by State Senator Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas
This Saturday, Sept. 30, is your chance to block Trump – seriously. One day of your time will truly make a difference. Together we can protect women’s rights, immigrants’ rights, LGBTQ rights, healthcare, education and the environment.
This November, there will be a special state senate election in Redmond and the surrounding areas that will decide who controls the Washington State Senate and our future.
On Saturday, dozens of your friends and neighbors will walk on the ferry and take a bus ride down to Redmond to attend a massive rally with our incredible state senate candidate Manka Dhingra and then go door-belling for her. The bus ride is free and lunch is included and it will truly make a difference!
Following last November’s election, like many of you, I felt totally overwhelmed. I was shocked and I was scared. Since then each day has been a barrage of newsfeeds coming across my phone – from attacking immigrants’ rights, women’s rights, the environment and LGBTQ rights to gutting most agencies and laws I care about to the increasingly scary daily rants, these past months have been emotionally exhausting. But like many of you, I have chosen to fight back. I have chosen to surround myself with friends and neighbors who empower me, rebuild my strength and do everything I can to take my country back.
This Saturday is our single greatest opportunity to actually move beyond protests and be the change we want to see.
We can make sure that Washington State is not only a sanctuary for the protection of our core values, but also a beacon of hope and leadership for our entire nation.
Since taking control, the Washington State Senate Republicans have advanced numerous bills and policies that are directly contrary to our beliefs and they have blocked several critical pieces of legislation that would have protected and advanced our core values.
Bad bills introduced:
• Making protests illegal.
• Delisting of endangered species.
• Privatizing public lands.
• Expanding tax loop holes for big oil.
• Religious exemptions from women’s healthcare.
• Allowing businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ.
• Allowing discrimination against transgenders.
• Significantly limiting access to abortions.
• Withholding family planning information from pregnant women.
• Gutting funding for Planned Parenthood.
• Disenfranchising voters.
• Disenfranchising unions.
• Criminalizing homelessness.
Good bills blocked:
• Voting Rights Act.
• Equal Pay Act.
• Protecting transgender children.
• Climate action.
• Banning conversion therapy.
• Blocking the U.S. Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision.
• Reproductive Parity Act.
• Supporting immigrants in the workplace.
• Protecting the Salish Sea from oil spills.
• Protecting children from toxic toys.
Join me and dozens of your neighbors for an incredibly empowering day this Saturday! Go to SJDemocrats.org to RSVP.
