Micah Sifry
(He/Him)
As seen in:
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and
Covers:
Politics, tech, movements, organizing, philanthropy, Israel-Palestine
Co-founder, CivicHall.org. Read theconnector.substack.com, on democracy, organizing and tech. Also find me at mastodon.social/@msifry & msifry.bsky.social
Articles by Micah Sifry
Micah L. Sifry (@theconnector)
Make money doing the work you believe in Start your SubstackLearn more
Micah L. Sifry (@theconnector)
Make money doing the work you believe in Start your SubstackLearn more
Micah L. Sifry (@theconnector)
Make money doing the work you believe in
Let's Help Send Chris Rabb to Congress!
Pennsylvania’s most independent progressive state assembly member, Chris Rabb, is running for Congress and the primary election is less than two weeks away. I’ve known and been friends with Chris since 2005, when we invited him to speak at Personal Democracy Forum. Six years earlier, in 1999, he had founded Afro-Netizen.com, one of the first hubs for African-Americans online. It started as an e-newsletter that grew from 100 to 10,000 subscribers in 18 months.
Nine Lessons to Learn from Hungary
How did insurgent candidate Péter Magyar come from nowhere to defeat Hungarian strongman Victor Orbán, winning 53% of the vote and a supermajority in the country’s parliament in last week’s national elections? This despite Orbán having rewritten Hungary’s constitution to favor his ruling Fidesz party, stacked the courts, tilted the electoral system heavily in his favor, taken over nearly all the media, and shut down or bought off most other sources of opposition?
The Bad News Echo-Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack
The Bad News Echo-Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack Published March 27, 2026 A few weeks ago, Susan Wagner, founder of the activist group Markers for Democracy, posted an urgent plea on The Grassroots Connector substack. Addressing an array of liberal pundits, she begged them to change their focus: All your programs, podcasts, livestreams, and Substack content feed the public a steady diet of all the evils of MAGA and Trump. The message is relentless: Democracy is collapsing.
The Bad-News Echo Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack
March 27, 2026 The Bad-News Echo Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack How many pro-democracy Substack authors over-focus on gloom and doom and ignore organizing, and who’s bucking that trend. Ad Policy Pro-democracy protesters partake in a rally and march during an “ICE Out” protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 23, 2026.(Stephen Maturen / Getty Images) This article is republished with permission from the author. Read more from Micah Sifry at his Substack, The Connector.
The Bad News Echo-Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack
A few weeks ago, Susan Wagner, founder of the activist group Markers for Democracy, posted an urgent plea on The Grassroots Connector substack. Addressing an array of liberal pundits, she begged them to change their focus: All your programs, podcasts, livestreams, and Substack content feed the public a steady diet of all the evils of MAGA and Trump. The message is relentless: Democracy is collapsing. Institutions are failing. Our opponents are ruthless.
Micah L. Sifry (@theconnector)
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This Shor Smells Bad***
I’ve long wondered why David Shor, a 34-year-old data analyst and self-styled party boy, has so much influence over Democratic party debates about strategy, given that his main expertise is only in polling. Shor, who runs Blue Rose Research and oversaw Democratic SuperPAC Future Forward’s massive $560 million ad spend on behalf of Biden/Harris during the 2024 election, was one of the select few political experts asked by Senate Democrats to brief them at their annual issues retreat last spring.
Media Bits and Bytes - November 11, 2025
Media Bits and Bytes — November 11, 2025 Published November 11, 2025 RIP Teen Vogue RIP 60 Minutes Washpost, Bezos and Conflict of Interest Zohran’s Got It MAGA’s Chicago ICE Monitoring Social Media Why Silicon Valley Loves Trump Joy Reid, Corporate Cable Refugee Asian Diasporic Media Google and Vertical Monopolies RIP Teen Vogue By Parker Molloy The Present Age Teen Vogue spent years building expertise on the exact issues that are about to become even more urgent — attacks on reproductive...
“If what you are doing is legitimate...why do you need to cover your face?”
