Strickland, Local Food Bank Leaders Warn of Growing Hunger Amid Federal SNAP Cuts

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October 29, 2026

By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium

U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland joined local food bank leaders, volunteers and residents at a recent news conference to warn that federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are placing additional pressure on working families, seniors and children, while community organizations struggle to meet growing demand for food assistance.

Representatives from the Making A Difference Foundation and Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank, Thurston County Food Bank and The Food Source Foundation described increasing requests for emergency food, reductions in available resources and the challenges of helping residents whose incomes no longer cover basic living expenses.

According to Strickland, SNAP participation nationwide has declined by more than 5 million people since the enactment of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In Washington state, participation has decreased by more than 57,000 people, while food bank usage has increased by 9%. Strickland also reported that children account for 44% of SNAP recipients in Washington.

Strickland criticized the Trump administration and Republican-backed changes to federal nutrition programs, arguing that reductions in assistance are affecting families already struggling with food insecurity.

“The Trump Administration continues to shred our social safety net and take food out of the mouths of hungry children,” said Strickland. “SNAP is a critical program for seniors, families and children across the nation. Our local partners can help support families, but the damage from the Big Ugly Bill has been done.”

Beyond the immediate impact on households, speakers also raised concerns about the economic consequences for neighborhood businesses. SNAP benefits help support food purchases at participating retailers, including independent grocery stores that depend on customers using federal assistance.

According to advocates, SNAP transactions can account for 15% to 20% of revenue at some independent grocers. Reductions in benefits could therefore affect both household purchasing power and sales at local businesses, creating additional challenges for communities already facing rising living costs.

For Ahndrea Blue, president and CEO of the Making A Difference Foundation and Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank, the growing demand for food assistance reflects the financial pressures facing households throughout the region.

“Today, we’re here because hunger is not a political issue. Hunger is a human issue,” stated Blue. “At Eloise, we serve over 100,000 people every month, distributing about 1.8 million pounds of food. We see our working parents struggling to feed their kids, seniors choosing medication over groceries, and veterans struggling just to put food on their tables.”

Blue said the needs of working parents, older residents and veterans demonstrate that food insecurity extends across the community and cannot be addressed by emergency food distribution alone.

Those pressures are also evident at Thurston County Food Bank, where Executive Director John Ficker described increasing demand at food pantries and satellite distribution sites, even as the organization receives fewer resources through federal programs.

Ficker said the food bank eliminated its dedicated SNAP Education team amid growing operational and financial pressures. He also reported that pantries have repeatedly broken single-day attendance records, prompting the organization to expand evening hours and home delivery services while exploring additional ways to serve residents outside traditional operating hours.

Ficker said nearly 25% of the food bank’s pantry customers in 2026 have been first-time visitors.

He described the increase in demand during his remarks.

“Since the beginning of just this calendar year alone, we have seen a 25% increase in our customer base, just in this year, all of those being first-time users of a food bank or a food pantry,” Ficker explained.

The growing need extends beyond households without employment. Chris Hyde, founder and director of The Food Source Foundation, said many residents seeking food assistance are working but still unable to afford groceries after paying for housing and other necessities.

The foundation serves approximately 1,800 to 2,100 meal portions weekly in the greater Olympia area. Hyde described clients earning between $25 and $35 an hour who find themselves with little or no money remaining for food after covering their basic expenses.

Hyde said the foundation has expanded its food service over the past two years as demand has increased. He reported a particularly sharp rise in need during October, especially among residents working full time.

For those residents, the challenge is not simply finding employment but earning enough to keep pace with the cost of living.

The experiences of volunteers and food bank clients offered another perspective on the pressures facing South Sound families.

Sheree Staples, a volunteer with Eloise’s Cooking Pot, discussed how her experiences with childhood poverty continue to shape her understanding of food insecurity. She also described the difficulty of managing chronic health conditions, including diabetes, while balancing the costs of health care, groceries and other necessities.

Her experience illustrated how financial hardship can affect more than a household’s ability to purchase food. For residents managing ongoing medical needs, the cost of maintaining their health can create additional strain on already limited resources.

“Behind every conversation about food assistance are real people and families trying to make ends meet. Protecting access to nutritious food helps strengthen the whole community. I hope today’s discussion leads to lasting support for the neighbors who need it,” Staples said.

Jah Morgan, a client and volunteer at Eloise’s Cooking Pot, spoke from the perspective of someone who works but still faces financial challenges.

“It affects us all, whether you’re working, whether you’re not working, or you’re trying to transition. I work, and I still have challenges because of this,” Morgan shared.

While Hyde described the broader increase in demand among working residents, Morgan’s account brought that reality closer to home, illustrating how employment does not necessarily eliminate the need for food assistance.

As demand increases, community organizations are continuing to adapt their services to reach residents who may face transportation challenges, limited mobility or work schedules that make traditional food distribution hours difficult to access.

Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank has used drive-through distributions at Tacoma Dome Lot G and home delivery partnerships through DoorDash’s Project DASH program to help connect residents with groceries and other food resources.

Thurston County Food Bank has also expanded evening hours and home delivery while considering additional weekend service options to accommodate residents whose schedules or circumstances make it difficult to visit during regular hours.

Other community leaders attending the news conference included Michelle Douglas, CEO of Emergency Food Network; Stacy Crinch, CEO of GoodRoots; and Seth Kirby, chief impact officer of Greater Tacoma Community Foundation.

Although food banks continue relying on partnerships, donations and volunteers to respond to growing needs, regional leaders emphasized that community organizations cannot fully replace federal nutrition assistance.

For Blue, the scale of the demand and the financial pressures facing working families, seniors and other residents underscore the limits of what food banks can accomplish on their own.

“Let me be clear. Food banks cannot replace the federal nutrition safety net. We cannot fundraise our way out of a national hunger crisis.”

America’s First Elected Black Governor Tells Activists, Politicians: ‘Don’t Stop. You Haven’t Gotten There,”

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Seattle Medium

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October 29, 2026

PHOTO: Paulette Singleton/Trice Edney News Wire

by Hazel Trice Edney

(Trice Edney Wire) – Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, America’s first elected Black governor, has encouraged an audience of civil and voting rights activists, community organizers and politicians to never stop fighting for the good of other people.

“I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to [talk, to walk, to sleep] with the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny. I will persist until I succeed,” Wilder drew from an inspirational quote he’d learned years ago as he closed his keynote speech to a standing ovation, cheers and applause by hundreds of people at the Cedar Street Baptist Church of God in Richmond.

The occasion was the 70^th Anniversary of the Richmond Crusade for Voters, an organization established in 1956, by three Black men for the purpose of pushing voter registration amidst racist resistance to Black political progress. The audience was wowed as Wilder, a 95-year-old grandson of slaves, spoke candidly from his heart, imparting wisdom to them with no notes and no glasses.

“So, what am I telling you? You don’t stop. You haven’t gotten there. And you’re not going to get there unless you [persist],” he said.

Wilder, whose remarks stressed some key moments in Virginia history, has always espoused the principle of learning from the past while moving forward. In doing so, in 1969, he was elected as the first Black member of the Virginia Senate since reconstruction and became America’s first elected Black governor in 1989 after serving four years as lieutenant governor. He is now still working as a distinguished professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

“You don’t live in the past. You learn from the past,” he said, listing some of his accomplishments during his years in elected office.

As a senator, he recalled speaking publicly against and even protesting the song, “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” as the Commonwealth’s state song because of its racist lyrics that included, “There’s where the old darkey’s heart am long’d to go.”

Wilder continued, “The second stanza was even worse” as the song described, “Even in death after they’ve gone to heaven, wherever they both would be going, they wanted to be reunited with ol’ massa.’”

As a young senator, Wilder called for the “getting rid of it. And we did.” Because of his protests, the Virginia Legislature stopped singing the song the same year that he was first elected. He also pointed to Virginia’s Martin Luther King (MLK) holiday as largely the result of his persistence and hard work. Govs. Mills Godwin and John Dalton consecutively vetoed the MLK holiday bills in 1977 and 1981.

“MLK day took me eight years,” Wilder said. “People take for granted the Martin Luther King Day. It didn’t just happen. We fought for it and finally got it.”

Wilder noted that when the MLK bill ultimately passed in 1984, making Virginia the first state in the South to celebrate an MLK holiday, there were few African-Americans in the entire General Assembly, therefore, a majority of White members had to vote for the bill for it to pass. This fact underscored Wilder’s ability to appeal to people – not based on their race or political affiliation; but based on their humanity.

For anyone who said that Doug Wilder “will reach across the aisle,” he corrected, “that wasn’t quite right…I didn’t recognize any aisle. I didn’t see an aisle to reach across. I saw a senator. I saw a delegate. I saw a person. And that’s the way I lived. And I will continue so to live.”

Politicians and candidates in the room, from various seats across the Commonwealth, listened intently as he spoke, many likely recalling some of the fights they too encountered in Virginia history.

U. S. Rep. Bobby Scott of Norfolk, who served as Virginia delegate and senator for 13 years before he was elected to the U.S. Congress 33 years ago, lauded the Crusade as being “more important now than ever before.”

That importance is not only because of the organization’s success in helping to quadruple the numbers of Blacks in elected office but, there were even few Black judges until the Crusade started “slowly but surely making Democracy work,” Scott said.

The founding of the Crusade was led by the late Dr. William S. Thornton, a podiatrist, Dr. William Ferguson Reid, a surgeon; and the late John M. Brooks, an NAACP voter registration organizer. It was established to strengthen Black voting and to oppose Virginia’s massive resistance to desegregation in response to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

But the importance of the Crusade for Voters and other similar organizations around the country is also because of the work that remains ahead, Scott said.

“And so, we’ve got to get back to the old days. Make sure people are registered. Make sure they come out to vote and make Democracy work in our favor,” Scott said. “We need to get back to those basics…The only way to protect your right to vote is to exercise your right to vote. Use it or lose it,” he said, reflecting on recent Supreme Court decisions that effectively gutted protections under the Voting Rights Act.

Chuck Richardson, who was a member of Richmond’s first majority Black City Council, elected in 1976, said the Crusade’s 70^th anniversary celebration was significant because “our history must be institutionalized so that we remember and honor those who made a contribution.”

Wilder said in his speech that Richardson, in his early years on Council, would often seek his advice, “and he listened.”

In an interview after the dinner, Richardson, who never lost a City Council election in his 19 years of service, said that was largely “because of Doug Wilder’s wise advice to me. Also, the Crusade had a disciplined voting electorate that followed the advice of the Crusade. And Wilder would tell them that once we made an endorsement, there would be “’no breaking of the ranks.’”

That didn’t mean that the politicians and the Crusade always agreed, Wilder pointed out. The Crusade leadership even chided him when he initially fought against the state song because they argued that there were more important issues, Wilder said. “So, I caught a bit of flack for that in terms of getting that done.”

But he continued to rise. Ultimately, under Wilder’s gubernatorial administration, Virginia was named the best-managed state in the nation by Financial World magazine – for two years in a row – in part, for his balancing of the budget without raising taxes.

Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas (D–Portsmouth), a Black woman, currently serves as the chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee in the Virginia General Assembly. When Wilder acknowledged her in the audience, she confirmed that she too seeks his advice.

But the common vision for what was fair and justice for all people was what brought about the successes. “I understood that things could be better,” Wilder said. “I want nothing but what’s good for the people. There’s so many things that you can do. Don’t stop.”

