Help Flip This Montana House Seat

We have another chance to flip a Republican House seat! On May 25th there will be a special election in Montana to fill the seat vacated by Republican Ryan Zinke who became Trump's Secretary of the Interior. The race is looking very close and we need to do whatever we can to help Democrat Rob Quist defeat Republican Greg Gianforte for Montana's only House seat.

There are four things you can do to help Quist win:

1. Reach out to anyone you know in Montana and urge them to vote for Quist and to spread the word to their communities. Montana is unusual is so sparsely populated that it has only one House seat so everyone in the state who is registered can vote for Quist on 5/25.

2. Donate to Quist's campaign.

3. Sign up to make calls for Quist's campaign.

4. Share this post on social media and via email to reach more people in Montana.

---

If you'd like more info, here are some articles about the race.

Roll Call: Democratic Poll Gives Gianforte Single Digit Lead

The Atlantic: Are Democrats Doing Enough to Flip Montana's House Seat?

Montana Public Radio: A Singing Cowboy, A Millionaire And Rifles Dominate Montana Special Election

Call Your Senators about Healthcare

Well, we narrowly lost the House fight on the "healthcare" bill (-it passed 217 to 213). While it's deeply shitty, my hope is that the Republicans who voted FOR the horrible AHCA have just signed their own pink slips for 2018. A post about how you can help register progressive voters in swing House districts will be coming soon...

Now the fight turns to the Senate where the Republicans hold a (52-48) majority. We will need to convince at least two Republicans to oppose the "healthcare" bill in whatever form it ends up taking. The Senate is likely to make significant changes to the AHCA before it comes up for a vote so your Senators need to hear from you today about healthcare.

1. Find your Senators' phone numbers here. Make sure to call them both. If you need to try their district offices to get through, please do so. If you live in AK, ME and OH this is especially important because Senators Susan Collins, Rob Portman and Lisa Murkowski are the three Republicans who are most likely to reject the AHCA/be reasonable about this whole healthcare thing.

2. When you get through, here's what you can say: "Hi, my name is ___ and I'm calling from ___. I'm calling today to urge the Senator to protect my health and the lives of 24 million other Americans by voting against any attempt to repeal and replace the ACA." If you have a healthcare/ACA story of your own, share it with them. Then thank them for taking your call. Always be polite. Some other points you may want to mention:

• The Republican plan that was just passed by the House would take health care away from 24 million Americans over the next 10 years, especially the poor, elderly and SICK people.
• It would make premiums increase, making it harder (or impossible) for many to obtain coverage.
• It was pushed through too quickly (again) to allow the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office score it.
• I will most definitely be looking to the Senator's vote on the healthcare bill when I cast my ballot in the next election.

3. Tweet at your Senators and post on their Facebook pages.

4. Share this email with three people and ask them to take 5 minutes to join you.

URGENT - Call this morning to stop Healthcare Vote

This is the bill that will not stay dead. And it's looking like the Republicans have enough votes to pass it - they're going to try later today so it's all hands on deck this AM to stop it!

1. Call your Representative RIGHT NOW. Click here to find your Representative if you don't already have her/him in your phone.

2. You may have to try several offices before you get through to a staffperson. When someone does pick up or if you can leave a message, here's your script: "Hi, my name is ___ and I'm calling from ___ to urge Rep. ___ to protect my health and the lives of 24 million other Americans by voting NO on the latest Republican attempt to repeal the ACA." Then thank them for taking your call. Always be polite. If you have a healthcare story of your own, please feel free to share it. Other points you may want to mention:

• This plan would take health care away from 24 million Americans over the next 10 years.
• It would end protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
• It would make premiums increase and coverage decrease.
• It's being pushed through too quickly (again) to allow the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office score it.)

3. Forward this email to ten friends and ask them to join you in calling their Reps before noon.

4. Share this on Facebook and Twitter - we need an overwhelming outcry!

5. Tweet at your Rep and post on his/her Facebook page, too.