Media

On March 12, 2018, I joined CASA Virginia Director Michelle La Rue and Sookyung Oh of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium for a televised discussion about state and local advocacy for immigrant rights in Virginia. Together, our efforts have secured an important victory for the community: the termination of a voluntary agreement between Fairfax County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under which the county detained people for ICE.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has signed a law that will create publicly financed elections, reversing her previous opposition to a plan that advocates say will help curb money’s influence in District politics. 

Bowser announced that she was throwing her support behind the Fair Elections Act, which was approved unanimously by the D.C. Council in February. The law, which will first affect elections in 2020, will steer millions annually toward the campaigns of local candidates and is aimed at reducing their reliance on deep-pocketed donors. [...]

Coalition cheers final passage of bill, calls for full funding and implementation of landmark democracy reform

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Advocates and activists celebrated on Tuesday as Mayor Bowser signed the Fair Elections Act, a major democracy reform that will bring small donor public financing to local elections. The campaign to pass the bill has been supported by dozens of economic, social, and racial justice organizations, as well as the entire D.C. Council.

Faced with jobs that don’t pay enough to make ends meet, health-care costs that break the budget, and public services exposed to countless rounds of cutbacks despite a growing economy, working people will push back. And, like the teachers across the state of West Virginia who walked out on strike for nine days and won meaningful raises and a freeze in health costs for all the state’s public employees, working people who push back sometimes win. [...]

Indiana—On Thursday, Demos, the ACLU, the ACLU of Indiana and the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, on behalf of Common Cause of Indiana, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt the implementation of a new Indiana law that would allow the state to kick voters off the rolls based on flawed data, beginning on July 1. 

The recent State of the Union address showcased the particular brand of phony populism that Americans are coming to know all too well. 

It’s a populism that demonizes immigrants as the main threat to struggling workers. It’s a populism that loudly claims credit for lowering African American unemployment.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we are thankful for another year of power, spirit, and the vision for a more equitable future in the face of a system and political leaders who try to convince us otherwise. Today (and every day) we amplify the voices of the mentors who guide our creative visions, those who inspire and shift us into action, and the centuries old history of women, femmes, and allies whose voices and stories continue to shape the movement. [...]

Models and policy recommendations for boosting civic engagement and fortifying American democracy.

Heather McGhee is stepping down from her role as president of Demos this summer. She’ll remain as a distinguished senior fellow and the think tank will launch a search for the next president in March.