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MoveOn’s Electoral Work

A Short History
About MoveOn.org Civic Action
About MoveOn.org Political Action
MoveOn’s Electoral Work
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Highlights of MoveOn’s Electoral Work

2004

“Bush in 30 Seconds” ad contest

bush in 30 seconds

MoveOn held a groundbreaking ad contest called “Bush in 30 Seconds,” where over one thousand MoveOn members submitted their own anti-Bush ads, which were judged by a celebrity panel.   The winning ad was scheduled to be aired during the Super Bowl halftime.  After CBS refused to air it, it was shown on CNN.

Moveon.org Presents Vote For Change Concert

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a foremost political communications expert, called it “the ad that has achieved the most air time with the least dollars expended of any ad in the history of the republic.”

Major concert series

MoveOn also organized the “Vote for Change” concert series in 2004 featuring Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and other major performing artists, registering and turning out thousands of voters.

 

2006

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Unprecedented voter mobilization

MoveOn member volunteers made 7 million phone calls, organized 7,500 house parties, and launched 6,000 in-district events. MoveOn developed a cutting- edge online tool for members to make calls from home and organized a weekly series of phone parties, where members gathered together to make calls on their cell phones.

“Caught Red Handed” campaign: ads and bird-dogging

MoveOn also ran a nationally recognized “Caught Red Handed” campaign to put the House in play by focusing the debate on the Republican representatives’ allegiance to special interests over their own constituents.   In addition, armed with giant red hands and signs, MoveOn members “bird-dogged” their representatives, following them to town hall meetings, appearances and fundraisers and calling them out picking corporate special interests over voters.

  

2008

Endorsement of Barack Obama

MoveOn came out big, endorsing Barack Obama before Super Tuesday in an unprecedented primary endorsement member vote.

One of the most popular online political videos in history

MoveOn took advantage of innovative tech tools to develop a customized, viral “CNNBC” video, which allowed people to show their friends what it would look like if they single-handedly cost the election, and was viewed over 20 million times by Election Day.

barack obama

Major GOTV and recruitment efforts backing Obama

MoveOn members made 557,000 recruitment calls from home using our easy-to-use web tool and made 2.14 million calls at “phone parties” where members gathered, cell phones in hand, to call fellow members in battleground states like Ohio and Virginia.

MoveOn also recruited a quarter of a million volunteers across all 50 states for the Obama presidential campaign and engaged nearly a million MoveOn members for Obama.

Half a million people played MoveOn’s “Bush-McCain Challenge” quiz online, which showed how McCain would continue Bush’s legacy.

bushmccainchallenge

MoveOn also revived the concept behind the “Bush in 30 seconds” ad content and hundreds of members submitted “Obama in 30 seconds” ads.

 

2010

RepubliCorp campaign, with bird-dogging, releases, and celebrity video

MoveOn led a multi-prong effort to brand the GOP as beholden to corporate special interests, dubbing the Republican party RepubliCorp, bird-dogging 100 events with Republican candidates, and releasing fifty “Stop the Takeover” reports to highlight electoral spending in specific states and districts by corporate front groups.  MoveOn also partnered with actress Olivia Wilde on a video which drew on the Facebook personalization technology MoveOn innovated with the CNNBC video in 2008.

 

2012

Innovative social pressure tool and voter contacts


99airlines

MoveOn released a powerful new tool, called the Vote Score project, reaching 12 million potential voters using a social pressure mailing to boost turnout and pairing it with a provocative online ad campaign.  MoveOn also led on a crowd-sourced progressive ballot guide, going further down the ballot than ever before to elect progressive champions at the local, state, and federal level.

MoveOn members also made more than 1.5 million phone calls to those in swing states and drove creative, rapid-response campaigning to paint Romney as an out-of-touch corporate One Percenter, including pioneering a new program—99Airlines—where members submitted and voted on ideas for airplane banner slogans and chipped in to fly 31 banners over Romney events.

MoveOn also produced an ad with Kerry Washington, Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson highlighting Romney’s extreme stance on women’s issues.

Curating progressive content

During this election cycle, MoveOn’s ShareMachine team scoured the web for shareable progressive content, generating 500 million views of progressive media, including 100,000 views of a MoveOn-produced video telling the story of the GOP’s effort to buy and steal the election.

 

2014

“Supervoter” campaign

super voters

During the 2014 Election MoveOn launched the Supervoter ad campaign as part of a major effort by MoveOn members across the country to turn out women voters.

MoveOn members were featured in ads which ran in The Denver Post, The Des Moines Register, and The Charlotte Observer.