Though Wilder’s message encouraged the Crusade to continue and even increase its mission, with mostly seasoned public servants in the sold-out room, there appeared to be a glaring absence of younger people and students to deal with future issues. In closing remarks, Banquet Chairman Richard Williams, organizer of the lively event hosted by CBS 6 Anchor GeNienne Samuels, said he met Wilder when he was just a third-year student at the University of Virginia, interviewing him for a term paper for Professor Larry Sabato, a nationally renowned political scientist. But that was in the 1970s when Wilder was in the Senate. Williams drew chuckles from the audience when he told how he got lost looking for Wilder’s office because there was “no Map Quest or Internet.”

The room was full of energy and joy as a spirited Wilder imparted humor and wisdom to enthusiastic applause and laughter before receiving the President’s Award from Crusade President Bryce Robertson.

Despite the age gap in the audience, Robertson, who appeared to be in his 20s, exuded the wisdom of the Crusade founders: “Every voice has value, every citizen has a role to play, and an organized community has the power to shape its own future,” he said. “Democracy still depends upon people willing to participate, and meaningful change begins when people recognize the power they possess when they act together.”

A Billion-Dollar Data-Center Tax Break Along The Civil Rights Trail

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Seattle Medium

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October 29, 2026

GettyImages-2158105245 — Lowndes County residents have spent decades fighting for safe sanitation. Now officials have approved a billion-dollar tax break for an energy-hungry AI data center, raising questions about environmental justice and whose needs take priority. The data center would be built near the Robert Gardner farm, pictured above, which served as Campsite 3 during the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Cheryl Gardner Davis, who lived in that house as a child, was photographed there in 2024. Credit: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Lowndes County residents have spent decades fighting for safe sanitation. Now officials have approved a billion-dollar tax break for an energy-hungry AI data center, raising questions about environmental justice and whose needs take priority. The data center would be built near the Robert Gardner farm, pictured above, which served as Campsite 3 during the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Cheryl Gardner Davis, who lived in that house as a child, was photographed there in 2024. Credit: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

by Willy Blackmore

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights marchers made the 54-mile trek from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, they spent their final night before reaching the Alabama capitol at Robert and Mary Gardner’s farm in Lowndes County.

Now known as Campsite #3, the site is part of the National Historic Trail commemorating the famed voting-rights march.

Soon, though, the historic site could have a new neighbor: An 800-acre hyperscale data center known as Project Red Clay, just a half mile away. If completed, it will be the largest in Alabama, running off 1.5 gigawatts of power — enough electricity to power 900,000 homes.

Massive Tax Credit

The developer behind Project Red Clay, a Texas-based company called Cloverleaf, recently won a 20-year tax abatement worth $1.1 billion in tax relief to build the project, despite widespread opposition from the county’s poor and predominantly Black residents.

This comes for the vague possibility of economic gain.
Abre’ Conner, NAACP director of environmental and climate justice

Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice, said in a statement that the green light from Lowndes County represents a larger national trend “to leave the people most impacted out of the decisions and force data centers into places that are already bearing the brunt of environmental and climate harms.”

“This comes for the vague possibility of economic gain,” she said.

Few Public Details

In Alabama, officials have granted 30 years of tax abatement to massive data center projects. But a new law taking effect in 2027 will reduce that period to 20 years.

Because the project is located in the unincorporated community of Burkville, the Lowndes County Commission handled the approval process and was to schedule a special meeting at Cloverleaf’s request for the abatement.

However, instead of scheduling the meeting, the commission voted 3-2 on Oct. 13, giving Project Red Clay a 20-year abatement that will benefit the company by more than $1 billion.

Conner says that despite the project’s scale and cost, residents have been left in the dark because of a lack of publicly available information; moreover, officials have given them little opportunity to weigh in.

“The reasonable questions that residents want to understand are regarding the environmental impacts. And the county refuses to respond despite its legal duty to do so,” she said. “If the community’s life span decreases because of empty promises of a better future, does the county believe that justifies rewriting clear [state] Open Meetings Act rules?”

Sewer Crisis

Lowndes County, in the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt region, is nearly 70 percent Black. Residents are no strangers to environmental justice fights. For decades, Black communities in the county have had to contend with the lack of modern sewer or septic systems in many homes.

Families have often resorted to a solution called “straight piping”: disposing of household waste through sewage pipes that run directly into their backyards, posing a significant health risk.

Cloverleaf estimates Project Red Clay would consume as much as 100,000 gallons of water per day from the Pintlala Water System, but it has not disclosed how it would treat wastewater. Concerned residents and activists point out that Lowndes County might not have the water, power or sewer capacity for the project, and many residents are still dealing with a major sanitation crisis.

Noted environmental activist Catherine Coleman Flowers grew up in Lowndes County and made her name fighting for modern sewage and clean water in her home county. The EPA and the Alabama Department of Public Health finally reached a settlement in 2023 to address the sewage crisis, but it was later canceled in the early days of the Trump Administration.

“I would like to extend an invitation to President Trump to come to Lowndes County and spend the night in the homes of the people that are going to be living near this data center to see what it’s like to live in Lowndes County,” Flowers told The American Prospect. “I think he should go and spend a night along the Selma to Montgomery Trail in one of these communities that would be impacted by this hyperscale data center.”

With no remaining regulatory hurdles to clear, the construction on Project Red Clay could begin next year.

How To Spend Spontaneously Without Regret

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Seattle Medium

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October 29, 2026

Spontaneous Spending — Photo: gabrieltf via 123RF

Finances FYI Presented by JPMorgan Chase

Online shopping has made acting on an impulse easier than ever. A concert announcement, cheap flight, or dinner invitation can go from “That sounds fun!” to a charge on your card in a matter of minutes.

Enjoying those moments does not have to mean abandoning your budget. Instead of trying to eliminate impulse spending entirely, you can plan for the fact that sometimes, you just want to say “yes.”

Give Spontaneity Its Own Savings Category

Most budgets account for predictable expenses like rent, groceries, transportation, and monthly subscriptions. We usually fund our fun with whatever is left over.

Instead of planning for everything but fun, try treating spontaneous spending as something worth saving for on purpose. Set aside a small amount from each paycheck in a separate savings account or budget category. You might call it a fun fund, adventure fund, or simply “yes money.” The name you pick doesn’t matter as much as giving those dollars a clear function.

Even $20 or $30 per paycheck can create a useful cushion. Over several months, that money could grow into the cash you need to cover concert tickets, a weekend away, or an unexpectedly great dinner — without interfering with bills.

Decide What Your Fun Money Is For

A spontaneity fund works best when you know what qualifies.

Maybe you love live music but rarely care about new clothes. Someone else might happily skip concerts for the chance to book a last-minute trip. Think about the experiences and purchases that actually make you happy and would be worth your financial resources.

You don’t need to predict exactly what you’ll spend the money on; the point is to narrow the category enough that only certain tempting purchases can qualify for funding. You could reserve the money for dining out, travel, and events, for example, while keeping everyday shopping separate.

Build a Buffer Before the Opportunity Arrives

Impulse purchases become stressful when you pay for them with money you expected to use elsewhere.

Saving ahead changes this dynamic. Instead of asking, “Can I somehow afford this?” or “What will I have to give up to make this work?” you can ask, “Do I want to use my fun money for this, or wait for something better?”

Consider setting an ideal account or budget category balance based on the kinds of opportunities you typically encounter. If concert tickets in your area often cost around $100, it might make sense to keep at least that much available in your fun fund. Travelers may want a larger cushion for airfare, lodging, or transportation.

Once you spend from the account, gradually refill it with future paychecks.

Create a Quick Reality Check

Marketing is designed to make waiting feel risky. Things like countdown timers, flash sales, and messages about limited inventory might pressure you to buy before you’ve fully considered what you’re about to spend.

Give yourself one simple checkpoint before spending: Look at your available fun money, then total the full purchase price, including fees, taxes, transportation, and other related expenses. A $75 ticket can easily morph into a $200 night once parking, drinks, and dinner enter the picture.

Then, ask yourself whether you’ll still be happy with this purchase if another exciting opportunity appears next week.

You don’t necessarily need to institute a strict 24-hour waiting period for yourself. For genuinely time-sensitive purchases, a short pause to check your budget and weigh future opportunity costs may be enough.

Know When to Say ‘Not This Time’

Having money on hand doesn’t mean you need to spend it.

Sometimes the best use of your spontaneity fund is keeping it intact for something you want more. Passing on one night out could leave you enough for a festival ticket next month. Skipping a sale may give you more freedom during an upcoming vacation.

That kind of focused decision-making is different from denying yourself every enjoyable purchase. You’re choosing between exciting opportunities rather than choosing between fun and financial responsibility.

Make Room to Say Yes

A useful budget should help you enjoy your money, not simply restrict how you spend it.

Planning for spontaneous expenses gives you permission to take advantage of unexpected opportunities while protecting the money you need for necessities and longer-term goals. When the next concert announcement, dinner invitation, or weekend getaway opportunity comes up, you may already have the money ready.

Spontaneity feels much better when the fun ends with a good memory instead of an overwhelming credit card balance.

Finances FYI is presented by JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan Chase is making a $30 billion commitment over the next five years to address some of the largest drivers of the racial wealth divide.

A New NAACP Voter Tool Puts Data Centers On The Ballot

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Seattle Medium

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October 29, 2026

From Memphis to Alabama’s Black Belt, data centers have become contentious local issues. The NAACP’s new dashboard gives voters a way to examine proposed projects and see which candidates have answered questions about their environmental impact. Credit: NAACP

by Willy Blackmore

With Election Day just a week away, the NAACP launched a new electoral tracker dashboard focused on what could be a defining local issue for Black voters in the midterm elections: data centers.

The dashboard tracks 1,728 data centers already online and another 1,042 that are either proposed, approved or under construction across the country. It also highlights how close these typically massive projects are to Black communities, particularly in the South.

The organization also sent a questionnaire about data centers and other environmental issues to candidates in 17 different states. Voters can find answers on their local ballots by plugging their address into the dashboard.

Abre’ Conner, director of the NAACP’s Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, said in a press release that voters “deserve to know where candidates stand on the climate and environmental issues shaping their communities.”

Climate on Your Ballot gives voters the information they need to hold candidates accountable and demand action on these issues.
Abre’ Conner, NAACP’ Center for Environmental and Climate Justice

“From data center development to clean energy laws, these decisions have real consequences for our health and our neighborhoods,” she said. “Climate on Your Ballot gives voters the information they need to hold candidates accountable and demand action on these issues.”

The dashboard lets users see not only which data center projects are nearby, but also the stances of candidates running for local office on AI infrastructure development and other environmental issues.

For example, if a user enters an address in Boxtown — the South Memphis neighborhood founded in 1863 by freedmen that’s at the heart of a local data center controversy — the dashboard shows Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 on a map. Elon Musk developed both facilities and wants permission from the city government to build a third.

The tracker shows how many people live near data centers and how many are Black. In Boxtown, more than 38,000 people live within two miles of nearby data centers, and 73% are Black; zoom out to 5 miles, and the total population rises to more than 163,000 people, with 73% Black.

Three candidates on the local Boxtown ballot have answered the NAACP’s questionnaire on data centers: Robert Jones, an independent candidate for Senate; Misam Abidi, an independent candidate for Governor; and Robert Vick, another independent running for Governor. Though state Rep. Justin Pearson, the Democrat’s candidate for Congress, has been one of the most visible faces in the Memphis data center fight, he has yet to answer the questionnaire.

In a kind of multiple-choice response, candidates can endorse pre-written NAACP answers or provide their own.

On the question of air quality and emissions, Abidi said, in part, “Approval should require enforceable emissions limits, public reporting, and monitoring matched to the risks. Equipment approved for emergency backup should not quietly become a routine power source without further review.”

Voters concerned about data centers can find similar information on projects in and around their communities and see questionnaire responses from candidates running in local and statewide races.

