Nomination Day: a Special Sneak Peek

Among all of my other jobs, plans, schemes, and projects, there's one that is particular close to my heart. I am trying – slowly, but earnestly – to start a new national Day. Now, you probably know it as the Fifth of July. But I like to call it:

Nomination Day

The 5th of July (and all year!)

The 5th of July (and all year!)0

The premise is simple. On the Fourth of July, we celebrate our independence. On the Fifth of July, we wake up and take responsibility for it. Independence means that we get to choose who has power. So the most direct form of that choice – months or even years before the messy processes of fundraising, campaigning, and voting – is in by nominating the most inspiring people we know to run for public office. Their path has to start somewhere. I think it should start with the people who know them best.

It's easy! Go to the website, fill out the quick form, and your nominee gets an email! They learn they've been nominated (with or without learning who nominated them, it's up to you) and they get a packet of information on next steps they might take. Then, if everything goes right, they are tipped into a transformative career as an elected official who radically improves the lives of the people they serve. Everybody goes home happy.

Or at least, that's the plan. Given how I do things, the importance and potential impact of something like Nomination Day is extremely well supported, documented, and researched. The United States is in an active and total crisis with respect to both the quality, and number, of its elected officials – friendly nudges from respected compatriots are often critical events in a candidate's journey – and I believe that my own research gives us extremely strong hints about what a "good" candidate actually looks like. (Tl:dr; it's somebody who 1) actually wants to improve the lives of people who are not themselves, and 2) is willing to lead on this issue, rather than just follow.)

But, also given how I am, this plan is currently 90% rationale, and 10% implementation. Or to awkwardly coin a phrase, it is all ball, and no cannon. All shot, and no sling. Which is just one reason why I'm sharing it with you, dear reader, a month before the event itself. Yes I want to give you a privileged peek behind the curtain, but also I'm currently looking for:

People I'm looking for

1. Supporters, who will push the idea to their networks, and push ideas towards me of other places that might be interested (and of course nominate their own candidates!)
2. Sponsors, who will share the event with their professional networks in exchange for getting their logo on the website, and in the nomination email. I am thrilled to announce I already have several interested and committed partners, but the more the merrier! We're addressing a massive, critical, generational problem.
3. Funders, who would be able to support small endeavors like hiring a designer to improve the website, and possibly to hire administrative support if the response is overwhelming. Which, fingers crossed, is what I'm shooting for. If ever the country saw the need for good politicians, I would think that time was now.

If you are interested in being one of these yourself, or know someone who might be interested, then please reach out to me, them, or both.

With the 5th barely a month away, I'm working as hard as I can to get everything ready – reaching out to groups that recruit candidates, train candidates, defend democracy, promote public service, and any and all other comers who don't want authoritarians in power. But finding out who is actually interested has in itself has been interesting. To my surprise and edification, I have learned that at least some sitting Democrats are not willing to get behind this idea, probably because the DNC is so adamantly opposed to "primarying" any of their candidates with more progressive ones. But I'm also finding a wealth of true enthusiasm elsewhere, and more than a few people who understand this is an existential need for our country.

The front page of every newspaper might be all the convincing you need, but the lesser known facts are just as striking.

It's very, very bad

There are currently 519,682 elected government positions in the United States – and only 30% of them were contested in 2024. The rest only had a single candidate, who won by default.

The people in these roles control the local, state and federal budgets, which together form over a third of the country's GDP – 10.7 trillion dollars.

And yet, entire generations of Americans have decided that they simply have no interest in ever even trying to run. In ever even trying to wield for themselves this staggering, monumental power – that could do such phenomenal good. But which is being used, as we speak, to destroy everything that we care about.

Now, it's not like I entirely blame them for feeling this way. As I once heard democracy scholar Daniel Ziblatt say, the United States is the country where it is the hardest to get elected, and then once elected, it is the hardest to govern. Which is especially concerning when my research suggests that accessible, and meaningful, political power are the single most important components of a functioning government.

But also, we are now collectively seeing the consequences of good people not running for office. Sure, some do. Even many. And when we're all lucky, they win. But we have known for decades that the candidate pipeline is running disastrously dry – and, that social relationships are uniquely powerful tools for persuasion. So to me, it seemed like the solution was clear. I know good people. You know good people. Let's use the resources we have, to shape the world we need.

So grab your Rolodexes and buckle up, because this July 5th is Nomination Day!