Indivisibles,

We want to take some time to update you again about the progress of Indivisible’s Payback Project, our campaign aimed at targeting the 10 most Trumpian Republican senators that we're going to beat in November.

Real talk: what's really special about the Payback Project is that no other organization is doing the work right now to plug voters directly into the grassroots groups who are going to be the blue wave builders in November. Thanks to thousands of you who have already stepped up to support this campaign, that's exactly what we're doing. We're raising awareness for their votes. We're holding them accountable. And, we're building Indivisible group capacity in a really amazing way. We've sent more than 330,000 (!!!) text messages to voters in our first two Payback Project states, Arizona and Colorado, to hold Senators McSally and Gardner accountable for their Trump-enabling votes and to plug their constituents into this people-powered movement.

And starting today, we’ve launched a new Medium series, focusing explicitly on our 10 target senators and exactly why we’re dedicating our resources to paying them back. Check out our first article on Senator Martha McSally’s 95% Pro-Trump voting record, and remember to share and uplift so that others can be brought into this massive campaign.

We've already plugged more than 10,000 Arizonans and Coloradans into Payback Project, including connecting thousands of potential members directly with Indivisible groups working on the ground. And groups are READY. In Arizona alone, groups scheduled more than 60 events on the map from letter to the editor writing events, empty chair town halls and rallies to happy hours, canvasses, voter registration drives, Presidential Debate watch parties, and new member orientations. If you're reading this right now and you haven't yet found your group, stop what you're doing and find one. And, if you're already part of a group and have an upcoming event that you'd love to see new folks showing up, register it now so we can help spread the word.

Here are some (more) amazing numbers we wanted to share: 

• Nearly 200,000 visits to paybackproject.org from all 50 states, the District of Colombia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands.
• 40,000 people have said they're all in to do the work to defeat these 10 Senate Republicans.
• More than 5,000 folks have signed up to text into our first Payback Project states, maxing out our last couple of trainings. It's remarkable in terms of scale and really only comparable to the kind of numbers we see during Get Out the Vote efforts much closer to the election.
• We've raised over a million dollars from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam to support our four-pronged approach to raise awareness, build group capacity, organize to win through trainings and tools, and to get out the vote in the 9 Payback Project states.

ICYMI, here's a video about Payback Project you can share with your friends, family, neighbors, and fellow Indivisibles to help us spread the word and get even more folks involved in this campaign.

And now, let’s get to those to-dos:

 Your weekly to-dos 

1. Demand your representative and two senators defund Attorney General Bill Barr. The Attorney General of the United States himself, William Barr, personally intervened to try to score a lighter sentence for Roger Stone, the deeply corrupt former campaign adviser to Donald Trump. The Department of Justice is not a private law firm. The Attorney General is not the president’s personal lawyer. Yet Bill Barr is exploiting his position to run favors for the president. Call your representative and two senators, Democrat or Republican, and demand that Congress investigate Bill Barr and defund his office until he recuses himself from any Trump-related investigations or prosecutions.
2. Text PAYBACK to 977-79 and join this fight right now. Even in the month since we launched the Payback Project, we’ve already seen twists and turns and had to drop everything to respond to new Republican schemes. We know that’s not going to stop, which is why we need even more folks texting, donating, and joining local groups as we continue to get payback now until the election.
3. Tell your representative it's time to end surprise medical bills. Congress needs to act in the next few months to end the exploitative practice of surprise medical bills. Every day, over 10,000 families in the United States receive a surprise medical bill. Surprise bills can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars -- a devastating amount for most people. Congress needs to act to protect patients, and in the process hold down health care costs for families and the health system overall. Call your representative and tell them to end surprise medical bills for health services!
4. Send a Letter to the Editor calling on the Senate to pass H.R. 1. Watching Donald Trump get off scot-free was a sad moment for our democracy. Now we need to focus on what we can do to repair our democracy. The House has already passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, a major pro-democracy bill, but Republicans in the Senate refuse to bring it up for a vote. That's where you come in. Our friends at the Declaration for American Democracy have put together a helpful Letter to the Editor tool that you can use to raise this important issue with your local newspapers.
5. Register for the National Activist Call on March 5 at 8 p.m. ET. Make sure to join us for an update on our plan for engaging in the upcoming primaries and how you can help our #defundbarr campaign.

 2020 Update 

Another caucus has come and gone and things are looking good for Senator Bernie Sanders as the frontrunner of this primary, but he’s far from the presumptive nominee. With eight remaining candidates and only one debate and one primary contest between now and Super Tuesday, there’s still space and time for other candidates to prove their mettle on the campaign trail. Read on for a recap of the past seven days, as well as a look ahead to the upcoming South Carolina primary:

• Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Nevada caucus. With over 95% of precincts are reporting, the current allocation of NV delegates is 19 for Sanders, 7 for Biden, 2 for Buttigieg, and 8 unallocated. Sanders’ win is a big one, even if it was expected. He overperformed with every voter group across the board. This caucus was a clear refutation of the argument that his base is too narrow to win. 
  
  
• Indivisible Action Tampa Bay endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren for President. Membership voting closed on Thursday and results were released Friday. Sen. Warren received 44 percent of the vote, with Sen. Sanders garnering 37 percent, Mayor Pete Buttigieg 16 percent, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar 3 percent. This is the first local Indivisible endorsement in the Democratic primary that we’re aware of! (If your group has endorsed in the Democratic primary, hit us up?) Local endorsements are a great way to make an impact in the primary, so if your group has a favorite candidate, now is the time to take action. Check out Indivisible’s “How to Impact the Primary” resource for more info. Not sure who to support? Take a look at our scorecard and see how the candidates stack up. Check out this tweet with a thank you from Senator Warren herself!
  
  
• The 10th Democratic Debate is taking place tomorrow at 8pm EST in South Carolina. This will be the second debate with former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg on stage and it is essential that we continue to hold Bloomberg accountable for his record. Since he entered the race, candidates and voters have been raising concerns over his history of supporting and defending racist policies, helping Republicans secure a Senate majority, and attacking unions and working people. If his performance in the last debate is any indication of how he’ll do on Tuesday night, expect him to continue to struggle to address those concerns.
   
  In addition to going after Bloomberg, expect to see more heat directed at Sanders. With four whole days between the debate and South Carolina’s Saturday primary, candidates will be working to pull as many votes away from Sanders and Biden as possible. Tune in to our Twitter feed to catch our hot takes and memorable moments.

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   Support the Payback Project 

  The Payback Project is going swimmingly: Indivisibles are using a peer-to-peer texting program called TextOut to get voters in key states involved in holding their senators accountable. We expected to have sent about 140,000 text messages by this month, but literally thousands of you stepped up, and we’ve sent more than 500,000 texts to voters. 

  But we’re charged by the text, and all that enthusiasm means we’re spending through our texting budget a lot faster than we expected. Right now, we’ve spent almost $21,000 more than we planned for this point, and we need to keep spending to reach as many voters as we can while they’re energized. That means we need your help: can you donate $10 to fund our texting program, the Payback Project, and all our work?

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   IndivisWin of the Week  

  Folks from One Queens Indivisible and Empire State Indivisible worked together to write over 300 postcards to help Georgians in their fight against voter suppression.

  We know that there's a lot happening and it can feel (really, really, really) overwhelming. From our team to yours, thank you. Stay focused, stay energized, and let's do it. 

  In solidarity,
  Indivisible Team