The map function effectively shows the proximity of data center projects, some of which are far less high-profile than others. An address in Bessemer, Ala., for example, shows not only the proposed Project Marvel facility that has upended local government in the majority-Black city, but also another proposed 300-megawatt facility between Bessemer and Birmingham — and the up-and-running DC Blox data center in Birmingham.

The dashboard will continue to be updated with questionnaire answers as more candidates respond. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.

PAC With Reported AIPAC Ties Targets El-Sayed In Michigan

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Seattle Medium

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October 29, 2026

A political action committee with reported ties to AIPAC is running digital ads attacking Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s relationship with Black voters. The campaign comes amid tensions over representation and foreign policy. Former President Barack Obama campaigned with El-Sayed last week, trying to energize Black voters. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

by Sam Robinson, Michigan Chronicle

This article first appeared in the Michigan Chronicle.

A dark money group that ran digital ads against progressive Democrats during the midterm primary cycle has trained its sights on Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrats’ Senate nominee in Michigan, ahead of the general election.

“Abdul El-Sayed doesn’t care about the Black community,” reads the caption of the digital ad from the National Empowering Black America PAC.

Republicans in Michigan are hoping existing tensions between some Black and Arab Americans cause reliable Democratic voters to sit out the Senate race between El-Sayed and his GOP opponent, Rep. Mike Rogers. Both campaigns have spent significant time in Detroit targeting residents, which represents the state’s largest voting bloc.

To defeat Rogers, El-Sayed will need much of the 66% of Detroit voters who voted for Rep. Haley Stevens in the primary election.

AIPAC Connections

While Black voters have long been arguably the Democrats’ most influential base, the party’s progressive wing won key primaries at the Michigan Democratic Party convention in April and defeated Stevens, the more moderate candidate, in the August primary.

The Empowering Black America group’s digital ad seen on Facebook this week is the latest example of how political operatives are exploiting racial tensions to undermine El-Sayed’s campaign.

It’s deliberate Black-fishing attempt to divide and conquer our communities.
Branden Snyder, director, Michigan Working Families Party

The National Empowering Black America PAC has clear connections to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), according to reporting from Jewish Currents, a left-wing American Jewish publication. The publication reports that its leaders include one current AIPAC national council member and a former top AIPAC official.

The group spent at least $30,000 on ads against Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and Palestinian American incumbent who faced two primary challengers in Michigan, public records show. Ads against Tlaib during the primary cycle claim she withheld her endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, costing Harris the 2024 election.

The group’s ads don’t include pro-Israel messaging; rather, they suggest its opponents care more about the Middle East than they do their own constituents.

“It’s deliberate Black-fishing attempt to divide and conquer our communities,” says Branden Snyder, director of Michigan Working Families Party. “I think AIPAC doesn’t really care. They only do this to pretend and disrupt and sow seeds of discontent.”

‘Their Own Priorities’

AIPAC spent $30 million during the primary cycle to bolster Stevens. Snyder and the Working Families Party endorsed El-Sayed in the primary and have been working to elect him.

Snyder accuses AIPAC of meddling in the election despite having no real stake in the outcome, even though it will directly affect the day-to-day lives of Michiganders.

“They’ve got their own set of priorities,” Snyder said. “They don’t actually care about our communities at all. They’re using us as pawns. They know Black voters are some of the most reliable Democratic voters: so goes that base, so goes the election.”

El-Sayed acknowledged the attacks at an event with Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, a fellow Democrat. The two campaigned in Detroit at Horace Sheffield’s Bridge Center on Grand River. El Sayed pointed to a pro-Rogers ad in which the Republican claimed El-Sayed “cared more about the West Bank than west Detroit.”

“First of all, it’s not called ‘west Detroit ’; it’s the West Side,” El-Sayed said. “The reason we can’t rebuild our schools on the West Side is because [Rogers] keeps sending bombs to destroy schools in the West Bank.”

Your Health, Their Platforms

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Seattle Medium

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October 29, 2026

The issue of healthcare could decide this year’s midterms. Here are the plans of six potentially history-making candidates. (Credit: Patricia Marroquin / Getty Images)

by Jennifer Porter Gore

As political pundits insist, the upcoming midterm elections are centered on affordability, so healthcare can’t be ignored as it also nears the top of the ballot.

With enhanced Obamacare subsidies expired, deep federal cuts to Medicaid looming and private insurance premiums climbing, millions of Americans are again facing the prospect of paying more for coverage — or losing it altogether. And Black Americans have particular reason to worry: they are more likely to live with chronic health conditions and routinely face longstanding barriers to affordable care.

For millions of people, healthcare, usually just behind affordability and the economy, is a key election issue. Quinnipiac University’s national poll released at the end of September found that 55% of respondents trust Democrats more than Republicans on health care.

For Black voters, the stakes go well beyond the monthly cost of an insurance premium. According to the NAACP, an estimated 3.6 million Black Americans face higher healthcare costs because of the expired Obamacare subsidies. That could mean the difference between managing diabetes or hypertension and ending up in an emergency room, between getting preventive care and waiting until a medical problem becomes a crisis.

At the same time, several prominent Black candidates are seeking to make history in races across the country, including Senate candidates Angie Nixon in Florida and Scott Colom in Mississippi, as well as gubernatorial candidates David Crowley in Wisconsin and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia. If they won, they would be the first Black people to hold their respective offices.

Their campaigns raise an important question: With healthcare costs rising and the federal safety net under pressure, what would these candidates do to protect access to care?

With that in mind, Word In Black took a closer look at where some of the nation’s higher-profile Black candidates stand on healthcare — and what their positions could mean for voters long after Election Day.

Candidates for U.S. House of Representatives

State Rep. Dr. Jasmine Clark, Georgia

A microbiologist with a doctorate from Emory University and a nursing school professor, Clark would be the first Black woman with a Ph.D. in a science discipline to serve in Congress. She faces Republican Jonathan Chavez in a heavily Democratic district.

