Laura Johnson
@lmayjohnson.bsky.social
Lead Program Organizer at Faith in Minnesota and ISAIAH
All posts are my own
All posts are my own
Reposted by Laura Johnson
Civil society has to hold together and pull forward until the Democratic Party changes. It makes no sense to wait for the Democrats as a party. What makes sense is shifting the ground underneath them.
From street marches to court battles to the ballot box - we’ve challenged the power of this exceptionally unpopular president.
The lesson from each success we've had is that we need to ramp the political pressure up, always up, not back down, now more than ever.
The lesson from each success we've had is that we need to ramp the political pressure up, always up, not back down, now more than ever.
November 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Civil society has to hold together and pull forward until the Democratic Party changes. It makes no sense to wait for the Democrats as a party. What makes sense is shifting the ground underneath them.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
"Very crudely put, the Democrats are just a bunch of consultants and NGOs in a spoils system that does not discourage losing because there are always spoils in the next campaign ..."
November 13, 2025 at 9:25 PM
"Very crudely put, the Democrats are just a bunch of consultants and NGOs in a spoils system that does not discourage losing because there are always spoils in the next campaign ..."
Reposted by Laura Johnson
What if national journalists had the courage to say this plainly.
"It is not law enforcement; it is terror."
November 13, 2025 at 10:55 PM
What if national journalists had the courage to say this plainly.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
the newly released Epstein emails are getting coverage on Fox News 👀
November 12, 2025 at 9:13 PM
the newly released Epstein emails are getting coverage on Fox News 👀
Reposted by Laura Johnson
This is really something. Trump/GOP efforts to rig midterms running into serious trouble
November 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
This is really something. Trump/GOP efforts to rig midterms running into serious trouble
Reposted by Laura Johnson
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
Reposted by Laura Johnson
agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish
November 10, 2025 at 12:36 AM
agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish
Reposted by Laura Johnson
thinking back to when eric cantor got knocked out in a primary in 2014
November 10, 2025 at 2:47 AM
thinking back to when eric cantor got knocked out in a primary in 2014
Reposted by Laura Johnson
what's there to say, really?
This just into the newsroom
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court issues emergency order temporarily blocking full SNAP food aid payments.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court issues emergency order temporarily blocking full SNAP food aid payments.
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 AM
what's there to say, really?
Reposted by Laura Johnson
This Is What Evil People Do….
The President of the United States was ordered by the court to feed starving kids and he’s fighting it. Let that sink in.
The President of the United States was ordered by the court to feed starving kids and he’s fighting it. Let that sink in.
November 6, 2025 at 12:48 PM
This Is What Evil People Do….
The President of the United States was ordered by the court to feed starving kids and he’s fighting it. Let that sink in.
The President of the United States was ordered by the court to feed starving kids and he’s fighting it. Let that sink in.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
This is the unfortunate truth of Minneapolis that too many lefty/DSA/whateveryouwannacallit keep ignoring.
You don’t even need a candidate that works for most of those white SW residents, but you do need one that gets at least a few more 1st ranked votes!
You don’t even need a candidate that works for most of those white SW residents, but you do need one that gets at least a few more 1st ranked votes!
I don’t want to memory-hole Betsy Hodges’ 2013 win. It definitely wasn’t DSA but it was last successful center-left alliance. Folks should re-read this September Racket piece, where she describes the alliance but — I know this will chafe — the need to appeal to SW. racketmn.com/minneapolis-...
November 6, 2025 at 4:38 PM
This is the unfortunate truth of Minneapolis that too many lefty/DSA/whateveryouwannacallit keep ignoring.
You don’t even need a candidate that works for most of those white SW residents, but you do need one that gets at least a few more 1st ranked votes!
You don’t even need a candidate that works for most of those white SW residents, but you do need one that gets at least a few more 1st ranked votes!
Reposted by Laura Johnson
I don’t want to memory-hole Betsy Hodges’ 2013 win. It definitely wasn’t DSA but it was last successful center-left alliance. Folks should re-read this September Racket piece, where she describes the alliance but — I know this will chafe — the need to appeal to SW. racketmn.com/minneapolis-...
![Hodges: The average call on the Hodges campaign in 2013 was nine minutes long. That is outrageously long. And we had tens of thousands of those conversations. That's what my campaign was, all based on this message [of belonging and racial equity]. And the activist left was a huge part of that. They brought volunteers, they brought resources, people doorknocked, they did all the
stuff. And then we won.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2yhglxsi2owchryafic2gmr3/bafkreiffduqnf3ewgipwnug5atnki6ftecgsazqo2hhwiqicxf67dw64de@jpeg)
![Hodges: I think the lesson that the old guard learned from 2013 was they needed to be more organized, they needed to have a stronger message-they generally choose the message of fear-and that they needed to pour a lot of money into the mayor's race in order to win. Those were the lessons they learned, and that
has been their gameplan ever since, in 2017, in 2021, and, I assume, in 2025. I think the conclusion [the activist left] drew was, "We have cracked the code. We know how to win citywide. If we come together and we organize in this way, we're the ones who did it. Betsy Hodges won because of us." And it is true that they were necessary, but they were not sufficient. Because what I brought to the table was years and years and years of loving and building relationships with and leading white people in southwest Minneapolis in a way that meant they would follow me. In Minneapolis, if you do not have a message and if you do not have a relationship with the white voters of southwest Minneapolis, you just don't win
citywide.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2yhglxsi2owchryafic2gmr3/bafkreida3opuibehgn2pymfwazeg5bsj5uy7whppsqrjr5fsgy7rcy3gfm@jpeg)
November 6, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I don’t want to memory-hole Betsy Hodges’ 2013 win. It definitely wasn’t DSA but it was last successful center-left alliance. Folks should re-read this September Racket piece, where she describes the alliance but — I know this will chafe — the need to appeal to SW. racketmn.com/minneapolis-...