Millions of phone calls

MoveOn members volunteered and made over 6.76 million phone calls to turn out progressive voters in key states with hotly contested Senate races.

Fought back against the Koch brother’s attempts to suppress the vote

When the Koch brothers-backed group Americans for Prosperity mailed false voter registration information to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, MoveOn members fought back, chipping in to correct the misinformation by running ads and contacting voters.

We run a full-page ad correcting the misinformation that ran in North Carolina’s four largest newspapers. The newspaper ads featured Riziki Omonde, a 20-year-old college student at Appalachian State University, who has advocated to protect voting rights for students.

In addition, MoveOn ran a radio ad on the music-streaming site Pandora.

 

2016

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Run Warren Run

MoveOn Political Action is in the midst of running an unprecedented campaign to draft Senator Elizabeth Warren into the presidential race. Click here to find out more about the effort.

Getting out the vote.

We had more than 175 on-the-ground field organizers organizing in eight of the most important swing states for the presidential and Senate election. In the first three weeks, our organizers recruited and trained 1,500 MoveOn volunteers who knocked on more than 40,000 doors and had more than 11,000 face-to-face conversations with targeted voters who made the difference in the most critical races.

Video outreach.

We also launched our Video Lab, an in-house video production team, which has the capacity to turn around powerful, hard-hitting videos in 24-48 hours. From June to October 2016, our Video Lab produced 137 videos and reached 64.3 million views. These videos spread progressive ideas, including a video by Senator Elizabeth Warren on Donald Trump’s tax returns and videos contrasting Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on key issues. This is people-powered progressive media, reaching an audience of young people and others who may not be tuning in to more traditional sources.

Text Team.

Using the latest technology, we built a massive texting program to help recruit volunteers for our tremendous GOTV effort. In 2016, we had 2,000 texting volunteers and scaling up to add even more in the final days leading to the election. The response rates from the texting program are astounding: 40% of our volunteers in swing states come from text message recruitment.

Laughter Trumps Hate.

We went beyond business-as-usual political tools to take on Trump using culture, comedy, art, and laughter. MoveOn had three standing-room-only comedy showcases in LA, Chicago, and New York, using humor to pierce through Trump’s media hype and reach younger and less political audiences.

 

2018

We helped power the blue wave, ending Republican control of the House.

In 2018, MoveOn members led more than 1,000 “Wave” events to turn out voters. Volunteers sent 35 million peer-to-peer text messages to potential voters. And MoveOn members raised $4.5 million for candidates in dozens of key House and Senate races, including $250,000 for candidates in contested primaries, helping ensure our next leaders would have bold, progressive values. In total, 52 MoveOn-endorsed candidates were elected to Congress, 34 of whom flipped their districts from red to blue (out of 40 total seats that flipped the House).

We endorsed over 100 down-ballot candidate races around the country.

Of the state and local candidates we endorsed, 72% were people of color, 64% identified as women, 15% identified as LGBTQ, and 8% were Muslim-American. This diverse group of candidates will have a massive impact in local communities for years to come, making sure school boards, city councils, and state legislatures move in a more progressive direction.

We innovated in how we campaign.

In 2018, MoveOn launched a first-of-its-kind “Real Voter Voices” program, where we collected 2,500 selfie-style videos of people from across the country sharing their reasons for voting. After a unique testing program, we launched more than 260 paid video ad campaigns in 90 House districts, 10 Senate races, and 10 gubernatorial races, including Spanish-language ads in Texas. This program reached over 20 million voters in key races—and we project that the effort moved hundreds of thousands of votes for Democrats.

 

2020

In 2020, MoveOn Members:

  • Raised more than $7 million in small-dollar donations, with nearly $4 million of that directed to critical down-ballot Senate and House races;
  • Sent 155 million text messages to voters across the country and made 188,000 calls to voters in targeted states;
  • Organized 986,306 volunteers for a relational voter program who engaged with more than 3 million battleground state voters they personally knew; and
  • Aired over $5 million in targeted ad campaigns. 

 

2022

America for All: Together, We Defeated MAGA Again

In the face of extreme gerrymandering, disinformation, and voter suppression, MoveOn members helped in turning out voters in huge numbers. We held the Senate for Democrats, elected pro-democracy champions for governor and secretary of state in critical states, and demonstrated that people-first policies are a winning strategy for Democrats.

We turned out surge voters.