Health platform: Her campaign agenda lists expanding health care, restoring research funding and standing up for science, rebuilding federal agencies with experts, and restoring reproductive health care. She has called for more research on prostate cancer and triple-negative breast cancer, which disproportionately affect Black Americans. She has also criticized budget cuts to public health programs and medical research, which have hit the Atlanta region hard: the area is home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters.

State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, Tennessee

Earlier this year, during the congressional redistricting frenzy, Tennessee Republicans broke the state’s majority-Black, Memphis-based 9th District into three parts. The new district Pearson wants to represent currently leans Republican. Pearson — who made national headlines in 2023 when Republicans expelled him and Rep. Justin Jones from the Tennessee legislature — entered the race when longtime Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat, dropped out. He faces Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor and two independent candidates vying for the seat.

Health platform: Pearson calls for passing Medicare for All, raising wages and tackling affordability issues by lowering the costs of food and housing. He has also called for a national moratorium on data centers until air-quality and other health protections are in place. The Colossus data center built in the Memphis area by Elon Musk’s Space xAI is in or near the congressional district.

Candidates for U.S. Senate

District Attorney Scott Colom, Mississippi

A seventh-generation Mississippian who still lives in Columbus, his hometown, Colom made history in 2015 as the first Black district attorney in the state’s 16th Judicial District, defeating a nearly 30-year incumbent on a platform of criminal justice reform. He is challenging incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a former Democrat-turned-Republican who is running for a second term. In the Senate, Hyde-Smith blocked Colom’s federal judicial nomination in 2023. Mississippi hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982.

Health platform: Colom has made his first priority clear: “I’m going to fight to restore the Medicaid cuts” enacted in the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which became law in 2025. He also wants to restore the Affordable Care Act subsidies and to add a public, nonprofit insurance option that would compete with private insurers. He has vowed to protect Mississippi’s rural hospitals and recently warned that eight of them are at risk of closing. In August 2025, the Mississippi State Department of Health declared a public health emergency on infant mortality.

Jamie Davis, Louisiana

A third-generation farmer, Davis was inspired to run after his healthcare premiums doubled last year. The Democrat won all 64 of the state’s parishes during the party’s primary; he faces Rep. Julia Letlow, a Republican, for the state’s open Senate seat. Though early voting totals indicate Davis is running more competitively than predicted, experts say he’s still a long shot in bright-red Louisiana. Still, if he pulls off the upset, he’d be the second Black candidate the state has sent to the Senate. In 1873, during Reconstruction, voters elected PBS Pinchback, but he was blocked from taking his seat.

Health platform: Davis calls for restoring Trump-era Medicaid budget cuts, lowering healthcare premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and using Medicare’s buying power to lower drug prices. He has pledged to improve health care in the impoverished Delta region, which has the nation’s highest poverty rate, birthing deserts in one out of every four parishes, one of the nation’s highest rates of HIV infections and an infant mortality rate that earned an F from the March of Dimes. Davis says he will fight rural hospital closures: if trends continue, Louisiana could be left with just 16 rural operating hospitals statewide. He also wants stronger enforcement of the Clean Air Act—the state is home to the infamous “Cancer Alley”—and tighter regulation of data center construction.

State Rep. Angie Nixon, Florida

A Democratic state representative from Jacksonville, Nixon is a union organizer and mother of five. If elected, she would be only the fifth Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. She upset Alex Vindman — a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel whose testimony contributed to Trump’s first impeachment — to win the Democratic primary. Nixon faces Sen. Ashley Moody, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to fill Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term.

Health platform: Nixon’s priorities call for “Medicare for All that covers every person in America.” She has also called for free child care, kindergarten for all children, increased affordable housing and an end to corporate price gouging in groceries. In a July interview, she described a gradual path to universal health care by first extending Affordable Care Act subsidies and pressing insurers to lower premiums.

Governor

Georgia: Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Atlanta Mayor

Bottoms stunned the political establishment by choosing not to run for reelection as Atlanta’s mayor. But she’s made experience her calling card, declaring that her years leading one of the biggest cities in the South demonstrate her “battle-tested executive leadership.” If elected, she would be the nation’s first Black woman governor; her agenda isn’t simply to push back against the Trump administration, but to focus on “the pressing needs of our communities.”

Health platform: Her CARE Plan focuses on cutting waste and costs, expanding access to healthcare, recruiting and retaining health workers, and enabling better nutrition. She supports expanding access to Medicaid, overhauling state-subsidized healthcare, creating a state prescription-drug affordability board, and launching a Rural Care First Initiative for struggling rural hospitals. As mayor, Bottoms appointed Atlanta’s first chief health officer and gained unanimous approval for $100,000 to distribute HIV-prevention PrEP through the Fulton County Board of Health.

Wisconsin: Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley

Crowley — who grew up in poverty in one of Milwaukee’s most economically distressed neighborhoods, experienced homelessness as a teenager — went on to become the youngest and first Black person elected to lead Wisconsin’s largest county. Personally endorsed by Gov. Tony Evers, the Democratic incumbent, Crowley would be Wisconsin’s first Black governor, the first to govern a Midwestern state, and one of only a handful of Black elected governors in U.S. history.

Health platform: His “Badger Basics” plan would open the state’s Medicaid program to every Wisconsin household as a public option. The state never expanded its Medicaid program and its Badger Basics covers low-income children, parents and caretakers, pregnant people, and adults without dependent children. Crowley also calls for creating a “No Wrong Door” mental health system featuring mental health navigators, guaranteed subsidized childcare for every family with a child under five, and capping childcare costs at 7 percent of household income.

Florida: Rep. Byron Donalds

An endorsement from President Donald Trump helped secure Donalds’s win in the Republican gubernatorial primary. A Naples resident and Trump loyalist, Donalds took nearly 50% of the GOP primary vote despite 10 candidates competing for the nomination. He faces Democrat David Jolly, a former Republican congressman; if Donalds wins, he would be Florida’s first Black governor.

