Greetings, fellow Dem allies!
We hope your October is faring well. We’re more than halfway through the month now, which means the pressure is mounting for you to come up with a stellar costume for the various Halloween activities beckoning (like ours, on the 29th - see below). After enjoying Evil MoPac’s inspiring post, we wanted to make our own contribution to assist you with this task. We’re going to narrow the field somewhat, and focus on Political Activist costume ideas. Suffice to say we have some expertise in this area. Here’s what you’ll need to make your PA costume pop.
Young Dem
You’ll need a t-shirt with a political message; the more vintage, the better. Extra points if it features Bernie or Ann Richards. Distressed jeans, pristine condition Converse sneakers, and a fully charged late model cell phone with one of those round grippy things on the back of the case. Go ahead and stick an earbud in your ear, but this is important: ONLY ONE EARBUD. Rehearse a script on why geezers should no longer be allowed to vote, the evils of capitalism, and how UBI is supposed to work.
Experienced Dem - Import
This activist typically appears on the local political scene without warning, seemingly out of thin air, offering a myriad of miraculous new activist strategies to the local political party. As much as the local activists hope and dream and yes, sometimes pray for their arrival, it cannot be predicted. For this reason, we recommend you keep it simple and just order an angel costume from Amazon. Or perhaps a unicorn.
Experienced Dem - Local
In many ways this is the polar opposite of its Import twin. These activists have been in the area for generations. While Import may have all kinds of cool campaign strategies, Locals have next-level tactical skills. They know everyone. They have run for every office. They know all the skinny and all the dirt. You can go casual with this costume also. Wear your local Dem party ball cap, super comfy Skechers with arch support for all the block walking, and a sandwich board made from yard signs from your previous campaigns.
Candidate Cultie
The Candidate Cultie loves their candidate so much. They don’t care if their candidate the most popular person in every room but the voting booth. Even if the only contest your candidate wins is in the category of Most Likely To Win Friends And Still Lose The Election, you fully intend on going down with the ship. You can go with the casual look of a campaign tee, but extra points if you dress like your favorite candidate. Think long sleeved button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans, and comfy shoes. Or a feminist pantsuit. Emulate your candidate’s specific quirk, like being fluent in Spanish or playing the saxophone. Bring Band-Aids for all the hand shaking, Chapstick for all the baby kissing, and a container of Kool-Aid for yourself, because you have definitely drunk it.
In other news:
Early voting for the November 7 election in Texas begins today October 23. Here’s our voting guide to the 14 proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot (click to enlarge). If you’d like a paper copy, reply to this email or in the comments and we will see that you get one. Just our thoughts. We encourage all voters to do their own homework. But we’re happy to help!
Thanks to all who have stepped forward to help us with our GOTV (Get Out The Vote) efforts. We would love more volunteers for lit drops. A lit drop is like block walking, but you don’t have to knock on doors or ring doorbells. You just drop the literature and keep on truckin’. We will be distributing the voter’s guide Ruth and Sheri put together (see above), which we funded using our CER grant money. If you want to help close that circle and get your 10,000 steps in while doing lit drops for a good cause, give Ruth Todd a holler ruthetodd@gmail.com.
The October First Friday event was at The Bearded Baking Co. on Main Street in Bastrop. Pencil us in for the next one on November 3, same location, 11am.
Lots of folks turned out for the Boot Vouchers rally in Austin on October 7, including CODA. If you couldn’t make it, be sure to show up at the ballot box instead.
October is a busy month for us. Our second CODA Book Club discussion is coming up Tuesday October 24 at 6:30pm. We will meet via Zoom. Visit our Facebook group for the link.
Attention Millenials and Gen Z: CODA (the Coalition of Democratic Allies PAC) would love to have you join us for a lively discussion about topics that affect young Democrats in our area. We want to bring voters of all ages together to help us understand how we can help you and what you are willing to help us with. Totally fine to share this link with other like-minded friends and family.
We have a Zoom scheduled for Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 6:30 PM.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5124174153 (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5124174153)
Meeting ID: 512 417 4153
Passcode: coda
Next up is our participation at the Hogeye Festival in Elgin on October 28. If you’re planning on attending, drop by and say hello. We would also love more volunteers if you want to hang out with us a little bit. Reply to this email or leave a comment, and we will be very glad of your help.
It wouldn’t be October without a Halloween Party! Join us in costume (one of the ones mentioned above would be perfect!) at Ruth and Donnie Todd’s home on Sunday October 29. Food, fun, and hobnobbing with like-minded folk is always on the agenda at a CODA event.
Thanks for reading. Remember to like, comment, subscribe, and share. Until next time!
Thanks Laurel Kathleen for the collab on Candidate Cultie.
Your PAs and their descriptions and costumes were hilarious, Lissa. I'm going to have to spend time considering where I stand on the PA distribution. Haha