Tonight: John Zogby + No Kings Zoom Meetings

Join us tonight for our September IMV meeting with Mohawk Valley native and international pollster John Zogby. We’ll talk about which messages are resonating with voters in the 2026 midterms, what that means for our conversations with voters here in the Mohawk Valley, and what he sees ahead in the broader electoral landscape. There will be time for your questions during Q&A.

Our September IMV Meeting: John Zogby & Messages That Matter for the Midterms

Thursday, September 10th, 7:00–8:00 p.m. on Zoom

We have a great guest for our September IMV meeting! Mohawk Valley native and international pollster John Zogby will join us to talk about which messages are resonating most with voters in the 2026 midterms — information we can put to use when we’re talking with voters at the doors. He’ll also share his perspective on the broader electoral landscape, with time for your questions during Q&A.

John Zogby at IMV: Messages That Matter for the Midterms

Thursday, September 10th, 7:00–8:00 p.m. on Zoom

Did you know John Zogby grew up right here in the Mohawk Valley? For our September IMV meeting, we’ll hear from him—an international pollster and analyst—about which messages are resonating most with voters in the 2026 midterms. He’ll also share what he sees on the broader horizon for electoral politics and we'll have time for Q&A at the end.

Saturday, We Start Canvassing!

Saturday, August 22nd, 1:30 pm
IMV’s 2026 Canvass Launch

This is where direct voter contact begins.   We win elections by talking to voters one at a time at their doors, answering questions, sharing information about our candidates, and helping people make a plan to vote.

We’ll have slate cards for voter education, walkable turfs, training, and opportunities to pair up so everyone can have a good experience. 

Voting. Some never miss it. Some need a reminder. Some need a reason.

Sometimes a conversation is all it takes. In local elections, a few conversations can mean a few more votes — and a few votes can decide a race. And this week, we have some very good news about one race where that could matter.

Welcome to August!

 Post-IMV Picnic News

What a wonderful potluck picnic last week with beautiful weather, good food, and strong turnout from our members and friends and our candidates! 

And THANK YOU!  for your contributions when we took up a collection for a few families with children who had an emergency need for rent when breadwinners for the family were kidnapped by ICE in our local community.

Thank You for Supporting our Local Democratic Candidates!

Thanks to everyone who has been showing up to walk with candidates in parades, attend fundraisers, and take part in meet-and-greets. And don’t forget this evening’s

IMV Annual Summer Potluck Picnic and Candidate Meet-and-Greet — July 30

Potluck picnic at SherillBrook Park. Bonus! Meet and greet our local candidates running for office.

for details...

Last week, smoke from Canadian wildfires hung over the Mohawk Valley and made familiar views look strange. Now the skies have cleared, just in time for one of Rome’s best-known summer traditions: Honor America Days.

Honor America Days grew out of Rome’s Fort Stanwix celebrations, and this year’s theme is “Honoring 250 Years of America.” The parade, concert, and fireworks give the community a chance to mark that anniversary together. At a time when national politics can make patriotism feel complicated, it matters to remember that our country’s history belongs to all of us—and so does its future.

Across America, let’s make good trouble.

We are facing the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations.

The same spirit that fueled Selma, Montgomery, and the March on Washington lives on in our unified action. 

Join us from July 17th – July 19th as we honor the legacy of John Lewis and carry the torch of the civil rights movement.

If They Count on Silence, We Get Organized

This week’s newsletter is about visibility, local accountability, and action. We’re highlighting ways to support immigrant-defense work, push for oversight around ICE operations in Salina, join Good Trouble actions across the region, learn more about proposed AI data centers in New York, contact members of Congress on urgent national issues, and gather with IMV at our annual summer picnic.

The answer is not panic. The answer is organizing — locally, visibly, and together.

250 Years: Marking July 4th Together

This July 4th marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, and many of us are feeling the weight of this moment. Pride, frustration, grief, determination, and hope can all exist in the same complicated country.

Local action gives us a way to turn those complicated feelings into something we can do together. This week, we can march in Utica, gather at Fort Stanwix in Rome, support Democratic candidates, and speak out against authoritarianism. It is also a chance to connect with neighbors and reflect on the founding principles at the center of the holiday.

