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Indivisibles,

This is a big election year, so I want to try something new. I want to
start a conversation about why we’ll win. 

We have 43 weeks until the election -- and I feel the time ticking. Every
week, Leah and I are talking with journalists, visiting with Indivisible
group leaders, leading and participating in coalitions, and driving our
national campaign strategy (and hanging out with 3-year-old Zeke and
9-month-old Lila, who are, I can tell you, a hoot). This work gives us a
fair amount of exposure to the workings of the political world nationally
and the state of things on the ground locally.

So periodically (let’s say biweekly-ish), I’m going to send a note like
this with three main topics:

 1. The news: Our take on the currently burning political news with
national implications.
 2. The brag (and ask): I’ll tell you about something cool Indivisibles
are doing across the country to help us win, along with a shameless
ask for support. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.
 3. The discussion: An invitation for you to share your thoughts and
questions for us to engage in a movement-wide discussion.

We’re all headed to the same place: rebuilding the Democratic trifecta in
10 months so we can codify abortion rights and pass democracy reform next
year. I view this discussion series as a way for us to row in the same
direction as we get there together.

Let’s try this out. 

1. The News

Repeat after me: It’s the extremism, stupid

New in the news this week, I’m picking up rumblings in the national
political punditry reviving a debunked idea: that voters just don’t care
about democracy. The idea is wrong and distracting, so I’d like to
thoroughly put it to rest.

You may remember that in the closing weeks of the 2022 election cycle,
Biden and the Democrats centered their campaign on abortion, democracy,
and MAGA extremism. (Indivisible spent much of early-to-mid 2022 pleading
with and cajoling Democratic leaders to adopt this strategy... If you want
the inside story of that strategic messaging fight, [ [link removed] ]read it [ [link removed] ]here.)
Prominent political commentators lambasted Biden and called his campaign
messaging a “[ [link removed] ]strategic blunder.” 

They were wrong. The strategy worked. Democrats turned in one of the best
midterm performances for an incumbent president in modern American
history.

In the aftermath of that election, The New York Times Daily podcast ran an
informative episode on the topic, “[ [link removed] ]How Democrats Defied the Odds.” Nate
Cohn and Michael Barbaro discuss in it how abortion, democracy, and MAGA
extremism were the big winning issues for Democrats in 2022.

Cohn: If we just zoom out and like start comparing state by state, you
get a broader pattern where the more that either democracy or abortion
is under threat, the better the Democrats do.

In 2022, where Democrats successfully turned the election into a
referendum on MAGA extremism, they usually won.

That was 2022. Flash forward to this week, and the idea that democracy’s a
political loser seems to be popping up again.

I’m a fan of The New York Times Daily podcast, so I was listening again
this week to the “[ [link removed] ]Biden’s 2024 Playbook” episode, and I was surprised
to hear this exchange:

Reid Epstein: [In 2022], any voter who cared about democracy as an issue
was already gonna vote for the Democratic candidate.

Sabrina Tavernise: Okay. So democracy is not really a thing for swing
voters, not an arrow [Biden] can put in his quiver.

What?!?

The day after that Daily episode, I saw this same zombie idea parroted by
conservative commentator Ramesh Ponnuru in his Washington Post piece,
“[ [link removed] ]How Biden wins in 2024.” Voters, he argues, don’t need to be reminded
about Trump’s threat to democracy. Focus on the economy instead, he
advises. 

Now, I take Ponnuru’s punditry with a grain of salt -- after all, in 2022,
[ [link removed] ]he argued abortion would be a political loser for Democrats. Still, in
the space of 24 hours, we have two major papers publishing a political
analysis composed of debunked déjà vu from early 2022. This misguided
strategy of ignoring Trump’s unique threat to democracy appears to be
gaining traction. 

This zombie idea doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s true that when you ask
voters to list their top issues out of the blue, they rarely put generic
“democracy” at the top of the list. We saw the same dynamic headed into
2022 as well -- it was why pundits were flipping out about the Biden
strategy being a political loser. But what we’ve learned from the 2022
[ [link removed])%20and%20abortion%20(75%25). ]exit polls and election results themselves is that voters are indeed
driven by concerns about anti-democratic extremism. 

