FLIPPABLE: Joanna Bryn Smith for PA-HD120

Joanna Bryn Smith was born in the 120th District at the Nesbitt Hospital in Kingston. She was raised in Jackson Township, where her public school teacher parents instilled her with a deep understanding of the importance of giving back to one’s community and engaging in public service.

Joanna is a graduate of the former Bishop O’Reilly High School in Kingston where she developed a passion for the arts that has endured throughout her life. She earned multiple scholarships to St. Joseph’s University and graduated with a double major in Philosophy and Fine and Performing Arts, then entered law school at the CUNY School of Law in Queens. At law school, Joanna began her life of service by volunteering for a variety of organizations dedicated to providing legal services to the less fortunate.

After completing her law degree, Joanna chose to return to Northeastern Pennsylvania to work for the marginalized and under-represented in the community in which she was raised. She was hired by Luzerne County and the Office of Conflict Counsel, where she has worked for the last five years representing those in the community who would otherwise not be able to afford an attorney. Always placing a priority on fairness and justice, Joanna works diligently to ensure everyone has a voice.

Joanna is at heart a public servant and is passionate about working with individuals to improve their community. Outside of her job as an attorney, Joanna volunteers with many community organizations, including teaching underprivileged students, serving as a speech and debate coach in local high schools, singing with the Choral Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and volunteering with the annual Valley Santa program. Not content to solely participate, Joanna has been a community leader, serving on the boards of the Fine Arts Fiesta, the Little Theater of Wilkes-Barre, and the KISS Children’s Theater.

Now wanting to continue to better her community with a new focus, Joanna made the decision to put her passion and experience to work for the 120th District by running for State Representative. From her wide-ranging community service, her teaching experience, and her work with marginalized communities, Joanna has gained a deep understanding of this district, along with the promises of its future, and the struggles it can overcome given the right representation and investment. Once in Harrisburg, Joanna will always fight for the community she loves, and all the West Side and Back Mountain have to offer to the Commonwealth.





https://www.paforjbs.com/

'Adapt immediately or find a new job': Senate GOP confronts fundraising emergency

ast month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee prepared a slideshow for Senate chiefs of staff full of bleak numbers about the party's failure to compete with Democrats on digital fundraising. For anyone not getting the message, the final slide hammered home the possible end result: a freight train bearing down on a man standing on the tracks.

The slideshow, obtained by POLITICO, painted a grim picture of the GOP’s long-running problem. Republican senators and challengers lagged behind Democrats by a collective $30 million in the first quarter of 2020, a deficit stemming from Democrats’ superior online fundraising machine. Since then, Democrats' fundraising pace accelerated further, with the party’s challengers announcing huge second-quarter hauls last week, largely driven by online donors giving through ActBlue, the party’s preferred fundraising platform.

The money guarantees Democrats nothing heading into November 2020. But with President Donald Trump’s poll numbers sagging and more GOP-held Senate races looking competitive, the intensity of Democrats’ online fundraising is close to erasing the financial advantage incumbent senators usually enjoy. That’s making it harder to bend their campaigns away from the national trend lines — and helping Democrats’ odds of flipping the Senate.


https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/13/senate-gop-fundraising-emergency-358864

Sam Wang's Moneyball States

The states where the Princeton Election Consortium believe your small donations yield the biggest bang for the buck.

Senate: Kansas, Maine and Montana

State Legislatures: Kansas (break the supermajority), North Carolina and Texas House



https://election.princeton.edu/

Bonus Tweet of the Day

Duda declares victory in Poland's presidential race but rival says too close to call

(CNN)Poland's incumbent President Andrzej Duda declared victory in the country's presidential election Sunday, but his opponent refused to accept defeat, saying exit polls show the election is still too close to call.

Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, of the center-right opposition Civic Platform party (PO), told a rally in the city Sunday that the election had been close as predicted, but once votes were counted "I am sure that we will win, for sure."

According to an exit poll presented by state broadcaster TVP and conducted by Ipsos, Duda had 50.4% of the vote when polls closed Sunday. Trzaskowski got 49.6%. The exit poll estimated an election turnout of 68.9%, the highest in 25 years for a presidential election.
The exit poll by Ipsos has a margin of error of two percentage points for each candidate. Official preliminary results are expected Monday.

Speaking at a rally in Pultusk on Sunday, Duda said he was accepting victory based on the exit polls.

"Thank you to all my fellow Poles who voted for me and cast their votes. I want to thank you with all my heart because this turnout shows how much you care about our country," he said.




https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/12/europe/poland-presidential-election-result-intl/index.html

"Jeremy Corbyn was driving the Labour Party into a brick wall."

Benjamin Keough, grandson of Elvis Presley, dies at 27

CNN)Elvis Presley's grandson Benjamin Keough has died, a representative for his mother, Lisa Marie Presley, said. He was 27.

Keough died in Calabasas, California, Roger Widynowski told CNN Sunday.

The representative said he did not have further details on the circumstances of Keough's death, including the date.
Presley is "entirely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated," Widynowski said in a statement, "but trying to stay strong for her 11 year old twins and her oldest daughter Riley."


https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/12/us/benjamin-keough-elvis-presley-grandson-death/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_content=2020-07-13T06%3A41%3A00&utm_term=link&utm_source=twCNN

Poll: Texas Democrats hold smal lead for State House.

Tammy Duckworth bursts into VP contention

CHICAGO — Tammy Duckworth is no longer an afterthought in the Democratic veepstakes.

The Illinois senator and Purple Heart recipient has landed squarely in the conversation after a high-profile clash with Tucker Carlson last week and her advocacy against politicization of the military in the weeks prior.

The attention hasn't escaped Biden's vetting team. It has stepped up information-gathering on Duckworth recently, scrutinizing her legislative record and talking to her colleagues, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

A contingent of Duckworth-for-VP backers, including high-dollar donors and a politically active veterans group, has intensified efforts on her behalf in the past two weeks, pushing her as the best choice for Biden’s running mate.

“I’ve been working my rear end off, trying to get Joe to look at her favorably,” Joe Cotchett, a longtime friend of Biden’s and prominent West Coast Biden bundler, told POLITICO. Cotchett said Duckworth’s no-nonsense response to Carlson has further elevated her prospects.




https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/12/tammy-duckworth-vp-contention-357234

Tweet of the Day