September 2023

LABOR DAY LAUNCHES ELECTION SEASON!

Although the Presidential, US House, and Senate races are just over a year away, now is the time to come off the sidelines. Not just for 2024, but because some key 2023 elections are right around the corner.

It’s already been a good year for electoral gains against the right wing, continuing the trend of Democratic over-performance since the 2022 midterms. Highlights include a huge win in Wisconsin as Airlift Partner LIT helped flip the state Supreme Court Blue while our Partner Pennsylvania Stands Up played a big role in flipping Pennsylvania’s state House. A Democrat won the mayoral race in Jacksonville, FL, long a Republican stronghold. In red-state Ohio, a cynical and anti-democratic attempt to thwart abortion by imposing a 60% threshold to change its constitution was soundly defeated (now it’s on to enshrining abortion rights in Ohio’s constitution this fall).

Next up on Airlift’s radar? Virginia’s all-important state legislative races on November 7. Read on, and be sure to sign up for Live from the Frontlines: Back to Blue, with Dan Pfeiffer in a benefit for CASA in Action - Virginia on September 12.

VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS…
OF PROGRESSIVE VICTORIES

Remember the dark days after Trump became President? In the fall of 2017, significant light broke through when Virginia’s state legislative races became a national bellwether: Thanks to a massive organizing effort, Republicans lost 16 seats in the House of Delegates, shrinking their sizable majority to just one vote. (Control would have flipped entirely if the Democratic candidate in a tied district had won in a random drawing.) In 2019, both legislative chambers flipped Blue.

Since Virginia’s then-governor was also a Democrat, this governing trifecta made a huge amount of progress, including:

Making voting easier
Action on climate change
Increasing K-12 education funding and making community college free for low- to middle-income students
Improving upon Medicaid expansion
Repealing a ban on abortion coverage for plans offered through the state exchange; eliminating mandatory ultrasounds and a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion
Increasing state minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 over three years
Tighter restrictions on guns
Repealing the ban on gay marriage still in Virginia’s state constitution; implementing driver privilege cards for immigrants; and making it easier to take down Confederate statues
Abolishing the death penalty; legalizing marijuana; banning no-knock police searches; and making the restoration of voting rights to felons released from near-automatic

Unfortunately, the 2021 Virginia elections--which took place in a stew of pandemic disruption, “parental rights'' fever from the right-wing, inflation, Governor Terry McAuliffe’s missteps, and Biden’s stalled agenda--put an end to this progressive trajectory. Republican Glenn Youngkin, a stealth MAGA-lite conservative disguised as a fleece-wearing soccer dad, won the governorship. The hard-fought Blue majority in the House flipped back to Red and eroded in the Senate. If just 400 votes had shifted across three seats, the House would have stayed Blue.

Now we have an opportunity to shift the trajectory again. This November, every seat in Virginia’s state House and Senate is up for re-election. As we’ve learned, state legislatures can make or break our democracy and the quality of life for Americans. Turnout is key, and the ability of grassroots organizations to engage and mobilize the voters who make the difference depends on how well they are funded.

But in a worrisome trend, there are reports that fundraising for progressive organizations is down. Meanwhile, the right wing is pouring millions of dollars into these crucial elections in the hopes of gaining a full governing trifecta in Virginia and then replicating their success on a national stage. Governor Youngkin, a rising superstar with presidential ambitions, has become a fundraising juggernaut with a massive war chest. If the entire Virginia state legislature flips Red, we can expect a massive roll back of the progress we’ve made and passage of a MAGA agenda.

Since Virginia’s Constitution empowers the governor to restore voting rights, Youngkin has already slowed the re-enfranchisement of returning citizens to a trickle. He’s proposed a 15-week abortion ban in Virginia, the sole remaining Southern state that allows abortion through the beginning of the third trimester. Republican-led proposals to curtail voting access, upend gun restrictions, and reverse action on climate change are already underway. Attacks on LGBTQ+ rights and public education are escalating.

Right now, only the slim Blue state Senate majority stands in the way of the conservative wish list coming true. Youngkin and his allies know exactly what’s at stake in the upcoming state legislative elections—not only for Virginia, but as a national bellwether for 2024.

So do we. That’s why Airlift invites you to a special event featuring Dan Pfeiffer, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Pod Save America co-host, as well as Luis Aquilar, the Director of one of Virginia’s savviest and most effective grassroots groups, CASA in Action - Virginia.

CASA in Action - Virginia has a robust plan to win the 2023 elections, including micro-targeting messaging to Black and Latino voters, a powerful ground game based on innovative relational organizing, outstanding communications, and over 60,000 door knocks plus hundreds of thousands reached through additional means. CASA in Action – Virginia is well poised to help flip state legislative seats and local offices. But they need your help.

So come hear Dan Pfeiffer on what’s at stake in Virginia and Luis Aguilar’s vision for reclaiming the state House and strengthening our slim Blue Senate majority.

This time, we can’t leave anything to chance. With everyone on board, we can help CASA in Action – Virginia win big and get us Back to Blue.

Airlift Special Event
with Dan Pfeiffer

Back to Blue:
Reclaiming the Virginia State House this November

September 12, Tuesday, 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET

Come hear Dan Pfeiffer, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Pod Save America co-host, update us on what’s at stake in Virginia and nationally this November, and what we can do about it. Dan will be joined by Luis Aguilar, Director of CASA in Action - Virginia, one of Virginia’s savviest and most effective grassroots groups with a great ground game to mobilize Black and Latino voters.

Luis Aguilar, Director

If you can’t make it, but would like to help CASA in Action - Virginia succeed this November:

Donate to CASA in Action

2024 IS NOW!

“Fund us like you want us to win.”

-Ash-Lee Henderson, Executive Director of Highlander Research and Education Center,
a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building
in Appalachia and the South

Political organizers tell us, “2024 is now.” This is the time grassroots groups must ramp up to mobilize the voters we’ll need to win for the remaining elections this year and the crucial 2024 contests. Airlift Partners’ budgets determine how many organizers they can hire and train, how much they can scale-up their field operations, and how many people they can engage, register, and turn out to vote. Unfortunately, fundraising for grassroots progressive groups is down, particularly those led by and reaching out to people of color. If you think the right-wing is indulging in “donor fatigue,” think again. But they sure are counting on ours! Let’s not be a party to this trend.

The money you give now is worth far more than if you wait until next September to give. Be a force multiplier by donating now. Here’s how:

Donate by Check. Set up automatic payments to Airlift with the Bill Pay service at your bank, or send a check directly to: Airlift, PO Box 617, Corte Madera CA 94976

Donate Online at ActBlue. Just click the button, and click again to Make it Monthly!

DONATE

For Tax-Deductible Giving. Email Ruth Jaeger at ruth@airlift.fund.

Spread the word! Tell your friends and family about Airlift and our events. Share this newsletter and our website.

Thanks for Stepping Up!

FIELD NOTES

Leaders Igniting Transformation holds Youth Power Summit. This training conference for high schoolers teaches key organizing leadership skills and movement history while building community. Once again, LIT is nurturing the next generation of leaders and voters.

OC Action joins forces with Orange County Congregation Community Organization to fight for fair housing and the passage of SB567, the Homelessness Prevention Act.

Communities for a New California at Climate Change Assessment–and also spreading the word to protect against extreme heat.