Dear MoveOn member,
The votes are in: MoveOn members have voted 91% to 9% for MoveOn to run the biggest midterm elections program in our history, so today we are taking a big leap and launching the program.
And this decision comes not a moment too soon, because the past week has brought a spate of troubling headlines from the nation's top election experts, such as "What Happened to the Democratic Wave?" and "The Last Two Weeks of Polls Have Been Great for Republicans. Do They Signal a Shift?"1,2
The New York Times put it this way: "Last month it seemed that Democrats might ride a giant tsunami to control of the House and Senate. Now, some are wondering whether there’s a Democratic wave at all."3
If we needed evidence that winning big in November is not a foregone conclusion, we have it. So we are getting to work right now systematically putting the pieces in place to win in November.
But launching a campaign of this size is a huge leap of faith, because we haven't yet raised even a fraction of the resources needed to run the program. Our funding comes from you, our members. So to pull off this $15 million campaign, we're counting on you. Will you chip in now?
So what's behind headlines like these today from CNN and The Washington Post: "Republicans are suddenly more optimistic about the midterms" and "Improving poll numbers give Republicans hope that the midterms might not be so bad"?4,5
Polls are swinging toward Republicans. Donald Trump's approval rating is the highest it's been in nearly a year.6 And the Democrats' large advantage on the "generic ballot"—polls that ask people which party they would support in upcoming congressional elections—has evaporated to only a small lead.7
Here's our best understanding of what's happening: Corporate America has teamed up with Republicans in Congress and their billionaire donors to boost public opinion on the new tax law, touting and shining attention on companies announcing meager, one-time bonuses for some workers rather than the multibillion-dollar windfalls showered on the top 1%. And it's working.
Public opinion of the new tax law is shifting, even though the reality is that the vast majority of tax giveaways benefit billionaires and big corporations. And a majority of voters now say they approve of how Trump is handling the economy—and that Trump, not President Obama, is primarily responsible for the economy's health.8
That's why the road to winning in November begins now. Together, we're launching our largest midterm campaign ever, a $15 million effort to end Republican control of the House, win key Senate races, support 100 strong, diverse, progressive candidates for state and local office, and mobilize voters in every corner of the country. And we can't wait until November to fund this ambitious program.
We've resisted mightily this past year. Sometimes we've even succeeded against all odds.
And now it's time to electoralize the Resistance. November is coming. Let's resist—and win.
Thanks for all you do.
–Ilya, Stephen, Maria, Marie, and the rest of the team
P.S. Here's our elections plan in a nutshell:
- We'll work to support 100 candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives to end Republican control of Congress—so we can expand the map, support a slate of progressive challengers, hold incumbent Republicans accountable for their votes, and put an end to attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, give handouts to massive corporations, and continue countless attacks on our communities.
- We'll endorse progressive candidates in key Senate races and support 100 diverse, dynamic, fierce down-ballot candidates to build up progressive power at the state and local level around the country.
- We'll build on the grassroots organizing tactics and technology that we developed and tested in 2017—tactics in the areas of recruitment, training, voter persuasion, mobilization, organizing, social media, mobile tools, tech, analytics, and video. For example, last year with our partners, we led a series of Ready to Resist mass mobilizing calls that regularly engaged tens of thousands of activists, and we also organized a Resistance Summer training program that supported 1,000 MoveOn members across the country as they developed powerful organizing skills. We will mobilize these members and train even more to lead this year.
- We'll run a campaign that stands shoulder to shoulder with the communities most impacted by GOP attacks and policies—including Muslims, immigrants, LGBTQ folks, and people of color. These communities have been consistently used as scapegoats to mobilize Republican voters during elections. We will push back on candidates of either party who throw vulnerable communities under the bus to win elections, and we'll elevate candidates who authentically channel the voices of the diverse American electorate.
- We'll scale our innovative social media persuasion testing and delivery technology that proved effective at persuading and turning out thousands of voters in both Virginia and Alabama last year. MoveOn's tech and mobile teams developed a new peer-to-peer messaging platform, Spoke, that has already been responsible for mobilizing 60,000 grassroots actions. We will put all of these tools to work in service of our electoral objectives in 2018.
- We'll fund this work with hundreds of thousands of small-dollar contributions from MoveOn members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. And, if necessary, we will launch a Super PAC to enable us to collect more resources to maximize the power of MoveOn members. (The Super Pac would be time-limited, we'd disclose the names of donors giving over $200 publicly to the FEC, and we'd shut it down after the close of the election.)
It's a big, ambitious plan, but it will be possible only with your support, Eddie. Will you chip in now?
Sources:
1. "What Happened To The Democratic Wave?" FiveThirtyEight, February 1, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33484?t=5&akid=198536%2E10220574%2Eq24M7Y
2. "The Last Two Weeks of Polls Have Been Great for Republicans. Do They Signal a Shift?" The New York Times, February 2, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33485?t=7&akid=198536%2E10220574%2Eq24M7Y
3. Ibid.
4. "Republicans are suddenly more optimistic about the midterms," CNN, February 8, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33486?t=9&akid=198536%2E10220574%2Eq24M7Y
5. "Improving poll numbers give Republicans hope that the midterms might not be so bad," The Washington Post, February 8, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33487?t=11&akid=198536%2E10220574%2Eq24M7Y
6. "Trump's Approval Rating Is the Highest It's Been in Nearly a Year, Poll Finds," Time, February 3, 2018
http://act.moveon.org/go/33488?t=13&akid=198536%2E10220574%2Eq24M7Y
7. "Are Democrats Winning The Race For Congress?" FiveThirtyEight, last accessed February 8, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33104?t=15&akid=198536%2E10220574%2Eq24M7Y
8. "Republicans are suddenly more optimistic about the midterms," CNN, February 8, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/33486?t=17&akid=198536%2E10220574%2Eq24M7Y
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?
Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON
No comments:
Post a Comment