We helped 80,000 MoveOn members triple their vote, resulting in 240,000 surge voters who might not have voted otherwise to turn out to vote in key battleground states through tactics including polling place vote tripling, peer-to-peer texting, and phonebanking. We then amplified this people-powered strategy by running culturally relevant campaigns designed to meet voters where they are through our Nail the Vote campaign with over 40 celebrities, micro-influencers, and nail artists participating in the Nail the Vote digital campaign, including Alicia Keys, Natasha Rothwell, and Jaime King.

 

 

 

We mobilized the base.

MoveOn members endorsed 85 candidates for House, Senate, governor, and secretary of state seats across the country, contributing $1.53 million+ to those campaigns. MoveOn then partnered with NextGen and Working Families Party for Our Future Is Now, a nine-stop rally tour in the critical battleground states to galvanize tens of thousands of voters to the polls this year with Senator Bernie Sanders and influential celebrities joining us along the way to remind the nearly 82,000 voters in attendance of their enormous power during elections and to encourage them to triple their vote.

We rose up to protect our rights, freedoms, & democracy.

MoveOn defended abortion rights following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade by getting voters to turn out to protect the right to abortion care for all and channeled public outrage into electoral action, garnering 350,000 pledges to Overturn the GOP, instead of Roe. We also brought together hundreds of thousands of people who demanded accountability for MAGA Republicans who planned or played key roles in the criminal conspiracy to sabotage the 2020 election.

Learn more about what MoveOn and our members did in this historic midterm election at 2022 Election Accomplishments.

BRITTANY O’GRADY

A dynamic and versatile performer, Brittany O’Grady is emerging as one of the industry’s brightest talents. She is perhaps best known as “Paula” in the first season of Mike White’s Emmy Award-winning HBO series THE WHITE LOTUS. 

She can currently be seen starring in Amazon’s stylish new thriller series THE CONSULTANT opposite Christoph Waltz and Nat Wolff. In film she most recently appeared opposite Daisy Ridley in SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING, which premiered at Sundance this year to rave reviews.

Other work includes starring in JJ Abrams and Sara Bareilles’s Apple series LITTLE VOICE, Lee Daniels’ Fox series STAR and Sophia Takal’s film BLACK CHRISTMAS for Blumhouse.

JAIME KING

Jaime King began her career as a fashion model landing covers of top international magazines and landing major advertising campaigns. King seamlessly transitioned from modeling into acting with a wide range of roles in film and television.

With roles in big studio films, independent film and passion projects King has been able to showcase her versatility with dramatic and comedic roles. King made her debut in Daniel Waters’ Happy Campers, which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival. Following her debut acting role, Jaime starred opposite Johnny Depp in Ted Demme’s film BLOW, followed by Michael Bay’s PEARL HARBOR starring opposite Ben Affleck, Keenan Ivory Wayans’ WHITE CHICKS, Robert Rodriguez’s SIN CITY starring opposite Benicio Del Toro, Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis, DJ Caruso’s TWO FOR THE MONEY starring opposite Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey, Frank Millers’ THE SPIRIT starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson, SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR starring opposite Joseph Gordon Levitt and Josh Brolin to name a few. Additionally, Jaime was a series regular on the show HART OF DIXIE for four seasons starring opposite Rachel Bilson for the CW.  Other credits include, the Sundance Film Festival premiering BITCH written and directed by Mariana Palka and starring opposite Jason Ritter, ESCAPE PLAN 2 and ESCAPE PLAN 3 starring opposite Sylvester Stallone and an amazing cameo in OCEAN’S 8 directed by Gary Ross for Warner Brothers. Jaime can currently be seen in the critically acclaimed and number one series BLACK SUMMER on Netflix for season one and season two, OUT OF DEATH starring opposite Bruce Willis which is currently streaming on Hulu, CODE NAME BANSHEE starring opposite Antonio Banderas which is also streaming on Hulu, THE RESURRECTION OF CHARLES MANSON starring opposite Frank Grillo and HOAX: THE KIDNAPPING OF SHERRI PAPINI for Lifetime.  Jaime recently wrapped shooting the feature film, LIGHTS OUT starring opposite Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney and Scott Adkins.

Philanthropy and activism have always been key pillars of King’s career and she has used her platform to advocate for many important causes and is unafraid to question the status quo. This activism has also formed her creative endeavors in fashion and beauty. She collaborated with AKID to launch a children’s shoe line, inspired by her kids, comprised of seven unisex styles. King also previously launched a gender-fluid, gender-neutral line with Gardner and the Gang called “Gardner and the Gang X Jaime King.” The collection is designed for children to wear the beautiful story of friendship as an emblem of style, and share it with others as an empowering movement towards creating a generation without judgment. In 2016, King launched a cruelty-free, vegan makeup line with ColourPop cosmetics “Alchemy by Jaime King x ColourPop” which sold out within hours of its launch. Jaime tested the various colors of each product on a variety of skin types (all ethnicities/skin colors, etc.) as she wanted each color to work for everyone.

