A candidate gave birth in her ad: "I didn’t have reservations"
Plus: Bro, what happened to the NASA logo?
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at…
A candidate gave birth in her ad: "I didn’t have reservations"
By horse or by skateboard: this GOTV campaign doesn’t care how you get to the polls
Who signed off on this?
Bro, what happened to the NASA logo on its latest launch?
A candidate gave birth in her ad: "I didn’t have reservations"
Katie Darling, a Democratic U.S. House candidate running in Louisiana, used footage from the birth of her son for a campaign ad about why she’s running for office.
Darling introduces herself and family in the ad while pregnant with her second child. The ad then shows the software executive being wheeled into the hospital by a nurse, followed by footage taken in the room during her delivery.
“These days I worry about storms that are stronger and more frequent because of climate change, about our kids under-performing public schools, and about Louisiana’s new abortion ban, one of the strictest and most severe in the country,” Darling says.
The ad ends with Darling saying she wants a better future for her would-be constituents, her daughter, and — as she’s holding her brand new son — “for him.”
Darling told the Cut she was seven months pregnant when Louisiana’s abortion ban went into effect following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling.
“I was very concerned about what would happen to me if I had a complication during my pregnancy, and my first reaction was that I needed to move somewhere where I would be safe,” she said. “Once I calmed down, I started to think about how to regain our reproductive rights, and I called up the Democratic Party to see how I could support other candidates. That’s how I ended up being the candidate in Louisiana’s First Congressional District race.”
She said it was “important for folks to see how pregnancy and birth is a medical event that occurs in a hospital with doctors.”
“I am the one in the hospital bed, not the legislators in Baton Rouge or Washington,” Darling said. “It’s me. It’s my family. It affects us, and we are the people who should be deciding what goes on in that hospital room, not folks on the outside. Sharing my birth definitely required some vulnerability, but I didn’t have reservations about it because I’m so committed to the cause.”
Darling faces an uphill race, running against incumbent and No. 2 House Republican Rep. Steve Scalise. Scalise, who survived the 2017 congressional baseball practice shooting, has won his past four elections with more than 70% of the vote.
By horse or by skateboard: this GOTV campaign doesn’t care how you get to the polls
Need a lift?
The nonprofit design lab Amplifier launched its 2022 get-out-the-vote campaign “Ride To The Polls” with artwork by Tracie Ching encouraging people to vote, no matter how they get there. Ching’s poster series shows voters heading to the polls by horseback, truck, motorcycle, and skateboard, with a message to “Reclaim What’s Ours.”
“With a vote, you can reclaim your land and demand that your voice does not go unnoticed,” Ching wrote on Instagram. “Elect representatives that will fight for what’s best for your community and preserve its beauty and culture. While voting is no guarantee our values will win, not participating guarantees we’ll never be represented.”
Amplifier partnered with social impact agency Harness for the campaign, which encourages voters to talk to their friends and family members and make a plan to vote together.
The campaign is especially focused on turning out Native voters. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and former Miss Navajo Nation Shaandiin Parrish filmed videos for the campaign, and last month, Harness hosted a voter activation event for Native youth at a skatepark.
Native Americans were denied the right to vote deep into the 20th century, with Utah becoming the final state to repeal laws prohibiting Native Americans from voting in 1957. Today, voter suppression laws disproportionately affect Native American voters, many who live far from voting locations or drop boxes, according to the Brennan Center.
Who signed off on this?
The North Carolina Republican Party, apparently.
Bro, what happened to the NASA logo?
Wait, was something… off… about the NASA logo on a rocket launched last week?
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 Mission docked safely at the International Space Station Thursday, but back on Earth, observers noticed one detail was slightly off center before takeoff.
Computer, enhance: