Donate to Mimi Panitch For Holyoke Committee

Hi, I'm Mimi Panitch.

If you've landed on this Act Blue page, you already know that I’m running for City Council in Holyoke. My hope is to become one of the nine (out of 13) councilors we need to break the Holyoke filibuster and to turn the Council into the functional, problem-solving body need it to be, and that it hasn’t been in many years. 

But as much as I’d like for profound dysfunction to be the only menace Holyoke faces in November, this year it's not.

Holyoke is not a MAGA city. We've rejected it for three presidential cycles running, decisively, in every precinct in the city. We should not have a Trumpist city council. Those aren't our values or our policy choices.

But there’s a serious risk that after November’s election we will. We need to be realistic about this. This is a municipal election. The Mayor is running unopposed. We have no local newspaper to drive voter interest. Without massive intervention, turnout is going to be abysmal.

The MAGA faction on the Council now - and it is a faction - is organized. They are contesting almost every race. They’re not running their candidates as MAGA, so there’s nothing to alert our anti-MAGA majority to who they are or the risk they pose. But their core voters know who they are and they will turn out. If they’re the only voters who do, that’s the game.

So we need money. More than usual for a sleepy municipal campaign. We need to be able to pay for multiple mailings, for advertising, for signs and posters and translation. We have a very short window to make this happen, and a lot of vulnerable people are depending on us.

Money is as critical now as muskets were at Concord and Lexington when Massachusetts stepped up to say no to tyranny. I hate to ask for money, but there are times when you have to do things you hate, so here I am, asking. If you can help, please do. You could be saving a city.

And, thank you.