The MoveOn Community’s Powerful Impact in a Historic Midterm Result

By admin. Thursday, November 17 2022

MoveOn members, we did it! Together, millions of members mobilized voters in huge numbers, prevented a red wave, held the Senate, helped win critical governor and secretary of state races, and helped defend progressive champions in the House. Our actions contributed to the most successful midterm election for the party in power in decades—bucking history, defeating many hardcore MAGA extremists, and defending democracy.

Many factors played into this election’s results—and you can be proud that you were part of a community that contributed in impactful ways where it mattered most. Early analysis shows our strategy targeted the right set of voters with a resonant array of messages. In short, the folks who helped lead to Democrats’ electoral success were some of the very people our program focused on and were motivated by the issues we centered. 

This means that every call, text, targeted digital ad, and contact with voters contributed to several razor-thin victories that were decisive this election.

Here’s some of what we accomplished together:

• We ran the largest relational organizing program in the country and specifically recruited MoveOn members to mobilize 240,000 people they knew personally to vote in the most critical states.
• Grassroots MoveOn donors gave $1.5 million directly for Senate, House, gubernatorial, and secretary of state candidates—some of whom beat the biggest election deniers in the country.
• MoveOn supporters gave our data scientists, researchers, and organizers the resources to identify and target and reach 4.3 million “surge voters”—first-time voters in 2018 and 2020 who may agree with progressive causes but were less likely to vote in 2022.
• We held nine rallies in battleground states with Sen. Bernie Sanders, NextGen America and Working Families Party to mobilize and turn out youth voters in swing states.
• Through ads, social media, emails, texts, and MoveOn members’ advocacy, we pushed the issues of abortion rights and democracy protection front and center.

Take a look at some of the numbers behind our collective impact:

Thank you for all you did. From making a grassroots donation to spending a few hours calling MoveOn members in swing districts, sharing hard-hitting content online, joining our weekly Rallies for Democracy, participating in the endorsement votes for the 85 candidates MoveOn members endorsed up and down the ballot—each of these actions, and so many more, contributed to MoveOn’s impact on these historic, consequential, and powerful midterm election results.

We didn’t win every race, and a GOP-led House of Representatives will be a hotbed of MAGA conspiracy theorists and attacks on our freedoms. But we helped create a more favorable political landscape for the next two years, sent a clear national message of rejection to MAGA’s extremism, and built momentum around issues that matter deeply—and we’ll keep organizing around them in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Here’s what our most immediate work ahead includes: 

• Going all-in to reelect Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia—thousands joined our Nov. 15 livestream (watch the recording here) to kick off the program and began to sign up for phonebanking and vote tripling shifts to reach Georgia voters. You can sign up for phonebanking and vote tripling here.
• Hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members took collective action in response to Trump’s announced candidacy for president in 2024—ordering “Make Trump Lose Again” stickers to display visual opposition to Trump, signing petitions to call on networks to stop giving him free airtime and on officials to hold him accountable for his role in the insurrection, and donating now to defeat Trump … again.

MoveOn members pulled together for our largest midterm election program in our 24-year history. The stakes were just that high—and our energy, engagement, and impact matched the moment.

Thank you for being part of this vibrant community that works for an America for all. Thanks for how you participated up through Election Day—and your continued partnership as we advance together a world of justice, sustainability, equality, and love.