A new job

Folks who follow me on Twitter (@matasar) have certainly noticed that I’m focused on politics lately, and like many of you I’ve struggled to figure out what I can do to help. Before I had a family, I volunteered all the time: knocking on doors, making phone calls, and building organizing software. There’s so much happening it feels overwhelming to me, and it feels sometimes like every day is a new low. I’m tired of it, so I decided to help full time.

Starting in February I’ll be joining the tech team of @TheDemocrats to build the party from the inside, and I’m going to focus as much as I can on helping win state and local elections. There’s a movement building in our country unlike anything I’ve seen, and I think a strong, healthy Democratic party should be a part of it, so that’s what I’m going to help build.

There are a lot of organizations doing great work out there, so why join the party itself instead of some other group or campaign? It’s pretty simple: the DNC is the only group trying to elect folks at every level, and as a tool builder that’s incredibly appealing to me. I’m particularly excited about DA and state legislative races, and there’s nowhere else to do that work that will apply across the whole country.

Both parties are weaker now than they’ve been in my memory, and I think this is part of the problem. I want to see what the Democratic party can do from a position of strength. If you’d like to join me, my DMs are open.