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” –Fred Rogers (aka “Mr. Rogers”) According to Axios, Reichsführer* Stephen Miller and Reichsminister* Kristi Noemheld a “tense meeting” last week with top immigration officials, demanding that they triple the number of daily arrests they were making to 3,000 a day.
Notes in Movement Time
April 20 came and went with no declaration of the Insurrection Act. Can everyone who shared that terrifying viral post about how martial law would be declared that day please now share a note saying “Hey, we’re still here!” Or something equally cheerful to counteract the unnecessary fear-mongering? The times are crazy enough! As my friend and movement historian L.A. Kauffman says, we have to Spread Courage.
Democrats are looking for the resistance in all the wrong places
Ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House and turned Elon Musk's chain saw on longstanding federal programs and agencies, Democratic voters have been asking: Where is the opposition? Democrats are still furious at Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, for helping Mr. Trump keep the government open; many find the public style of Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader in the House, too buttoned-up to meet the moment.
Trump and Musk Have Created a New Kind of Opposition in Federal Workers
An Army Corps of Engineers worker said something similar when we met in March at a weekly picket outside the office of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Lower Manhattan. He described how the day he was hired, he stood by a flag, put his hand on a Bible and took an oath to defend the Constitution. He had come out on his lunch break to support fired bureau workers. "They keep Wall Street in line," he explained.
Bernie’s ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ Tour Is Organizing, Too
Since February 22, when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) began his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour of America with an overflow crowd in Omaha, Nebraska, tens of thousands of people have flocked to join him. In Warren, Michigan, UAW President Shawn Fain helped pump up the working-class crowd of more than 10,000 wearing a T-shirt reading, “Eat the Rich.” With Sanders ally Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) opening their rally in Denver, a whopping 34,000 showed up on Friday, March 21.
America Is on Fire, and Our Leaders Are Roasting Marshmallows
Two weeks ago, I wrote that “the cost of opposing Trump has never been higher, but that cost will only rise as time goes on.” We’ve since seen a terrifying escalation from the Trump Administration, which is making it clear that they plan to relentlessly attack and punish dissent, using every lever of power available to them.
Opening the DNC’s Black Box
Three weeks from now, the Democratic National Committee will convene in National Harbor, Maryland, to elect a new party chair and other national officers. For Democrats reeling from the defeat of Kamala Harris, this will be their first opportunity to anoint a fresh face for the national party to replace Jaime Harrison, who is stepping down.
Across the Great Divide
The Connector A newsletter on democracy, organizing, movements and tech No thanks
On Canvassing: The Mind You Change May Be Your Own
Yesterday afternoon, while door-knocking in Sleepy Hollow, NY on behalf of the Democratic slate, I saw someone across the street in a light blue sweatshirt carrying a piece of campaign literature and glancing at his cell phone. “Are you also canvassing here?” I called out. And that’s how I met Kevin, a 56-year-old Republican activist from Connecticut who was canvassing for Elon Musk’s America PAC. Yes, they’re here on the East Coast and not just in swing states.
A “Dating Site to Defeat Fascism”
As I wrote last week, I’m still feeling optimistic about the outcome of the election. Here are a few additional reasons why: Underlying demographic trends in the Rust Belt states that make up the Democratic “blue wall” favor Harris.
One Last Thing to Win: Let’s Go Relational!
Connecting to your own personal network to urge them to vote could tip the 2024 election where it matters most. By all accounts, the presidential election of 2024 is going to be decided by who wins seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Their 93 electoral votes will determine the outcome. There are also some very important congressional contests that will decide which party controls each chamber, don’t forget.
Trouble for Harris and Walz in Pennsylvania?
Politics / October 24, 2024 Trouble for Harris and Walz in Pennsylvania? At this point, both campaigns know it’s all about the ground game. Trump’s outsourced operation is a mess. But is Harris’s “Biden infrastructure with Obama vibes” up to the task?
Trouble for Harris and Walz in Pennsylvania?
