November 2020
WE DID IT! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!
In this DROP, we're celebrating what we accomplished together and what comes next.
AT AIRLIFT WE HAVE AN UPSIDE DOWN VIEW OF POLITICS
We think the interesting and important things are happening at the bottom, not at the top. Since 2016, waves of change were driven at the state and local level. Automatic voter registration passed in 15 states. 1.2 million people got access to healthcare through Medicaid expansion. A wave of progressive DAs upset the applecart from Boston to Philly to Chicago to LA. Marijuana sailed to legal status in 16 new states. The minimum wage went up in 14 states. The local grassroots organizing behind these successes brought millions of New American Majority voters into the process. This new wave of young, black and brown voters allowed us to reclaim our democracy this month. Welcome to bottom up
FIRST THINGS FIRST: WINNING GEORGIA
Airlift groups got record numbers of new voters to the polls in battleground states, far exceeding the winning margins in states like PA, MI, WI, AZ, and yes, Georgia! – where years of deep organizing set the stage for this amazing win. The runoff election on January 5th will decide control of the U.S. Senate and the fate of a progressive agenda. Hundreds of millions of dollars will go to the candidates. It’s our job to fund the grassroots groups that Georgia voters know and trust. Our new fund is AIRLIFT TO GEORGIA.
AIRLIFT TO GEORGIA IS FUNDING:
- the New Georgia Project registered 800,000 voters and is directing live canvassing for the whole state
- Black Voters Matter teaches local African-American civic groups how to organize and GOTV in 40 rural Black Belt counties
- Mijente is canvassing 100,000 Latinos at home and 130,000 on phones and by text in 22 counties
- The Asian American Advocacy Fund is getting out the vote in 5 counties working in Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Urdu, Hindi, and Bangla
Please hit the button below to contribute to make their work possible.
WINNING IN GEORGIA
Airlift has been funding the New Georgia Project since we began in 2017. Here is their quick post-election report:
- 1,230,000 text messages
- 362,000 direct mail pieces sent this year
- 2 million calls made leading to 100,000 conversations - 371,000 doors knocked
- 4,388 active NGP volunteers
- 51 performers at polling locations in 9 counties
- 130 poll chaplains to keep the peace on Election Day
- Twitch the Vote entertains 500,000 young people waiting in line to vote - 930 rides to the polls on Election Day
WINNING IN ARIZONA
Airlift has been funding CASE Action since 2018. They are a union-based organizing powerhouse and part of the Mi-Az coalition that collectively targeted 1 million Latinx voters. Here are CASE's numbers:
- Live canvassing under strict protocols developed by an epidemiologist
- Hundreds of laid off Spanish-speaking hospitality workers employed as canvassers
- 3,000,000 phone calls
- 260,000 conversations with 180,000 voters – 135,000 of them young people or people of color
- 30% of these people did not vote in either the 2016 or 2018 general elections
- Took out two Republican legislators, one by 600 votes
- Won a statewide referendum to fund education with a tax on high earners
YET...
THIS WAS NOT THE VICTORY MANY OF US HOPED FOR. WHAT HAPPENED?
Many of us poured our hearts into this election...canvassing, calling, texting, postcarding...and writing checks to Airlift! We won a resounding margin of the popular vote but the battleground state results were too close for comfort. We lost all the toss up Senate races and lost ground in the
House. If you're asking yourself what happened, Beto O'Rourke has been asking himself – and a lot of other people the same question.
FROM BETO: FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS FROM TEXAS:
"We protected 11 of the 12 State House seats that we won in 2018. Those were historically Republican districts, and it was no small feat to stave off the millions of dollars spent to retake them. Likewise for our two congressional pickups from 2018. Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher are both returning to the U.S. House. We also saw Joe Biden improve nearly 4 points over Hillary Clinton’s performance from 2016. That was the best showing by a Democratic nominee in Texas in 24 years." For the rest of the story go here.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ELECTION DEFENSE?
While we're trying to figure out if we're having a coup, or just coup-like symptoms, we are reserving half of the funds that were contributed to ELECTION DEFENSE, and shifting half to AIRLIFT TO GEORGIA. Please bear in mind that many of our groups are in states where Republicans are challenging the entire election process. Our groups need to retain staff and be ready for anything Republicans decide to pick up and throw at them.
airlift.fund
HOW TO HELP:
1. Give to Airlift via ActBlue
This is the fastest way to donate. ActBlue takes just 4% off the top to process your credit card and to help support their work. This button lets you donate evenly across all of our groups.
2. Give to Airlift via Check or Wire
This is the most efficient way to donate. There is no limit on the amount. Your donation is completely private. And 100% of your money goes directly to our groups. Airlift is an all-volunteer, zero-overhead organization that works with a network of movement advisors to pick the most strategic investments.
Make out your check to “Airlift,” write “Airlift to Georgia” or “All Funds” in the memo line, and mail to PO Box 617, Corte Madera, CA 94976.
Or wire funds to Account name: Airlift; Account number: 11 000 000 641 331; Bank name: Redwood Credit Union; ABA routing number: 321177586
Airlift is an all-volunteer, zero-overhead project of the Mill Valley Community Action Network, a 501(c)(4) organization. Online donations go directly to the groups we support via ActBlue. Airlift takes recommendations from check donors into account but the IRS requires that we retain full discretion over the distribution of funds. Contributions to Airlift are not tax-deductible.