Post by Jennifer Tomkins
What’s RIGHT with this picture? Way to Win’s leadership team is all women and all about taking back our democracy.
Our sister-organization and key Airlift adviser, Way to Win, recently held its annual conference in Phoenix, AZ, where it laid out its blueprint for victory in 2020. It entails investing $50 million to boost Sun Belt turnout in order to not only win the presidency the house and the senate, but to also change the face of “politics as usual” for the foreseeable future.
Way to Win is—quite literally—our “sister-organization” led by the four powerful and dynamic women pictured above. Like Airlift, Way to Win was founded in 2017 in response to Trump’s election. In 2018, it invested $22 million largely in the south and the west, contributing to many of the same ballot-initiative victories and down-ballot wins to which Airlift also contributed.
Tory Gavito, President of Way to Win, told conference-goers it will be “a race to drive up the most new voters possible: “Our job is driving forward the new electorate in the South and Southwest.” The Democratic party has neglected the political infrastructure of these states, focusing instead on the rust belt. Way to Win is working hard to correct this oversight. The Democratic party has also neglected important parts of its potential base—young and minority citizens who don’t typically vote. Their modus operandi has been the polar opposite to that of Way to Win (and Airlift).
Take Florida. Gavito believes the reason Republicans have consistently won in recent years is because Democrats have historically swooped in with massive TV advertising during marquee races, but failed completely to leave behind any permanent infrastructure: “They have millions of young people and people of color sitting on the sidelines because it’s an every four-to-two-year proposition. That’s not community building; that doesn’t create your base for the long-term.”
In Virginia, Way to Win began an initiative in July to fill funding gaps and partnered up with equally as committed funding forces. Their partners include WDN Action, Groundswell Action Fund, Civic Participation Action Fund, Movement Voter Project, Climate Equity Action Fund, Accountable Justice Action Fun and others. Collectively, they’ve worked to shrink a $4.2 million funding gap in Virginia to $165,000.
An equally important reason these groups don’t vote, and one that Way to Win and the candidates it supports also seek to address, is that Democratic candidates and their policies don’t excite people. They are viewed as irrelevant to the problems and issues that affect the lives of many potential-voters.
This same analysis can be applied to the other key states where Way to Win is focused and investing heavily: Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. They currently support candidates up and down the ballot who are offering policies that are relevant to the constituents of groups on the ground that they also support such as LUCHA in Arizona (an Airlift group, too) and Fair Fight 2020 in Georgia.
Of course, the Republicans are not sitting on their hands while this is taking place. Trump himself is busy energizing his base in the same states where Way to Win is galvanizing voters—and they are aware of this challenge.
The positive news for progressive donor groups like Way to Win and Airlift is that the demographics of the south are changing in our favor. While Rust Belt states are 75% white and in decline, census data shows that Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas have a higher share of minorities and have attracted younger, more educated people from other parts of the country. Way to Win believes that capitalizing on these demographic changes by supporting key locally-based, issue-focused organizations will build permanent infrastructure for the future and victories in 2020 and beyond.
Meanwhile, this does not mean that the wider ecosystem of progressive political donor organizations will go on ignoring rust-belt states. While Way to Win plans focus mainly on the south and the west, other organizations, including Airlift with its “Lift the Midwest” fund, will be focusing on all of the key battleground states that will be in play in 2020.