Failing Upward

 

Kate Barr has become a force in North Carolina grassroots organizing. I had no idea.

Remember Kate Barr? I first knew her as Kate Compton Barr. She was the fireplug entrepreneur from Davidson, NC, who mounted a "Can't Win But Fuck It!" campaign for the NC Senate in '24 in District 37, which includes red Iredell. She didn't want to raise money, she announced, so she requested that people not contribute. In other words, with wit and a cheerful demeanor, she dramatized political hopelessness as positive energy, which (ironically?) inspired hope in all sorts of people, and Kate Barr knew how to network, and though she had not asked for money, money came in. I contributed to the Kate Barr campaign. Running-to-lose in that Senate race -- and she did lose as expected by 30 points -- was performance art, a satire of gerrymandering and a display of personal sacrifice that has actually produced something of a movement. The left's favorite podcaster Heather Cox Richardson named Kate Barr as a Democratic force to watch nationally. 

She's successfully launched the Can't Win Victory Fund, to make losing into a political investment. The entrepreneur in Kate Barr saw losing as an opportunity to network and build communities that grow their clout. Of particular note is her team's creation of an A.I. intelligence, MOXIE, that can channel the opinion (and mood?) of "targeted voters" (you pick the parameters). Message testing and innovation. That's intense.

Take a look at everything that she and her partners are doing. Full disclosure: I made a new contribution. This is energy I like. This is energy we need in heavily gerrymandered communities.