With that W.E.B. DuBois quote, Down Home North Carolina’s Co-Directors Todd Zimmer and Dreama Caldwell kicked off a fabulous in-person gathering last month with more than 40 Airlift donors in attendance. Noting that there’s no purple state better poised to become a solid progressive bulwark than North Carolina, Todd and Dreama made a compelling case about why Down Home, which organizes in rural areas and small towns, is ready to lead the charge into this progressive future.

We see it over and over again–significant gains made thanks in large part to grassroots organizers. Then, ruthless anti-democratic efforts to thwart those gains: disinformation; voting restrictions; the Big Lie. Extreme partisan gerrymandering has enabled right-wing legislative supermajorities to strip power from Democratic officials and run roughshod over constituents’ wishes on issues such as healthcare, education, jobs, abortion, gun safety, book bans, and treatment of trans people. Now they’re even expelling lawmakers who speak for those constituents.

In our instant-gratification culture, it’s sometimes hard to grasp that winning isn’t just defined by an election tally, and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Building a winning movement takes long-term investment, patience, and persistence. And then? Winning is only the beginning of delivering what people need. 

Already we’re off to a great start! In early February, Pennsylvania’s state House officially flipped blue for the first time in more than a decade when Democrats won all three special elections for vacant seats. Democratic control will stop the state GOP in its tracks from further restricting voting rights and reproductive access. We’re so proud to support our Partner Group, Pennsylvania Stands Up, who’ve been so tireless in bringing progressive change to Pennsylvania.

We now understand that there are no off years when it comes to politics. Still, it’s hard to shed the illusion that we can take a break until the next “big” elections roll around. Changing this perilous misunderstanding is possible when we take to heart the lessons of nature’s cycles. Underneath the apparent quiet times, there’s vital activity underway to prepare for the more eye-catching seasons to come. You can’t have one without the other. So it is with grassroots organizing.

Michigan Liberation canvassed statewide for the first time: knocking on doors, holding rallies, phoning, and conducting many Tasty Tuesday Text Parties in a robust Peer-to-Peer Campaign. Their State Supreme Court mailer to 350K households helped preserve the 4-3  democratic majority, while an active voter protection plan ensured voting access. In addition to defending the executive offices and 2 US House seats, Michigan Liberation’s efforts were instrumental in flipping both chambers of the state legislature.

Your generosity truly fed the grassroots that led to this victory. As our friends at Movement Voter Project report, “Georgia Alliance for Progress supported 27 organizations whose organizers knocked on 5.6 million doors, blowing past their original goal of 4 million with a 25% contact rate. They talked with 1.3 million voters in person in the past four weeks alone – not to mention 2.1 million calls, 3.6 million texts, countless events, relational outreach, and working in the pouring rain for the past few days with umbrellas.

This will be a mid-term like no other. Too many Republicans will not accept any Democratic victory as legitimate, and Republican candidates who lose are likely to cry “election fraud.”  We are witnessing the disenfranchisement of black and brown voters through gerrymandering and voter suppression on a massive scale. The media acts as though polls and not people elect our representatives. Our democracy is truly in uncharted territory. We must meet this moment. Airlift and the partner groups we fund are committed to defending democracy up to and beyond Election Day. We remain both cautiously optimistic and implacably determined.

Recently California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the overly timid response too many Democratic leaders take in fighting the threats Republicans pose to the people of this country and to democracy itself: “These guys are ruthless on the other side,” Newsom said. “Where are we? Where are we organizing, bottom up, a compelling alternative narrative? Where are we going on offense every single day?”