Welcome to a Friday night edition of Progress Report.
The New York Knicks are one win away from winning their first NBA title in 53 years. The vibes are so good that they not only survived, but authored the greatest comeback in history after a disastrous visit from Donald Trump. May we all find inspiration in that.
Thanks to everyone who tuned in for our live stream last night. It was a great conversation; you can watch the whole thing above (it’s occasionally pixelated due to tech error) and read my write up below. I’ve been plugging away at some projects, both brand new and regularly updated, so stay tuned.
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Earlier this week, Katrina Manetta hit an important milestone in her nascent political career: she was targeted by an attack ad for the very first time. And it wasn’t just any attack ad; this maiden hit piece was paid for by Michigan Forward Network, a right-wing dark money PAC funded by the billionaire DeVos family.
It was a bit of a shock at first; as the Democratic nominee in her Macomb County district, she expected attack ads, just not this early, five months before the election. But the person who told her about it also said that she should consider it a positive sign, an indication of how seriously the GOP and its allies were taking her campaign for state House.
As well they should be: Manetta, an organizer and waitress, is running to flip District 58, one of the swingiest in Michigan and a must-win for Democrats as they aim to recapture the legislature. If they retake the trifecta, they’ll be able to begin passing progressive legislation once again, including a voting rights act that would protect against federal incursions and meddling from future GOP leaders.
Manetta wasn’t one of those kids who dreamed of running for office or serving in government, but when she did begin to engage with politics, she had enough scars to make it personal. Terrified by Project 2025 and frustrated by a Democratic Party that blew the 2024 election in Michigan, Manetta began a grassroots organization called Macomb Defenders Rising, which has rapidly grown as local and national outrages intensify. It exists outside the party system, which goes a long way in a community that feels politically left behind.
“We had to start a movement here, we had to start shifting the culture in Macomb County, and that’s exactly what we did,” Manetta says. “We started with five women, basically, that I found at going to another meeting, another organizer’s group. We met at a coffee shop. And then the next week, we had 11 people in my basement. And the week after that, there was 100 people on our list. And now we’re at over 1,500 people a year and a half later.”
That the ad accused her of increasing gas prices — how? Manetta has never held elected office, owned a gas station, or started an international conflict — was an absurd enough claim that she decided to share the ad on social media. Congratulations poured in from supporters, while Manetta focused on using the ad as a point of contrast: while her opponent, GOP Rep. Ron Robinson, benefits from the largesse of the billionaire family that made its fortune with a massive pyramid scheme, she doesn’t take corporate PAC money.
Not that corporate PACs would be lining up to fund her, anyway: Manetta is a committed economic populist, a working class candidate who grew up in Metro Detroit and watched the manufacturing industry fade and autoworkers turn to right-wing voices and politicians who are experts at exploiting that feeling of being left behind. She understands the feeling, too, as a 32-year-old who grew up and remains working class, with a college degree that hasn’t provided much in the way of professional opportunity.
As is appropriate for a statehouse candidate and local organizer, Manetta is focused on local issues, including the soaring utility rates that are manhandling the budgets of working and middle class Michiganders. The problem, she says, are the monopolies that control the state’s energy supply, who use the vast spoils of that lucrative business to cut checks to politicians who will never oppose them.
Manetta always brings it back to corruption and greed, class and political-economic disenfranchisement. It’s impossible to do otherwise. Again, it’s personal: her sister died of cancer after struggling to hold on to health insurance, which delayed her diagnosis and care; her mom works as a caretaker for a disabled aunt and can barely get by each month; and Manetta has worked for years serving tables, trying to figure out a career in a time and place where opportunity is scarce.
“Now that I’m running for office, I’m like, Wow, I understand why so many older folks run and why so many rich people run, because this takes a lot of time and a lot of effort,’” she says, responding to a question about the lack of working class candidates and Democratic politicians who do things like roll back the long-awaited minimum wage increase. “You start to understand why politics is the way it is, because most of the people that are representing us don’t actually represent us. They represent a class that can actually afford to take off months at a time.”
Manetta wants to change that. She just has to get past a few lying billionaires first.
Watch my conversation with Katrina Manetta at the top of the newsletter.
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