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On This Impossible Moment
As a writer, I have a few rules. One of them is, if you don’t have anything new to say, then don’t strain to say anything. Take a breather. This is one of those moments, and this will be a short post. Yes, we had many problems and unresolved crises before October 7, 2023, but now everything seems worse. Broken and breaking more. In the Middle East, Israel’s most rightwing government is escalating its war against Iran and its proxies, with the help of the United States.
When History Overflows, Build a Lifeboat
According to the fact-checking site Snopes.com, the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Leninnever actually said, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.” Still, the sentiment rings true. And while we aren’t (as Lenin was) living through the overthrow of a brutal monarchy and the establishment of a revolutionary new regime, the last few days, weeks and months have been filled with radically destabilizing developments.
The Third-Party Problem in 2024 and a Longer-Range Solution
Discover more from The Connector A newsletter on democracy, organizing, movements and tech Over 6,000 subscribers If you are at all shocked by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s decision to attack legal Haitian immigrants for supposedly eating people’s pets, then you haven’t been paying attention.
The Third-Party Problem in 2024 and a Longer-Range Solution
If you are at all shocked by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s decision to attack legal Haitian immigrants for supposedly eating people’s pets, then you haven’t been paying attention.
When "Tech for Good" Goes Bad
You're correct that New Media Ventures initially gave Community Response Works (CRW), formerly Raheem AI, a grant as part of the 2020 Expanded Open Call. According to the diligence notes we reviewed from the NMV team at the time, in 2020, they were still a platform for reporting and rating police encounters and had expanded their theory of change to include policy advocacy via police oversight boards.
Slouching to Election Day with MiniVAN
Back on August 10th, I spent a Saturday afternoon volunteering for the New York State Democratic party’s coordinated campaign on behalf of incumbent House Rep. Pat Ryan and three other lower-ballot candidates. It was fun to be outside on a gorgeous summer day knocking on doors in the suburbs around Poughkeepsie, and there is always something to be learned from talking with ordinary voters about politics.
Purging the Demons at #DNC2024
The dictionary definition of catharsis says it is the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. Typically, this release is created by expressing it in art form. But at the Democratic National Convention this week, and especially last night, catharsis is coming in political form. I’m not in Chicago this week.
How Kamala Harris is Navigating the Israel-Palestine Conflict
One week ago, when a group of pro-Palestine protestors heckled Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign stop in an airplane hangar in Detroit, my heart sank. As Mother Jones’ Najib Aminy reports, Salma Hamamy and Zainab Hakim, students at the University of Michigan who had been involved in their school’s Gaza solidarity encampment, shouted “Kamala, you need to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
"People Like Us Do Things Like This"
The Connector A newsletter on democracy, organizing, movements and tech No thanks
Bringing Back Fusion Voting
In July 2024, a group of Kansas voters filed litigation alleging that the Kansas Constitution prohibits the state from excluding their party’s nomination from the general election ballot simply because their nominee also has the support of a second political party. The state’s exclusion of the nomination would prevent voters, their party, and their nominee from engaging in protected political speech and freely associating in the political process.
"And You May Ask Yourself, How Did We Get Here?"
Less than a month ago, President Joe Biden performed terribly in a one-on-one debate with Donald Trump that he, Biden, had eagerly sought out. “Make my day, pal,” he said in a campaign video challenging Trump to the encounter. Barely over three weeks later, this past Sunday, he gave up his re-election campaign, becoming only the second modern incumbent president to abdicate from running for a second term.
Don't Look Up! (The Sequel)
The Connector A newsletter on democracy, organizing, movements and tech No thanks
The President Has No Clothes!
The Connector A newsletter on democracy, organizing, movements and tech No thanks
The Road Not Taken: Hard Truths about Jamaal Bowman’s Loss
Discover more from The Connector A newsletter on democracy, organizing, movements and tech Over 6,000 subscribers In case you haven’t read my previous coverage of the Jamaal Bowman-George Latimer Democratic primary in NY’s 16th district, start here with “Jamaal Bowman, George Latimer and The Israel-Gaza War at Home” from May 24; then read “All Politics is Local: Notes on NY CD-16 as Primary Day Approaches” from June 6; then scroll to the middle of “On Antisemitism and the Fight for...