Congratulations to Jon Lipe and Everyone Who Volunteered!

Jon Lipe, running in the Democratic primary for the 119th Assembly seat, cleared a big hurdle on Tuesday night, winning by 264 votes.  Now he will be on three ballot lines in the fall, and continue to have the support of IMV volunteers, many of whom he trained over the past nine years to win elections by having conversations with voters at their doors.  Field organizing wins!

Blake Gendebien (NY21) also won his primary, and his campaign expressed thanks for the work that IMV did to help get voters to the polls in Rome.

Take a breath and enjoy the 250th anniversary of this nation’s Declaration of Independence and its profound assertion of the inalienable rights of all people.  Then let’s get fired up and go!  What are you going to do in the next four months to bring about the world you want to see?  

Join Indivisible’s Immigrant Justice Summer Training Series

When ICE comes to your community, do you know what to do? This summer, Indivisible is giving you a blueprint. 

Immigrant Justice Summer is a five-call national training series that will level up how you show up for immigrant justice. You’ll learn how to build up hyper-local networks and connect to experienced organizations to respond to ICE surges or new concentration camps in your area.

Final push to the primaries - Early voting starts tomorrow!  

On this week’s Indivisible national call, organizers emphasized that early votes and mail ballots can decide close elections. Election Day is not the beginning of voting. It is the end of the voting period. Our job now is to help voters make a plan, whether that means voting early in person, requesting a mail ballot, or showing up on Primary day.

That is why we are knocking doors this Sunday. 

June IMV Meeting Recap:
Nine Years of Standing Together

Nine years after Indivisible Mohawk Valley began, our June meeting was a reminder of what still defines us: ordinary people working together, showing up publicly, and turning shared concern into organized action.

The timing could not be better. We celebrated nine years of showing up — and now we need to keep showing up. This weekend, that means celebrating and supporting our LGBTQ+ neighbors at Oneida County PrideFest on Saturday, June 6, at the Clinton Arena. And over the next few weeks, it means turning IMV energy into votes through canvassing, phone banking, letters to the editor, and direct voter contact ahead of the June primary.

9 Years of Standing Together

Join us June 3rd to celebrate IMV’s 9th Birthday! Come spend time connecting with fellow community members working to make the world more just, equitable, and livable. As we gather to celebrate, we’re also remembering where IMV came from, why we began, and why this work still matters.

At our June 3rd meeting, we’ll celebrate what we have built together, share cake, and begin talking about how to make 2026 another year when organized people power makes a real difference. Join us as we celebrate where we began and get ready for the work ahead!

500 Signatures Needed by Tuesday:
A Few Hours This Weekend Could Make the Difference in November.

Right now, there may be nothing we can do locally that will have a bigger impact in November than helping Jon Lipe secure an independent ballot line.

If you can help this weekend, please show up. A relatively small effort now could have an outsized impact in November!

And RSVP for our June 3rd meeting.

Voting Rights Are Under Attack. Stand Up, Fight Back.

The past couple of weeks have been a disaster for democracy as the Republican administration, Republican state legislatures, and their lackey-stacked courts at every level destroy the Voting Rights Act of 1965, kick civil rights in the teeth, and lock in their permanent white conservative minority rule in red states and across the country. 

The Mohawk Valley can seem a world away from the action in Alabama and the South at this moment. And grassroots political activism can feel useless compared to the voting rights lawyers standing up in the courts every day.  

What can we do here and now to defend democratic elections and voting rights?  Read on to see three suggested actions.

Mother’s Day in Trump’s America 

Let’s make Mother’s Day more than a Hallmark card day. Let’s make it a day of real action.  Today, in honor of Mother’s Day, make a call to Congress and demand an end to funding ICE and war in Iran. 

This Week: May Day Strong , Meeting Recap, and Local Actions

May 1

The next two weeks are full of opportunities to show up, speak out, and push back against the forces concentrating power and undermining democracy. Today we join May Day Strong actions in solidarity with workers and against billionaire dominance. These moments matter—but they’re fuel, not finish lines. The real work is sustained, local, and collective. Keep reading for ways you can plug into action in our community.