Raised by a single mother in Brooklyn, Donalds was elected to the Florida state legislature in 2016; he won his U.S. House seat in 2020. During his tenure, hardline Republicans nominated him for House speaker against Kevin McCarthy, and he also voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election won by President Joe Biden.

Health platform: Titled “Your Doctor, Your Price,” Donalds’ health agenda would require doctors and hospitals to post fixed cash prices for the most common tests and procedures. The plan also would give cash-paying patients the lowest rate hospitals offer large insurers, count out-of-network payments toward deductibles, require insurers to approve common treatments within three days, and disclose how much pharmacies pay for PBM costs.

Nevada: Attorney General Aaron Ford

A former state senator, Ford is the first Black person elected to statewide office in Nevada and is now the Democratic nominee for governor. A teacher by profession, Ford grew up in humble beginnings, became a father while in college, and relied on government aid while raising his child alone for a time. If he defeats Gov. Joe Lombardo, the Republican incumbent, he would be the state’s first Black person to hold the office. Political analysts call the race one of the nation’s most competitive; Ford won endorsements from former President Barack Obama and Rory Reid, the son of the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well as a slew of politically active organizations.

Healthcare platform: His “Affordable Nevada” health plan would cap many prescription drug prices at Medicare-negotiated rates, which is legislation the current governor has vetoed twice, require PBMs to pass rebates onto patients, partner with nonprofits to cancel medical debt, ban medical-debt credit reporting, and bar insurers from relying solely on AI to deny prior authorizations. Ford also pledges to protect Medicaid, which covers roughly one in four Nevadans and 42% of births, and to keep rural hospitals open.

Preparing to Vote

Early voting continues through next week in Georgia and Tennessee. In Georgia, voting ends on Oct. 30, and the Georgia Election Guide lists locations. Early voting ends on Oct. 29 in Tennessee, and because of the new congressional map, many Memphis-area voters are in a different district than in 2024.

Organizations including The Brennan Center for Justice have comprehensive details on voting early, as well as on Election Day. Individuals can also track their ballot applications/requests, as well as a provisional ballot if needed, at the vote.org website.

Where Is Our Project?

By

Seattle Medium

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October 29, 2026

By Julianne Malveaux

(Trice Edney Wire) – A candidate for mayor of Washington, D.C., is promising to take on the rats. Janeese Lewis George proposes appointing a rat czar, and while I would welcome relief from the rodents that have plagued this city for decades, I suspect the rats have survived enough administrations to know the difference between a campaign announcement and a threat to their continued prosperity. Before they pack their bags, they may want to see the budget.

Voters ought to be at least as discerning. People will say almost anything during a campaign, especially when they have identified something that makes us angry, frightened, or exhausted. The challenge is to distinguish a promise that earns applause from a program that can produce results. Who will do the work, where is the money, and what happens when somebody with influence objects?

That brings me to Project 2025 and a question for Democrats and progressives: Where is our project? Donald Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 during the 2024 campaign, even as the conservative movement prepared its policy and personnel agenda for a Republican administration. His disavowal did not prevent his administration from pursuing much of that agenda. The Center for Progressive Reform and Governing for Impact reported in February 2026 that his administration had initiated or completed 283 of the 532 domestic administrative actions identified in their tracker. That is a chilling measure of preparation.

MAGA Republicans had worked out what they wanted government to do and how to use its machinery to accomplish it. Those of us who abhor the objectives of Project 2025 must examine the organization behind them, because outrage at the results will not substitute for preparation of our own. Democrats and progressive organizations have policy proposals, talented researchers, and communities that know precisely where public policy has failed them. What I want to see is a shared governing program that people can understand, organize around, and use to hold those asking for their votes accountable.

Why is it so much easier to describe what we oppose than what we intend to build? “Affordability” needs some arithmetic attached to it. A housing agenda should tell a nursing assistant or a retired teacher what share of their income they ought to spend on shelter and what government will do to make that possible. An economic agenda should explain how workers will gain the bargaining power to secure better pay, rather than asking them to celebrate growth that too often fails to reach their household budgets. Schools do not get better because the education advocate won an election, and environmental justice does not appear because a candidate acknowledges that pollution is unfair. Both require decisions about resources and power, including a willingness to confront people who benefit from existing arrangements.

A serious agenda ought to identify those conflicts before taking office. For Black voters, so often summoned to rescue democracy, the questions must include what that democracy will deliver. What is the program for reducing the racial wealth gap, protecting Black landownership, and enforcing fair housing? We deserve commitments with a route from the campaign platform to the public budget. Black voters cannot substitute the pride of a historic first for tangible results. If Hakeem Jeffries becomes the first African American Speaker of the House, the significance will be undeniable, but so will the questions about what his leadership can deliver.

Will “affordability” translate into a serious push to raise the federal minimum wage? What will he fight to restore or expand in student aid and student debt relief? What can a House majority do to reduce the costs squeezing household budgets, and how will it overcome the obstacles? We can celebrate a breakthrough, but we must insist on a program. “Not Trump” is not an agenda.

A House majority cannot accomplish all this alone. An honest program would explain what requires legislation, how to confront a president prepared to veto progressive measures, and where state and local governments must act. Voters can understand obstacles; what wears people down is discovering after the election that the promises came without a plan for confronting them.

The organizations that mobilize us must remain engaged when campaign offices close. Churches, unions, civil rights groups, and neighborhood organizations should help shape the agenda and sustain pressure to advance it. That work needs funding and staff throughout the year, because the interests resisting change will remain on the job. The ballot is necessary, but its power depends on the work surrounding it.

We should arrive at Election Day knowing what we intend to demand the morning afterward and who will help us demand it. I hope Washington gets relief from its rats. Whether the promise concerns rodents or racial inequality, I want to see the resources, the timetable, and the people responsible for delivery. Campaigns are full of people telling us what they want to do. We ought to insist on knowing what they are prepared to get done.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is a DC based economist and author.

