Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon Urge People to Volunteer for the Midterms in New Swing Left Video

 Posted on July 7, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  885 words  |  Aldo Pusey

WASHINGTON — The waning months before the 2016 presidential election saw a flood of videos featuring celebrities urging people to vote and volunteer.

That is now happening again for the upcoming midterm elections this November.

On Thursday, Swing Left debuted a new video featuring Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, urging viewers to sign up for one of the progressive group’s projects, the Last Weekend. Swing Left has organized a coalition of 30 progressive groups aiming to line up volunteers for a final push before the Nov. 6 elections.

In the video, Sedgwick called the election “the most important midterms of our lives,” and tells viewers that “even if you live in a progressive stronghold, there are races all over the country near you.”

Swing Left also produced a video last month that featured Jane Fonda, Rashida Jones and Lily Tomlin.

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“I am just terrified of where our country is headed,” Sedgwick said in an interview. She worked on the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, but said that she and other progressives were probably “lulled into a false sense of security” that much of his agenda could not be rolled back.

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“I just feel we have gotten far off the path of what our forefathers — and women — meant for us,” she said.

She cited a host of issues, including the environment and abortion rights, as well as the rollback of business regulations, that have been of major concern for her, but also that “there has been no check on the power” that President Donald Trump now has in the White House. She also cited the Trump administration’s effort to rollback California auto emission standards, despite the support that the standards have from car companies.

Republicans have already been hammering Democrats for their links to Hollywood, trying to characterize the industry as the very cultural elite that Trump ran against in 2016. A recent Republican National Committee video, called “Unhinged,” featured a number of celebrities, including Kathy Griffin and Madonna, railing against Trump.

Sedgwick said that she understands why some entertainment figures are reluctant to get into the political fray. She does get some backlash comments when she tweets something political, but “I don’t care.”

“My business is to do what is right for this country,” she said.

The goal of the Last Weekend is to get commitments for 1 million volunteer hours in the last four days before the election.

“I feel like you sit around and feel really terrible and hopeless, or you can be part of the solution,” Sedgwick said.

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