this is going to be a tweet thread about how much first time volunteers mean to me, through a lens of my mom.

the tl;dr is she used to have to sneak out of the house to vote, and now she's a volunteer for Texas Democrats.

CW IPV, my father
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my father is a horrifying man. I'm certain that 2016 is not the first time she snuck out to vote, so she could vote for Hillary and Tammy Duckworth and more, but I know that she explicitly snuck out because of what would happen if my father knew.

CW IPV, my father
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I was extremely lucky to have moved out before my first time voting, but the women in my home were not allowed to talk about politics unless they agreed with my father's perspectives.

CW IPV, my father
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I don't remember it super clearly but I think the time he threw a frying pan at my head was because I put up a President Obama poster at my desk. (I dodged it thankfully but dissociated it away)

CW IPV, my father, CSA
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My mom, for her safety, stayed so silent that he believed she agreed with all of us horrific notions.

A little over 2 years ago, I disclosed about the CSA he committed against me, and she left him. She moved to Texas to live with my sister.

In the last two years, I've watched her grow into her political awakening and she's now a volunteer, and everytime I see a new volunteer who has not volunteered before, and if this is the first time for a reason like hers, and it means so much.

Anyway, every time you hear me brag on my mom or on new volunteers, this perspective is always here. I always find it so, so important to be so welcoming to folks who are just joining. Because so much keeps people from being able to create the political future they want.