Bonus episode: Audio of Stephanie's article on www.freedomoverfascism.us "F*CK White Patriarchal Men (old or young, not a lot of difference)." Please subscribe on substack to be notified of every article and podcast episode: www.freedomoverfascism.us

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Mason Kalinsky is an organizer in Kentucky. He’s the director of Hood to the Holler, an organization founded by Charles Booker focused on leveraging momentum for positive change in Kentucky to build broad coalitions, breaking down barriers of race and class, and fueling a people centered movement to build power and transform our future. He organizes in the hood of Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky and the holler of Appalachia. He’s also a trans activist working on political campaigns to elect transgender candidates to state and local offices in Kentucky 

https://hoodtotheholler.org/

Find more about Freedom Over Fascism at www.freedomoverfascism.us

Please subscribe to Freedom Over Fascism at www.freedomoverfascism.us. Part of the Democracy Group of Podcasts.

Stephanie chats with Dr. Heidi Beirich, the co-founder and chief strategy officer for Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. The authoritarian movements across the world share underlying discriminatory ideologies, and too often have been exported from the U.S. The consequence of the growth in these movements is violence and the dangerous integration of bigoted and racist ideas into societal discourse, government policies, and political platforms. Increasingly, as far-right extremist movements have gained in strength, established taboos around far-right extremism have collapsed as mainstream political parties cooperate with extremists once considered out of bounds.

This week we look at how Project 2025’s influence and agenda is playing out across the MAGA-captured United States, as well as Project 2025’s massive assault on civil liberties across America. 



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Abby Kisciki, a Gen Z alumna of Arena Academy (check out Ep. 47 Lauren Baer, Mg Dir), is an organizer for Newtown Action Alliance and gun violence prevention. We talk about coping with hope, and using hope responsibly, especially in gun violence prevention. Abby started getting involved in political advocacy as a college student and, after surviving the Highland Park shooting, she became active in gun violence prevention advocacy, hosting Zoom action sessions from her home in Chicago.

https://www.newtownactionalliance.org/
https://arena.run/

#democracy #organizer #organize #vote #politics #funders #genz #voters #freedomoverfascism #podcast #democrats #Project2025 #fascism #christo-fascism #ChristianNationalism #ChristianNationalist #Biden #antiTrump #election #voteblue #ContestEveryRace #RuralOrganizing #TeamDemocracy  #abortion #lgbtq #gunviolenceprevention #arena #arenaacademy #NewtownActionAlliance #HighlandParkShooting

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Stephanie talks to Charles Gaba, an ACA data analyst and activist who started raising money for Dem candidates online in 2018. He operates a simple website, blue24.org with links to slates of Democratic candidates on Act Blue that makes it easy to donate to several candidates at a time, or just one or two. In 2020, he raised a total of 6 million dollars for Democratic candidates and organizations. This year, he’s on pace to exceed that. By the end of May 2020, he had raised $303k, whereas by the end of May 2024 he’s raised $573k. T

hat’s a 90% increase. Blue24.org is not a PAC, and Gaba doesn’t take a cut of the money he raises (although you can donate to him through the website). Gaba uses his 50k followers on Twitter and other platforms to raise money for federal and state legislative rates in all 50 states.

You can follow him https://x.com/charles_gaba.

Please subscribe to Freedom Over Fascism at www.freedomoverfascism.us. Part of the Democracy Group of Podcasts.

Stephanie chats with Nancy Thompson, founder and head of Mothers Against Greg Abbott about the fascism Texas is fighting right NOW, and how Nancy had enough, showed up with a sign to protest, and launched a movement that grows every time Greg Abbot, TX Gov, speaks. https://mothersagainstgregabbott.com/

Questions: [email protected]

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Stephanie talks with Madeline Eden, CTO of Movement Labs and Contest Every Race.

We’re letting 100,000 Republican candidates win every year without a challenger. We all know that when we put up Democratic candidates in state and local races, even in deeply red districts, more voters turn out, more people become engaged, and Democrats can win seats they’ve lost by default.

Madeline Eden is CTO of Movement Labs, as well as its project Contest Every Race, which has recruited more than 7000 candidates for all levels of campaigns. Thirty-eight percent of them have won their races. Contest Every Race runs a Rural Power Initiative and provides coaching for all the candidates it recruits, so that first time candidates have training and understanding of what it takes to run and win. We’ve discussed this in several different episodes over the past 2 seasons, so please check out past episodes with Blue Ohio, Blue Missouri, Blue Texas, Every State Blue, Run for Something, the Outrun Coalition, and many more.

https://www.contesteveryrace.com/

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Stephanie chatted with Shion Desarkar about creating community among pro-democracy activists. Right now I know we’re on a billion social media platforms to try to reach people who will reach others in real life. The promise of Unified is that if activists have a single platform to talk to each other, we can learn from each other, contact each other, share strategies, and multiply our effectiveness. Here’s my invite link, which Shion recommends as the best way for listeners to join up. 

Right now Unified is only on mobile. https://www.joinunified.us/?code=guide9775&id=6667

Questions: [email protected]

Please subscribe to Freedom Over Fascism at www.freedomoverfascism.us. Part of the Democracy Group of Podcasts.

Stephanie talks to Paolo Cremidis about running candidates who are young and diverse in rural areas. Outrun coalition has gone from electing 6 candidates in upstate NY in 2020 to more than 470 across the country currently. They believe that anyone and everyone should run for office and reject the notion that rural=white.

Here are a couple of organizations Paolo recommends donating to—most of whom support candidates running downballot in MAGA captured areas. I've listed the Freedom Over Fascism episode number where I've interviewed most of these folks: 
Every State Blue https://everystateblue.org/ (umbrella org). Run by Jonathan Zucker, Episode
Blue Ohio. Run by David Pepper, Episode 2, blueohio.org
Blue Missouri. Run by Jess Piper, Episode 7, bluemissiouri.org
Blue Tennessee, Run by Lisa D, bluetennessee.org
Blue Texas. Run by Kim Allen, Episode 5. bluetexas.org

Forgotten Dems: https://forgottendemocrats.org/ Find more info about Outrun Coalition at www.x.com/theoutrunco

Questions: [email protected]. Please support us if you can at www.freedomoverfascism.us.

Please subscribe to Freedom Over Fascism at www.freedomoverfascism.us. Part of the Democracy Group of Podcasts.

Stephanie talks with Dmitri Melhorn, cofounder of the Invest in US investment fund with Reid Hoffman. Stephanie and Dmitri discuss what investments Melhorn believes are the most effective for President Biden to win in November. The organization invests in advocacy organizations, voter outreach groups, media outlets, electoral strategy groups, and other organizations devoted to opposing former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

Read more about Investing in Us: https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/investing-in-us/

Questions: [email protected]

Please subscribe to Freedom Over Fascism at www.freedomoverfascism.us. Part of the Democracy Group of Podcasts.