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Join NowGrassroots Fueled Massive Wave, Dem House Takeover
Voters Were Inspired By Diverse Slate of Candidates Who Embraced Bold Progressive Ideas, Many Running for First Time
CHICAGO — Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn Political Action, had the following statement in response to tonight’s election results:
“A historic wave of grassroots activism made its force felt across the country tonight, as people of all faiths, colors, and origins came together to end Republican control of the House and elect new progressive leaders, including many women and people of color, up and down ballot.
“Despite Republicans’ concerted efforts to gerrymander safe districts and suppress the vote, by a massive popular vote margin voters overwhelmingly rejected Trump and Trumpism. These results are a repudiation of white nationalism, misogyny, oligarchy, and corporate cronyism. But this election wasn’t just about Trump. Voters also embraced a diverse new generation of candidates who look like America and who ran on a bold, inclusive, and progressive vision for our future, including expanding access to health care with solutions like Medicare for All.
“The results prove the vast majority of people in this country want a society that works not just for the wealthy or the privileged, but one in which all Americans, white, Black, or brown, can thrive.”
More information about MoveOn’s work this cycle:
WHAT MOVEON MEMBERS DID TO BUILD THE WAVE IN 2018
Together, millions of MoveOn members helped power an historic midterm wave that ended Republican control of the House and saw the election of a diverse slate of progressive candidates up and down ballot. Our $25 million Resist & Win program combined grassroots resistance energy with innovative technology and tactics, and likely ensured hundreds of thousands of additional votes were cast for Democrats.
Mass Mobilization to Get Out the Vote
- Hundreds of local volunteer leaders hosted 1,000+ volunteer-led voter contact Wave events.
- Week after week, tens of thousands of activists joined MoveOn’s massive Resist & Win calls.
- More than 35 million peer-to-peer text messages to potential voters were sent by more than 1,500 MoveOn text team volunteers.
- More than 5,000 volunteers made calls in the final days before the election to voters in flippable districts.
A Groundbreaking Video Persuasion Program: Real Voter Voices
- We collected, vetted, and prepared more than 2,500 videos of real people from all walks of life sharing their reasons for voting.
- We tested and ran the most persuasive 260 videos in 90 House districts, 10 Senate races, and 10 gubernatorial races, including Spanish-language video ads in Texas.
- Our $3.5 million in Facebook ads for the program made us the largest political ad spender on Facebook in the election’s closing days
- We targeted more than 20 million voters, likely adding hundreds of thousands of votes to Democrats’ totals.
Framing the Conversation
- MoveOn’s in-house Video Lab produced 150+ election videos about candidates and issues that were viewed more than 50 million times on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
- Our national spokesperson and senior advisor Karine Jean-Pierre was a regular guest on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, and other outlets, making the case that voters were ready for change.
- We reached an average of more than a million people a day with progressive content and information about how to get involved in the election via our social media channels.
Direct Support for Candidates
- MoveOn members endorsed more than 100 candidates for Congress and more than 100 for state and local office, including inspiring progressive champions.
- We helped swing important primaries by supporting candidates including Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the federal level and other candidates down ballot.
- Of the House candidates we endorsed, 33% are people of color, 60% identify as women, 10% identify as LGBTQ, 11% are veterans, 36% are 40 or younger, and 71% are first-time candidates.
- Of the non-federal candidates we endorsed, 72% are people of color, 64% identify as women, 15% identify as LGBTQ, and 8% are Muslim-Americans.
- MoveOn members chipped in more than $4.5 million in small-dollar contributions to campaigns in dozens of key House and Senate races.
- Our contributions include $1.6 million in support for Black women congressional candidates.
MoveOn Political Action represents the collective will of MoveOn’s members by helping to elect progressive candidates. For more information, or for interviews with MoveOn, please contact Anna Zuccaro at press@moveon.org.
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