Reposted by Laura Johnson
speaks volumes that Trump's response to tonight's resounding defeat is to demand Republicans redouble efforts to rig elections
November 5, 2025 at 4:01 AM
speaks volumes that Trump's response to tonight's resounding defeat is to demand Republicans redouble efforts to rig elections
Reposted by Laura Johnson
This was a Blue Tsunami and a reckoning against Trump and MAGA's failed policies.
November 5, 2025 at 7:08 AM
This was a Blue Tsunami and a reckoning against Trump and MAGA's failed policies.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
the other thing about this is that there is no reason to pit these candidates against each other? each are good fits for their respective electorates and each shows the value of vigorous campaigns focused on the stated material problems of voters.
November 4, 2025 at 1:37 PM
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
Reposted by Laura Johnson
Zohran was polling at six percent in January. Nothing is impossible
November 5, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Zohran was polling at six percent in January. Nothing is impossible
Reposted by Laura Johnson
There are more of us than there are of them.
November 5, 2025 at 2:31 AM
There are more of us than there are of them.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
The whole Third Term Project isn’t actually about Trump. The people behind it know he will likely be dead or enfeebled by 2029. It is about them, the vastly unpopular group around Trump, wanting to grift us forever without elections.
October 29, 2025 at 3:46 PM
The whole Third Term Project isn’t actually about Trump. The people behind it know he will likely be dead or enfeebled by 2029. It is about them, the vastly unpopular group around Trump, wanting to grift us forever without elections.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
centrists will tell you to your face that we all need to abandon identity issues, and focus on kitchen table issues instead and yet when a leftist candidate runs a generational campaign based on kitchen table issues, it's the centrists weaponizing identity politics to smear the leftist.
October 28, 2025 at 12:08 AM
centrists will tell you to your face that we all need to abandon identity issues, and focus on kitchen table issues instead and yet when a leftist candidate runs a generational campaign based on kitchen table issues, it's the centrists weaponizing identity politics to smear the leftist.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
The judge is there to ensure it's apolitical. You can tell it's removed from politics because the previous judge in that role, Toddrick Barnette, was climbing the ladder to the highest paid employee under Mayor Frey, the guy made into a strong mayor by Barnette's appointees to the commission.
lol so some random judge appoints political muckity mucks to decide the structure of Minneapolis governance and what to put on our ballot?
October 27, 2025 at 8:03 PM
The judge is there to ensure it's apolitical. You can tell it's removed from politics because the previous judge in that role, Toddrick Barnette, was climbing the ladder to the highest paid employee under Mayor Frey, the guy made into a strong mayor by Barnette's appointees to the commission.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
It's hard to overstate how fully engaged Chicago and the surrounding suburbs are in this ICE madness. There are neighborhood watch alerts, spontaneous crowds gathering outside schools at pick up & drop off plus madly blowing whistles and honking car horns, this city is fighting back and hard.
October 25, 2025 at 2:14 PM
It's hard to overstate how fully engaged Chicago and the surrounding suburbs are in this ICE madness. There are neighborhood watch alerts, spontaneous crowds gathering outside schools at pick up & drop off plus madly blowing whistles and honking car horns, this city is fighting back and hard.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
Reading this made me cry.
"What I need you to know is we are organized.
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them...
This is how it works: We protect each other, period. These are our neighbors, our friends, our family"
What I need you to know is that you need to get organized.
What I need you to know is they are coming.
What I need you to know is you can stop them...
This is how it works: We protect each other, period. These are our neighbors, our friends, our family"
What I Need You To Understand, Notes from Chicago in Late October | dansinker.com
dansinker.com
October 25, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reading this made me cry.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
i really resent the continued assertion that there’s so much anger on both sides, as if the causes of the anger are equally legitimate. we’re angry because masked maniacs are violently snatching our family and neighbors off the street, and they’re angry because we’re calling them out for it.
October 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
i really resent the continued assertion that there’s so much anger on both sides, as if the causes of the anger are equally legitimate. we’re angry because masked maniacs are violently snatching our family and neighbors off the street, and they’re angry because we’re calling them out for it.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
The energy we need is this suburban dad standing out in the street -- barefoot with Blackhawks pajama pants on -- screaming at the masked goons to get the fuck out of their neighborhood.
October 25, 2025 at 5:51 PM
The energy we need is this suburban dad standing out in the street -- barefoot with Blackhawks pajama pants on -- screaming at the masked goons to get the fuck out of their neighborhood.
Reposted by Laura Johnson
It's amazing that the Dems aren't showing pictures of Trump tearing down the White House East Wing everywhere. The fact Trump is doing his best to hide it should tell them something.
It probably doesn’t matter but I would be flooding the zone with images of the White House destruction right now.
October 24, 2025 at 11:48 AM
It's amazing that the Dems aren't showing pictures of Trump tearing down the White House East Wing everywhere. The fact Trump is doing his best to hide it should tell them something.