The Empire Strikes Back: Latimer v Bowman Goes Down to the Wire
As the most expensive House primary this cycle enters its final weekend before Election Day next Tuesday, it’s striking how much it has been nationalized and now mirrors, in miniature, the unresolved split inside the Democratic Party. Party institutionalists like Westchester resident Hillary Clinton are on one side, backing challenger George Latimer, the county executive. So are nearly all the local Democratic elected officials.
All Politics is Local: Notes on NY CD-16 as Primary Day Approaches
Tuesday morning, I attended the press conference in Tarrytown where former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones, who is running to take back the congressional seat just to the north/west that he held from 2020-22, endorsed Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who is running to unseat Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
Jamaal Bowman, George Latimer and The Israel-Gaza War at Home
Last November, Michelle Goldberg wrote one of her typically trenchant New York Times columns about how “The War in Gaza is Splintering the Democratic Party.” (gift link) She grounded her analysis by describing the conflicting forces at work in my home congressional district, New York’s 16th, which encompasses all of lower Westchester county and the snippet of the north-east Bronx that contains Coop City. We’ve been represented since 2020 by Rep.
Why is George Latimer so oddly silent about the Israel-Hamas conflict?
3-minute read Micah L. Sifry Special to the USA TODAY Network Voters in New York’s 16th congressional district are in a very odd position as the June primary between incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman and challenger George Latimer, the Westchester County Executive, heats up.
A Tectonic Shift in US-Israel Relations is Underway
Discover more from The Connector A newsletter on democracy, organizing, movements and tech Over 6,000 subscribers It’s been a week since I got back from my trip to Israel/Palestine and I’m still processing the experience, which is challenging. Sometimes I feel as though this conflict is like a black hole. You approach the event horizon at your peril, and if you get too close, you will be sucked in, unable to ever escape.
“Mogadishu on the Mediterranean”
Today was the first day of a nine-day trip to Israel/Palestine with a delegation from Americans for Peace Now that I am traveling with, and each of the five people we met with shared messages of great urgency. Here are my quick takeaways from each. First, Noga Tarnopolsky, a freelance journalist who writes mostly for Western media, and who is a very close observer of Bibi Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, made two very important points.
How AI Is Transforming the Way Political Campaigns Work
The future is arriving—and we’d better watch out. Ad Policy Ever since ChatGPT became the fastest-growing new tech platform in Internet history, I’ve been expecting artificial intelligence (AI) tools built using large language models (LLMs) to start to transform how political campaigns work. Well, that moment is here.
Rejecting the Binary of Israel or Palestine
I wasn’t planning on writing this week’s Connector about the politics of Israel/Palestine here in the United States, mostly because I thought I had run out of fresh things to say, and I do want to go back to devoting my attention to the larger purpose of this newsletter, which is to report on and analyze the ongoing struggle to build and sustain democracy and to cover important developments at the intersection of technology, organizing and movements.
Substackers Against Nazis Original
Hi folks, below is a letter to the Substack founders that I helped draft as part of a group of publishers seeking answers to questions about the platforming and monetizing of Nazis. We are all publishing the letter on our own individual Substacks today for visibility, and to make our readers aware of our asks and concerns. With any luck you already have…
"If it’s not helping, then shut the f--- up."
Last night, I had the privilege of spending the evening in a Soho loft listening to Alon-Lee Green and Sally Abed, two of the leaders of Standing Together, the largest Jewish-Palestinian-Arab social movement in Israel, address a group gathered by the New Israel Fund’s vice president of public engagement, Libby Lenkinski.
When Hurt People Hurt People
Two weeks ago, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict bubbled over in my little village. After the October 7 attack by Hamas, most of the neighboring towns and jurisdictions had issued statements on the massacre, emphasizing their solidarity with Israel and Jews.
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