The Resistance Now: Obama loyalists run for office

Former members of the Obama administration are running for office or helping others run in order to preserve Barack Obama’s presidential legacy. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

It’s about how you run the race

Alejandra Campoverdi grew up in Los Angeles the daughter of a single mother from Mexico and went on to become deputy director of Hispanic media in the Obama administration.

This week, she was on the ballot in California’s congressional special election.

Campoverdi is among the Obama alums we profiled this week who are running for office, or helping others run, determined to protect the progressive legacy they helped to create.

Campoverdi didn’t win her race on Tuesday. But in a post on Instagram, she speaks about the importance of running – even if you’re not a traditional candidate.

“When you come from certain places and sets of experiences, as many of us do, the privilege of running for Congress is an improbable victory for our brave and resilient communities,” she wrote.

Sending my most heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported, posted about and contributed to our campaign. I am so proud of what we stood for and of what we stood up to. When you come from certain places and sets of experiences, as many of us do, the privilege of running for Congress is an improbable victory for our brave and resilient communities. To my grandmother who drove us to feed the same homeless man on the way to school for years, to my mom who raised two daughters as a single mother, to the older woman in Ramona Gardens who shared worried tears about her sick granddaughter's subpar healthcare, to my students incarcerated in Central Juvenile Hall who feel a personal connection to politics for the first time, to the BRCA positive women and men who reached out to share their stories, to the young Latina Cal State LA student who beamed saying that she'd now run for office one day too, as well as to all the women who joined me in owning our right to be as multidimensional as we please. This was for you and for so many more I've had the honor to know and connect with throughout this campaign and my life. We are our ancestors wildest dreams. 💕✨

A post shared by Alejandra Campoverdi (@acampoverdi) on Apr 5, 2017 at 11:33am PDT

See, it makes a difference

Boy bye. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

This week, the “alt-right” favorite Steve Bannon lost his seat on the National Security Council.

The activist group Daily Action says it helped organize 40,000 constituent calls to senators, specifically calling to oust Bannon. Daily Action members report that Bannon is their biggest concern in the Trump administration.

Oh, and 86% of the calls made were by women.

Resistance hero of the week

Nine-year-old Ridhima Pandey, an Indian schoolgirl and daughter of activists, is suing her government over its lack of climate change action.

“As a young person [Ridhima] is part of a class that amongst all Indians is most vulnerable to changes in climate, yet are not part of the decision-making process,” reads the suit.

Quote of the week

Twirl on them haters. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

By the time they finished with me, I was Typhoid Mary.

– Hillary Clinton, speaking at the Women in the World summit in New York on Thursday, pointed out how she’d been popular in the role of secretary of state, but encountered huge criticism as a woman open in her desire to be president. It was her first interview since the election.

Up next in the resistance

• The Tax March, calling on Trump to release his tax forms, takes place 15 April.
• A special congressional election in Kansas on 11 April to replace Mike Pompeo, now director of the CIA. The Democratic nominee, James Thomson, is trying to get Democrats throughout the country to phone bank on his behalf.

Meme of the week

What a fizzer. Pepsi had to embarrassingly remove its latest ad, starring Kendall Jenner of Kardashian family fame, after the uproar against it co-opting the Black Lives Matter and other resistance movements to sell soda.

But at least the memes that resulted were refreshing.

"Oh nevermind. He ordered a Pepsi." pic.twitter.com/hujesuLrEA

— Eric Spring (@ericleespring) April 5, 2017

"Yo Kendall, im gonna need you to come through with a pepsi, these cops are wildin" pic.twitter.com/dOpKnTq8LU

— Kim Jong Tun (@ignant_) April 5, 2017

You should have seen the rejected Pepsi commercial. pic.twitter.com/1NR23KCuwk

— Wallace Wylie (@WallaceWylie) April 4, 2017

Even Bernice King, the daughter of the civil rights luminaries Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King, joined in:

If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi. pic.twitter.com/FA6JPrY72V

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) April 5, 2017

What we’re reading

• Meet Daryle Lamont Jenkins, a neo-Nazi hunter. He’s spent over 30 years following white supremacists.
• The new coalition of resistance groups.
• Jessica Valenti on the return to the default assumption that men (particularly those in power) can’t control themselves, because women are too irresistible.