Almost 4 years to the day after Michael Brown’s murder in Ferguson, MO, Wesley Bell overcame the odds and won the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney primary election. Color Of Change, an Airlift-supported group, brought together passionate volunteer leaders, hosted two block parties, delivered direct mail, had thousands of in-person conversations, sent over 95,000 peer-to-peer texts, put up a billboard on a major interstate, and ran digital videos and ads to mobilize over 200,000 voters for Wesley Bell. Well done!
Organize Florida Fights to Restore Voting Rights to 1.6 Million
Organize Florida has 35 full-time staff, 50 canvassers and 15,000 member-activists.
Organize Florida has been fighting to restore voting rights to Florida’s 1.6 million ex-felons, part of a campaign called Second Chances that is now polling at—ready for this? 74%! The threshold for passage is 60%. And they are working to connect tens of thousands of Puerto Rican refugees along the I-4 corridor with support services—and also to make sure they are on the voting rolls.
We're proud to support Organize Florida and their efforts to fight voter suppression and engage millions of voters who have been marginalized or ignored.
New Virginia Majority Succeeds in Securing Affordable Healthcare for 400,000 Virginians
The New Virginia Majority, supported by Airlift, created the plan that got people of color to the polls last November. They went 80% for Northam and helped flip 15 seats in the lower house. But elections aren’t just about electing candidates.
The top issue on voters' minds in Virginia was healthcare. NVM has been pushing for Medicaid expansion with 3 governors over 6 legislative sessions. At the end of May the dam burst and enough Republicans gave in so 400,000 additional Virginians now have healthcare.
Big Win for Stacey Abrams and New Georgia Project
On May 22nd, Stacey Abrams, founder of the New Georgia Project, won the Democratic primary for Governor by a margin of 48 points! She won every congressional district and all but 6 of 159 counties—even some with less than 5% African-American voters.
Democratic turnout was up 50% vs. 2014 and Republican turnout was flat. Georgia is now a battleground state! We even have a good shot at flipping two congressional seats. A lot of the credit goes to the New Georgia Project, which will have registered 300,000 new voters by November. They are laying the groundwork for a massive mobilization of voters of color in November.
Airlift Adds a New Group to the Voter Motor Fund: MOVE San Antonio/ Texas
Started by six University of Texas students in 2013, MOVE San Antonio (now MOVE Texas) has become a major force in our nation’s 7th largest city. Driven by students, they work aggressively to overcome the voter suppression tactics, racism and intimidation that have become the tools of choice of Texas Republicans.
MoveTX is unstoppable. They tripled the under-35 vote, becoming the decisive force behind the election of a progressive mayor in 2017. They are registering 30,000 new voters for the 2018 general election–with two congressional seats in play. They run a year-round leadership development program and fight for immigrant rights, affordable housing, voting rights and accessible elections.
MoveTX teaches civics and organizing to women and men in the Bexar County Jail. They stopped ICE from knocking on doors. They just got Paid Sick Leave on the ballot. Airlift donations will help raise the hourly pay of 15 MoveTX fellows, who work 20-25 hours a week, from $11 to $15 per hour.
Joe Arpaio Running for Senate: Where’s my Punching Bag?
People United for Justice (in Airlift's West By Southwest Fund) was part of the campaign that ran Sheriff Joe Arpaio out of town. Now he’s back—what an inviting target! With Jeff Flake retiring, Kyrsten Sinema leaving Congress to run against Joe Arpaio for Flake’s Senate seat, and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton running for Sinema's Congressional seat, Arizona politics are full of opportunity. It’s a game of musical chairs even before you start to think about what John McCain’s potential resignation will do.
PUJ is preparing to launch bottom up campaigns for movement-aligned candidates running for local office. These candidates will galvanize excitement and energy in Phoenix's progressive communities. According to Airlift’s senior advisor Matt Singer, “That is going to shift long-term power in Arizona!”
Color of Change Named #2 on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Non-profits
Color of Change was formed in 2005 by Van Jones and others in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to strengthen the political voice of African Americans. Along the way they forced Fox News to drop the Glenn Beck Show and then successfully shut down Bill O’Reilly.
Responding to the experiences of African-Americans who felt marginalized working in Democratic campaigns, Color of Change is forging a movement that builds power from the bottom up. They have been named #2 on Fast Company's list of Most Innovative Non-profits.
They have created a permanent volunteer force to win elections and hold representatives accountable after elections. They are seeing large crowds of 500+ volunteers showing up at events in cities around the country.
Color of Change, in Airlift's Network Effect Fund, is creating brilliant new tools for drawing in and engaging black women, families and professionals. The Black Love Series explores the links between prosecutors, campaign money, and money bail and points the way to action. As volunteers move through the engagement ladder they learn to host their own events in small intimate groups settings to develop independent leadership.
PLAN Action Nevada: From Protest to Power
PLAN (Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada) operates from the premise that Nevada communities are in a fight for their lives. After electing Nevada’s first Latina senator in 2016, they drew standing-room-only crowds to events designed to frame Nevada’s 2017 legislative session on their terms. They decided that the most effective way to resist was going on the offensive with a bold progressive agenda.
During the session, PLAN held 10 phone banks, 5 Letters-to-the-Editor workshops, and monthly rallies and protests. PLAN organized 7 different lobby days to bring students, immigrants, workers, and other Nevadans into the process. They were successful in passing every one of their priority measures out of both houses.
Even with a Republican governor who vetoed many of these reforms, PLAN succeeded in their efforts to:
EXTEND voter pre-registration to cover all 17-year-olds
ENSHRINE Affordable Care Act standards into state law including birth control and free cancer screenings
STOP a voucher program that would have given away tens of millions in taxes to private and religious schools, and
RESTORE voting rights to thousands of Nevadans with past convictions who previously were permanently disenfranchised.
Even though automatic voter registration was vetoed, it will be on the ballot in 2018.
PLAN Nevada is in Airlift's West by Southwest Fund, and we are proud to support them!
Help This Incredible Candidate Become the First Black Woman Governor in the U.S.
Stacey Abrams and supporters in the Georgia State House
Stacey Abrams is the founder of the New Georgia Project, which has already registered hundreds of thousands of new voters in Georgia. NGP is one of the groups in Airlift's Voter Motor fund.
Stacey has been the Minority Leader in the Georgia House of Representatives for the past 6 years where she has managed to add and hold 6 new Democratic seats, keeping a supermajority out of the reach of Republicans. She has also stood her ground on 3 weeks of early voting, more than any other southern state.
So...guess who's running against her in the Democratic primary? A white member of the Georgia house named Stacey Evans, who insists that the 14 white swing voters in the suburbs are going to decide this election.
From Reuters: "Abrams, who rouses audiences to near religious fervor describing her struggles growing up poor and black in the South, argues that Democrats have wasted resources on swing voters."
“We have left too many voters untouched,” she said in an interview, noting that she refuses to tone down her support for abortion, gay rights and labor unions to appeal to Republican-leaning voters.
We are asking everyone to support Georgia Project Action, the electoral arm of the New Georgia Project via a contribution to the Voter Motor fund. Let's help Stacey Abrams finish what she started!
Read more from the New York Times: Is Stacey Abrams Assembling a New Democratic Majority?
When you donate through Airlift you help candidates but you are also building local infrastructure for November and the long haul.