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Dear Friends:

I apologize for the delay in sending this, but it has been a hard few weeks. We ran an absolutely amazing campaign: we knocked over 30,000 doors, and ran entirely on my own record. I put my whole heart and life into this campaign for months. It is that important to me that women in this state have someone fighting for them in the Louisiana state senate.

The final few weeks of the campaign saw aggressive, misleading, and expensive attacks on me on television, culminating in a last minute hit piece in the mail. I simply could not overcome this. 

I am extremely proud of the group of young people who worked hard for months for a candidate they believed in, and I am excited to see what they do next! If you're looking for campaign staff or just dependable, compassionate workers, please contact me. 

I have a few updates, but on a final note, I unfortunately ended up with a significant amount of campaign debt. Due to the onslaught of false attacks near the end, we felt the need to respond. This sucked up money budgeted for election day canvassing, texts, and calls. I know that most of you are now facing a tough holiday season, but for those who can help me to retire this debt, I'd forever appreciate it. (To be clear, the debt has been paid by me (my Visa card) so any debt retirement assistance will pay me back personally.)

-Mandie

On Giving Tuesday, please consider donating to Lift Louisiana.

DECEMBER 10TH ELECTION DAY:

PSC AND AMENDMENTS



There are very few items on your December 10 New Orleans ballot. First, please, please go to the polls to vote for my friend Davante Lewis for Public Service Commissioner. If you've followed me for a while, you know that he is really one of my close friends and collaborator for progressive causes at the Capitol! He is a passionate, experienced, and knowledgeable advocate for the people of this state. The PSC is responsible for regulating most utilities in Louisiana, and has been mostly industry- and not people-focused for a long time. If you're mad about the recent uptick in utility bills, and if you want an advocate for clean and renewable energy, please vote for Davante.

(Below is a photo of Davante and me testifying in favor of HR 43, which we filed together requesting the attorney general to withdraw from his lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act.)

There are a handful of proposed constitutional amendments on the December ballot. I am inclined to vote no/yes/yes. More detailed info on the amendments here.

There's one more race that I'd like to mention, because I love this candidate! Lauren Jewitt is a long time special education teacher who is running for the school board in Jefferson Parish. I am positive that this grassroots campaign edged out the third place finisher by ten votes because she knocked doors for months. We need more educators on our school boards.

MY LEGISLATION IN ACTION

This session I passed HB 516, which requires public schools to provide flexible attendance policies for pregnant and parenting students, as well as space for breastfeeding. This helps young parents to raise their families while finishing high school. It was wonderful to see the Orleans Parish School Board pass the first policy in the state to implement this legislation. Thank you, OPSB!

This session I also passed HB 988, the first legislation in Louisiana to address employment protections for people with a medical marijuana prescription (it applies to some state employees only at the moment). It was great to see the New Orleans City Council follow suit and start the process for providing such protections to city employees.