NJ activists and voters to pull out all the stops if we want to win this tough reelection fight.

Andy Kim, a regular visitor to our district, is a strong voice for diversity in Congress — an important factor for the growing AAPI community here in C11. Kim walks the walk with his progressive, family-focused policies, and has an impressive knack for communicating in ways that reach voters of all stripes. Even adamant conservatives are often surprised to find themselves nodding along to his personable, values-driven policy explanations.

What can YOU do for CD3 and CD7? Now that NJ 11th for Change has issued these endorsements, we will begin sharing opportunities each week for you to volunteer to help Malinowski and Kim win re-election. We will focus on remote events (like phone banking and text banking) for the faraway Kim campaign. For Malinowski’s campaign in our neighboring district, we’ll include both remote and in-person opportunities.

Please make a point of checking the Events & Volunteer Opportunities section of our newsletter and the website’s Weekly Volunteer Opps page each week to see what YOU can do to help!

Last but not least: Pennsylvania! 

We are investigating possibilities for collaborating with ally groups to caravan or bus into Pennsylvania to support John Fetterman for Senate (along with Josh Shapiro for Governor). Control of the Senate may hinge on Fett’s race, and abortion rights in PA will depend on the governorship. Canvassers like YOU can make a big difference — so keep an eye out for roadtrip announcements. Won’t it be nice to say we helped shoo that snake-oil huckster Dr. Oz away from elected office?

As you can plainly see: 

The situation is dire, and the need for volunteer help RIGHT NOW is URGENT.

Abortion rights, climate change, and the survival of democracy depend on the results of the midterm elections ... in less than two months. 

NONE of these campaigns — Mikie, Tom and Andy here in NJ, and Fetterman/Shapiro in PA — is a gimme, and some of them are on downright shaky ground.

But just because the stakes are high doesn’t mean it won’t be lots of fun working together with our friends and making new friends as we fight for what we KNOW is right. 

What could be more satisfying?

We can’t wait to see you at an upcoming event!

EVENTS &
VOLUNTEER
OPPORTUNITIES

NOTE: Our new Volunteer Opportunities webpage will always be updated with the current week’s roster of actions you can take to support your favorite candidates. Please bookmark it, and check it regularly! 

"TEAM MIKIE" OPPORTUNITIES:

(Click the links for details, and to register)

Ballot drop is right around the corner! We have only two weeks until VBM ballots are mailed out in CD11 and people START VOTING! Help Team Mikie talk to as many people as possible before September 24!

THIS WEEKEND & WEEK AHEAD!

• Saturday, September 10 at 10:00 am —
  Millburn Canvass Launch
  
  
• Saturday, September 10 at 10:00 am —
  Parsippany Canvass Launch
  
  
• Monday, September 12 at 5:30 pm —
  Bloomfield Canvass Launch
  
  
• Thursday, September 15 at 3:00 pm —
  Morristown Canvass Launch

EVERY WEEK!

• EVERY Monday at 3:00-5:00 pm —
  Women for Mikie Virtual Phonebank
  
  
• EVERY Tuesday at 5:00 pm —
  In Person Auto Dialer Phonebank
  at campaign headquarters in West Caldwell
  
  
• EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. —
  Virtual phone banks at a variety of times!
  
  
• EVERY. WEEK. & WEEKEND.—
  Canvassing events to send Mikie back to DC this fall!

MALINOWSKI FOR CONGRESS OPPORTUNITIES:

• TOMORROW, Saturday, September 10 —
  Canvassing options:
  
  9am - Somerset County - sign up here
  9am - Summit - sign up here
  10am - Raritan - sign up here
  12pm - Flemington - sign up here
  12pm - Mount Olive & Hackettstown - sign up here
  12pm - New Providence - sign up here
  12pm - Somerset County - sign up here
  12pm - Sparta & Ogdensburg - sign up here
  1pm - Rahway - sign up here
  1pm - Westfield - sign up here
  3pm - Somerset County - sign up here
  
  
• EVERY Saturday & Sunday at 12:00 pm — 
  Virtual Text Banking
  

• EVERY Saturday & Sunday at 3:00 pm —
  Dialer Phone Bank 
  

• EVERY Wednesday at 6:00 pm —
  Virtual Phone Bank to Morris, Warren, Sussex County
  

• EVERY Thursday at 3:00 pm —
  Virtual Phone Bank with the Montclair & Maplewood Dems
  

• EVERY Thursday at 4:00 pm —
  Senior to Senior Phone Bank
  

KIM FOR CONGRESS OPPORTUNITIES:

• EVERY Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday (times vary from day to day and week to week) —
  Virtual Phone Bank

NJ 11th FOR CHANGE OPPORTUNITIES:

• Tabling at Events: Is your town planning any civic events, festivals, street fairs, or farmers markets? Let us know, so we can help your community get ready to vote! There's nothing more satisfying than setting up shop at a local community event and encouraging constituents to vote or learn about their candidates. If you're interested, please email Mara! We're looking for volunteers to:
  
  
  • tell us about events in their towns and counties, and 
  • come on out and staff the tables! 