King currently resides in Los Angeles with her two children.

BEX TAYLOR-KLAUS

“In 2013, Bex Taylor-Klaus was introduced as one of the first and most well received transgender roles on cable TV on the critically acclaimed “THE KILLING”. They have been a catalyst and inspired more ideas for transgender, trans nonbinary, and non-conforming representation in Hollywood over the last decade. In the last couple years Bex has been in leading roles such as CBS Films’ HELLFEST along with the Netflix hit, DUMPLIN’ where they played a supporting role opposite Jennifer Aniston. They can also be seen in Millennium’s BLACKBIRD opposite Kate Winslet & Susan Sarandon. Last year, they had wrapped on the indie film, I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST, written and directed by Tommy Dorfman. They are currently shooting Adam Saunder’s independent feature film, RE-ELECTION.”

ALOK VAID-MENON

ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed author, poet, comedian, and public speaker. As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition. They are the author of Femme in Public (2017), Beyond the Gender Binary (2020), and Your Wound/My Garden (2021) and the creator of #DeGenderFashion: an initiative to degender fashion and beauty industries. In recognition of their work, they have been honored as the inaugural LGBTQ Scholar in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and awarded a GLAAD Media Award and Stonewall Foundation Visionary Award. Over the past decade, they have toured in more than 40 countries, most recently selling out their runs at the Soho Theatre in London, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Kennedy Performing Arts Center. Their show has been described as “provocative and powerful” (CHORTLE), a “potent combination of comedy and poetry” (THE SCOTSMAN), and a “Jaw-dropping celestial event” (TO DO LIST LONDON). On screen, they will make their feature film debut in Absolute Dominion opposite Patton Oswalt and next can be seen in Emmie Lichtenberg’s film Complicated Order opposite Midori Francis. On television, they have appeared on Hulu’s Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne, ABC’s PRIDE: To Be Seen – A Soul of A Nation, Netflix’s Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness and The Trans List.

ADINA PORTER

Emmy-nominated actress, Adina Porter was born and raised in The South Bronx, to immigrant parents. She always felt a deep desire to entertain. As a child, her parents enrolled her in dance and acting classes while gently steering her toward more conventional occupations. Undeterred, she attended the famed High School for the Performing Arts. Upon graduation from S.U.N.Y. Purchase, Porter embarked on a professional career rooted in the theatre. She built an impressive and extensive stage resume in NYC and in prestigious, regional theater companies, including an Obie Award-winning performance in Venus. Myriad TV guest appearances soon followed. In 2001, Porter made her Broadway debut in The Women.


In 2008, she landed the role of “Lettie Mae Thornton” in HBO’s True Blood. The role was originally conceived as a 4-episode Guest Star. However, the creative team was delighted by the character; Porter spent the following seven seasons on the show. Thanks to wigs, elaborate makeup and contact lenses, “Lettie Mae” looked very different from Adina Porter. This engendered a realization within Porter: she was a chameleon. She went on to work in over 60 television series and 20 feature films, many with altered physical appearances, various accents and distinctly unique roles.


Her breakout performance was arguably “Beverly Hope” in American Horror Story: Cult for which she garnered an Emmy® nomination. Porter has worked in five of the anthology seasons. In addition to FX’s AHS franchise, Porter is known to audiences as “Indra,” from CW’s post-apocalyptic, The 100, “Prioress” in Amazon’s Paper Girls, “Sheriff Peterkin” in the Netflix hit Outer Banks, “The Voice” in The Power, and pivotal roles in Apple TV’s The Morning Show, Aaron Sorkin’s, The Newsroom, HBO’s The Leftovers, Showtime’s Ray Donovan and Sony’s Underground.


Next, Porter will star opposite LaKeith Stanfield in Apple TV’s The Changeling and will appear with Nicole Kidman in The Perfect Couple.


On the big screen, Porter recently appeared alongside Uzo Aduba in Miss Virginia. Additional film credits include: multi award-winning The Social Network, The Last Word, Gia, Wig Shop, The Peacemaker, About Sunny, among others. She will also be seen this year in the Amazon Studios feature Sitting in Bars with Cake.


Porter and her two kids split time between Los Angeles and New York City. She proudly serves as a CARE ambassador and devotes time to Goodwill, Feeding America and the World Central Kitchen. She enjoys swimming and yoga to stay in shape. Porter is a self-proclaimed “news junkie.”