Candidates Trade Traditional Debates For Humor And Games At Renton Youth Voter Forum

By

Seattle Medium

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October 29, 2026

By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium

Political candidates traded traditional debate questions for games, humor and personal presentations Saturday, Oct. 24, at Third Place Teas in downtown Renton, where young voters gathered for “Elections Unfiltered: Candidates Tell All,” a forum designed to make local politics more accessible and encourage civic participation.

Co-hosted by The Washington Bus Education Fund and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, the event invited candidates running for office across King County to deliver five- to 10-minute presentations on topics they felt passionate about rather than respond to identical questions in a conventional debate format.

Inside the local tea shop, the usual structure of candidate forums gave way to an unusual mix of policy discussions, regional humor and audience participation. The presentations offered attendees an opportunity to see a different side of political candidates while exploring issues ranging from environmental policy and taxes to Washington’s driving habits and its unofficial devotion to coffee.

One state legislative candidate delivered a humorous critique of Washington drivers, arguing that residents lack basic driving skills. Another proposed making tea Washington’s official state beverage, a fitting topic for the setting. A third turned the presentation into an interactive game show, asking attendees to decide whether political statements were true or false.

The format created opportunities for candidates to share their personalities and opinions while giving attendees a different experience from the prepared speeches and structured exchanges common at traditional political forums.

One attendee described the range of presentations in a comment shared after the event.

“Awesome night with The Washington Bus,” shared one event attendee following the gathering, highlighting the venue provided by the Downtown Renton Tea Bar host. “Got to hear from candidates all around on driving, environment, taxes, tea, and a little Jeopardy. Bailey & Carmen thanks for another fun political evening! Debra Entenman, Kelabe Tewolde, Tatiana Brown can’t wait to get more done with y’all in Olympia.”

Bailey Medilo, communications manager at The Washington Bus, said organizers wanted to move beyond traditional campaign dynamics and create an environment where candidates could connect with young people through more personal and spontaneous presentations.

“Elections Unfiltered was a really exciting, and the first event of its kind that we know of in Washington,” Medilo explained. “Instead of a typical candidate forum where candidates are pitted against each other and answer the same questions over a period of time, we instead asked candidates to give an honest and unfiltered 5 to 10-minute presentation on a hot take or a policy or a specific thing that they are passionate about.”

Medilo said the gathering also demonstrated the importance of creating political spaces where young people feel included and candidates can be seen as individuals rather than simply public figures seeking office.

“One thing that I really noticed about this event was just how much community turned out and how much community was looking for a space where young people could be centered and valued, but also where candidates could be human and candidates could be experienced as people rather than just politicians on a screen or on a stage.”

For The Washington Bus, creating opportunities for young people to interact directly with candidates is part of a broader effort to make civic participation more accessible and encourage engagement beyond individual election cycles.

Founded in 2007 by a group of young political organizers, The Washington Bus was modeled after Oregon’s Bus Project, now known as Next Up Oregon. The organization’s name comes from an actual bus purchased by its founders to transport young organizers across Washington for voter registration drives and door-to-door canvassing.

The organization grew from those early efforts into a statewide network focused on youth leadership, civic education, voter engagement and community organizing. Its history reflects an approach that combines traditional voter outreach with creative events intended to make political participation more approachable.

“We believe in building the political power of young people in Washington state, which means that whatever young people need, whatever young people’s perspectives are, we are responsive to that regardless of what party or partisan nature it is,” Medilo said.

The Washington Bus operates through two separate legal entities. Its 501(c)(3) Education Fund focuses on nonpartisan civic education, voter registration and voter mobilization, while its 501(c)(4) organization engages in political advocacy, legislative efforts and electoral organizing.

Its programs reach young people from high school students ages 15 to 18 to adults as old as 35, with its primary fellowship and internship opportunities focused on young adults ages 18 to 25.

According to the organization, The Washington Bus hires and pays approximately 50 young leaders annually, mentors hundreds through volunteer networks and makes thousands of direct voter contacts across college campuses and communities throughout Washington.

While increasing participation among younger voters remains an ongoing challenge, Medilo said the organization does not view lower turnout as evidence that young people are uninterested in politics. Instead, its approach emphasizes helping young people develop the knowledge, confidence and habits needed to participate.

“We believe in two things: one, that young voters are not apathetic, and number two, that voting is a skill that is built,” Medilo stated. “We don’t believe that young people just don’t care. We believe that the political system has not been historically designed with young people’s voices in mind.”

To address those challenges, The Washington Bus uses programs such as its Campus Voter Project, which hires students to organize voter engagement efforts at their own colleges.

The organization also employs a strategy known as “vote tripling,” which encourages registered voters to reach out to three friends or peers and encourage them to participate in elections. By relying on personal relationships, the strategy seeks to extend voter outreach beyond traditional campaign communications.

Those efforts are supported by year-round activities that include a paid summer fellowship program, candidate canvassing events, election night ballot box celebrations featuring live music and the annual “Candidate Survivor” event.

Together, the programs provide opportunities for young people to gain organizing experience, build relationships and remain engaged in civic life between elections.

The Washington Bus marked its 18th anniversary in 2025, reaching the same age at which young people become eligible to vote. The milestone reflects how the organization has evolved from a small group of young organizers traveling across Washington into a broader effort to cultivate future generations of civic leaders.

As the organization looks toward expanding its statewide reach, Medilo said its long-term goal is to help young people become consistent voters while creating a political community in which they feel a sense of belonging and ownership.

“Over the next couple of years, the Washington Bus hopes to really galvanize and build that base of habitual voters across Washington state,” Medilo said. “The Washington Bus seeks to build a political home for young people in Washington state that is non-exploitative and truly belongs and believes in building their leadership with no expectation of anything other than their interest and willingness to be involved.”