• Vote-By-Mail Letter Campaign: WHOA! We're up to 42,000 packets out and distributed, thanks to NJ 11th for Change Field Director Stacey Abenstein and a squad of nose-to-the-grindstone volunteers — who could use your help right about now! 
  
  Not all NJ voters know they have to actively request a mail-in ballot this year. But YOU can give them the information and the tools they need to make it happen. We’ll provide the official VBM request forms and a list of names and addresses; you provide postage, post-its, and envelopes. Write a quick personal note on the post-it encouraging the recipient to vote by mail, stick it to the request form, stuff it in the envelope, and send it off! We have a tight list of in-district voters who need this little push to significantly increase their turnout rates. Let’s make it easy for them to do the right thing!
  
  Here's a quick peek at a recent delivery: 
  
  
  
  Stacey writes: 
  
  "I’m making a special push for VBM writers who live in Nutley, Maplewood, or South Orange. We need help finishing all the target voters in these towns. Contact me and I will send you to the VBM leader in your town.
  
  All other volunteers, I still have lists for Belleville (only 670 voters) and Bloomfield (8231 voters).
  
  Thanks to the work of our friends at Wind of the Spirit, we added a Spanish how-to paragraph to our Bloomfield letter!
  
  We still have time to get these out so please do not hesitate to volunteer!!!"
  
  Interested in helping? Email Stacey Abenstein and put “VBM CAMPAIGN” in the subject line. (Can't write but want to donate stamps or stamp-money? Also email Stacey!)
  
  
• Working America Letter-Writing Campaign: You know that NJ 11th for Change usually focuses close to home — no national campaigns that make us roam far afield. HOWEVER! We do make one exception! Our volunteers have been participating in Working America's national letter campaign for several years, with terrific success! Working America (the activism branch of AFL-CIO) is a data-driven organization with its finger on the pulse of their electorate, and they have a meticulously field-tested, proven strategy for swinging votes in tight races. They know exactly which voters to touch, and exactly what issues and messages will do the job.
  
  How does it work? You will be sent a document with the text of a carefully crafted letter, focused on one of three core issues that (research shows!) turns red voters blue. You'll also get a list of addresses. Type a few additional personal sentences into the document, print it out, sign it by hand, stuff it in an envelope and mail it off with a handwritten address. Print, sign, and stuff till you’ve completed your list! (You’ll need to provide stationery and stamps.) Our experienced volunteers say that it’s quicker and easier than writing postcards … and the vote-swing rate is the envy of grassroots groups from coast to coast!
  
  Interested in helping? Get on the list by emailing NJ 11’s Working America expert, Jim Price, and putting “WORKING AMERICA” in the subject line. (Can't write but want to donate stamps or stamp-money? Email Jim!)
  
  

• COMING SOON: NJ 11th for Change Postcarding: Interested in joining our crack team of postcarders? Email NJ 11 Field Director Stacey Abenstein and put “NJ11 POSTCARDS” in the subject line. We'll be in touch in about a month, as soon as we're ready to launch the postcarding portion of our 2022 efforts! (Can't write but want to donate stamps or stamp-money? Email Stacey!) 
  
  
  

• Operation Diggin’ Up the Dirt: Mikie’s opponent, Paul DeGroot, is a hard-right Trumper. He is also keeping very quiet in the public sphere about his positions; suspiciously quiet, one might say. We’re building a team to gather intel about his positions — and anything else that voters need to know.
  To get involved, contact NJ 11th for Change Research Director Patricia Doherty, and put “DEGROOT RESEARCH” in the subject line.

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NJ 11^th for Change is a 501(c)(4) unaffiliated organization dedicated to advocating for all people of New Jersey’s 11^th Congressional District. We foster an engaged and informed community with the power to shape our political representation so that it is transparent, responsive and accountable—and so that it reflects the values of fairness, compassion, inclusivity and a decent quality of life.