Dear MoveOn member,
Hi! I'm Kate Scully, MoveOn's director of grassroots training.
I'm writing you a personal note today to ask for your help.
Less than three months from now, we'll be voting in the most consequential midterm elections of our lifetimes.
Polls and special election results show that we have the opportunity to fuel a big blue wave this fall.1 In fact, right now, in an Ohio district that Donald Trump won by 11 points in 2016—a district which hasn't elected a Democrat since 1981—the results are still too close to call!2
A political science professor is even saying that we could be looking at "a blue flood, more than just a wave,"—a wave that'll wash over the country and put a stop to Donald Trump's horrifying agenda.3
But in order to get there, we'll have to overcome powerful forces that are seeking to maintain the status quo—the billionaire Koch brothers, the Mercer family, and many other Big Money interests, like the NRA.
As progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a recent speech, we can win back power. And the way we can do it is by fighting Big Money with Big Organizing.4
That's why as part of the largest midterm election program in MoveOn's history, we have launched a massive campaign to recruit and train thousands of MoveOn members to lead on-the-ground organizing efforts in communities across the country.
As part of our Resist & Win training program, 400 MoveOn members in 100 competitive House districts just completed a four-week training series and hosted more than 2,500 people at 100 community potlucks last week in dozens of congressional districts to lay the groundwork for a massive wave of voter contact actions.
The training and planning phase culminates at the end of this month, with a two-day, in-person Resist & Win Leadership Summit in Pennsylvania—the first major national gathering of MoveOn members since 2010.
Running this program and planning this summit is an enormous undertaking, but that's the scale of what this moment demands, and we know that this work will be crucial in propelling us to victory this November.
But a program this big—on a scale bigger than anything we have ever done during a midterm campaign in our 20-year history—is expensive. And unlike the forces we are fighting, we don't have billionaire donors funding our work. Instead, we are relying on MoveOn members like you.
With your help, we will train grassroots organizers, reach out to millions of voters, elect 100 progressive fighters to Congress, and end Republican control of the House. Which is why I'm writing today with a simple request: Can you chip in $5 a month to help make our organizing program possible?
(The best way to help MoveOn remain strong and able to fight to end the GOP's control of Congress this November is to click here now and become a committed monthly donor. That'll help us power all of our programs through Election Day, without having to make any cuts to our other crucial work. But if you can't chip in monthly, then please click here right now, because MoveOn needs your help.)
As I reflect back on the past 18 months of our resistance to Trump and his despicable agenda, I'm reminded that our successes have come only when a groundswell of people from around the country have stepped up to rally their communities and demand that our politicians do the right thing.
From the massive, sustained protests to protect the Affordable Care Act to organizing with youth leaders to oppose the NRA to standing together to stop horrific family separations, our power has always come from the people.
This year's midterms will be the biggest test of that power. If we are to win in November and put up a real firewall to Trump, we will need to strengthen our networks, broaden our communities, organize bigger, and push harder than ever before.
And we are ready to do it.
The Resist & Win training program is building a network of diverse organizers who are developing and honing their organizing skills. And our in-person summit at the end of this month will give these organizers an unprecedented opportunity to come together, exchange information about what's working best in different communities, learn new skills from experts, and hit the ground running for the final sprint toward Election Day.
As we head into the fall, these leaders will be organizing hundreds of regular "Volunteer Waves"—MoveOn member and ally-attended community volunteer days of action at the local campaign office of a MoveOn member-endorsed candidate for Congress. These "waves" will be held throughout this summer and fall to help MoveOn member-endorsed candidates win and to demonstrate the lasting, independent, progressive power of MoveOn members at the ballot box.
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Our program has three goals:
- End GOP control of the House.
- Elect inspiring movement leaders and progressives up and down the ballot.
- Build long-term power and community to enact our shared vision of racial justice, an economy that works for everyone, a safe and healthy planet, diplomacy not war, a country that values kids more than guns, and more progressive, commonsense values.
And to accomplish these goals, we are working with a group of rockstar volunteer leaders. Like Marwa, an 18-year-old refugee from Egypt, Mindy, a teacher from Kansas hoping to turn her town blue, and hundreds of other activists in communities across the country.
I am so proud of all of our volunteers—and what my team has put together to help make sure the blue wave swells all the way across the country this fall. I can't wait to celebrate with all of you on election night and show just how powerful our movement really is.
Can you chip in $5 a month now to help power this work?
(The best way to help MoveOn remain strong and able to fight to end the GOP's control of Congress this November is to click here now and become a committed monthly donor. That'll help us power all of our programs through Election Day, without having to make any cuts to our other crucial work. But if you can't chip in monthly, then please click here right now, because MoveOn needs your help.)
Thanks for all you do.
–Kate, Mark, Michael, Ann, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "'A blue flood, more than just a wave': 8 experts on midterm elections after the Ohio special election," Vox, August 10, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/47246?t=14&akid=214314%2E10220574%2ES6yTNr
2. "Ohio Special Election Results: 12th Congressional District," The New York Times, accessed August 14, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/47241?t=16&akid=214314%2E10220574%2ES6yTNr
3. "'A blue flood, more than just a wave': 8 experts on midterm elections after the Ohio special election," Vox, August 10, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/47246?t=18&akid=214314%2E10220574%2ES6yTNr
https://act.moveon.org/go/46904?t=20&akid=214314%2E10220574%2ES6yTNr
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 ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON
This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on August 17th, 2018. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment