In the past month, Michigan has been dubbed “the Anti-Florida” and “a microcosm for reinvigorating the American Dream.” We’ll leave it to you to decide which is a bigger compliment.

But it’s not hard to see why the Mitten State is getting so much attention. April 10th marked 100 days of Governor Whitmer’s second term and 100 days with a Democratic legislature. It’s been productive, to say the least (especially when you contrast it with, let’s say, Kevin McCarthy’s first 100 days as Speaker of the U.S. House…).

Things haven’t always been this good in Michigan. Until last year, it was deeply gerrymandered to favor Republicans. You may remember plots to kidnap Governor Whitmer by right-wing militia groups, armed protests at the state capitol and the homes of elected officials, and the emergency manager law that resulted in the Flint water crisis. All this to say, the future of democracy in Michigan didn’t look certain just a few years ago.

It’s an inspiring example of why we do the work we do, and we need all the inspiration we can get heading into a tough year, so today, we wanted to share a little bit of how Michiganders turned it around. This story has everything—one citizen who sparked a movement, a badass Governor, and thousands of people organizing behind the scenes for the best version of the state.

Check out this short video we made explaining just a bit of the recent history:

You can also hear directly from Governor Whitmer’s interview on last Thursday’s Pod Save America. She talked to Dan about how they’ve accomplished so much in Michigan, why abortion was so central to her campaign, and what comes next.

LISTEN HERE

And if you don’t have time for a deep-dive on Michigan, here’s the short version: year-round organizing.

Michigan progressives built up an infrastructure to listen to voters year-round about the issues they care about, and then they delivered on those issues.

Michigan’s story isn’t over, and if you want to help them keep doing that work and bring the Michigan model to other states, chip in to the No Off Years fund. All funds go directly to state-based organizations that are doing the work year-round to bring about the kind of change we’ve seen from our friends in the Great Lakes State.

Thank you so much,

Team VSA

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