Both the Trump and Biden Campaign managers understand that. Longtime Trump
journalist Maggie Haberman [ [link removed] ]explained this week, “Trump and his team
know that what Democrats are saying about Trump as a threat to democracy
is having some effect in terms of the public.” Trump himself is worried
about the efficacy of these democracy attacks!

The Biden/Harris team gets it, too -- they’ve so far ignored the misguided
“ignore democracy” strategic analysis. Just this week, the campaign
launched its [ [link removed] ]first TV ad of the year -- and it’s entirely focused on
Trump’s reckless, willful endangerment of our democracy. Then on Friday,
Biden gave his first major speech of the year focused on the January 6th
insurrection and the urgent need for all Americans to rally in defense of
our democracy. As [ [link removed] ]TIME magazine reported, the campaign media blitz
this week is “intended to frame the next election as another turning point
in the nation’s democracy.”

Bravo to team Biden/Harris. This is how you learn, internalize, and apply
a hard-won political lesson. What’s this election about? It’s the
extremism, stupid.

2. The Brag (and ask)

All politics is local, including presidential political strategy

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of January 6th. Biden put in an able
effort to draw public attention to that fact, and remind voters what’s at
stake this year.

He wasn’t alone.

Across the country, Indivisible groups were holding attention-grabbing
vigils. A sampling from blue, red, and purple districts:

* Indivisible Tucson Action Alliance rallied outside the office of Rep.
Ciscomani, a vulnerable, MAGA-supporting member of Congress.
* Indivisible Worcester held an event, “Never Forget, Never Back Down,”
with featured speaker Congressman Jim McGovern.
* Indivisible CommonGroundWNC in Sylva, North Carolina, rallied and
urged fellow constituents to “join forces to protect democracy and
fight for our democratic values in 2024!” 
* Indivisible Georgia District 10 in Athens marked the anniversary with
a “Democracy Will Prevail” voter registration campaign.
* Indivisible Mendocino held a “Sunset Vigil for Democracy” on the beach
and directed participants to bring, among other things, signs,
flashlights, hope & determination.
* Indivisible Washington's 8th District held a march to the City Hall
and rally “celebration of our democracy as well as the caution never
to forget what happened on January 6.”

National candidates and spokespeople aren’t the only ones who get to shape
what this election is about. Biden and his team can lift some, but not
all, of the weight. Local media, constituents, and neighbors also look
nearby to understand how normal, everyday people are thinking about the
election. Local pro-democracy events early in campaign season feed a
crucial national narrative for us: This election is a referendum on MAGA
extremism and Trump’s menacing of our democracy. 

…And you know what costs money? (I told you this was coming.) Running a
national grassroots communication and voter contact campaign. Calling
through dozens of local TV stations takes staff time. Paying for
peer-to-peer texting, phonebanks, and postcards costs money. Preparing to
contact millions of voters in key districts and states this year ain’t
free! And Indivisible does this, most of all, with grassroots supporters
who send in an average of less than $100 each. 

[12]Comic with two characters. The first is kneeling in a garden and the
second character asks them 'Aren't you terrified of what 2024 could be
like? Everything is so messed up.' The first character responds, 'I think
it will bring flowers.' The second replies, 'YES? WHY?' The first replies,
'Because I'm planting flowers.'

My mom shared this silly cartoon with me, and I considered not including
it because of how corny it is. But damn it, this silly cartoon is
right. [ [link removed] ]Plant a few seeds with a donation to Indivisible now, and we’ll
enjoy the flowers together come November.

3. The Discussion

This is going to be a chaotic year in politics. There are a lot of
uncertainties and a lot of twists and turns to come. We may not always
agree with each other or our endorsed candidates on policy choices or
political strategy -- we may disagree with them fiercely at times. But
here’s what I believe: the simple reason why we’ll win is that elections
are about choices.

Election after election since 2017, voters have chosen to reject
anti-democratic MAGA extremists. We’re set to run a campaign where we
contrast MAGA extremism with our normal, popular accomplishments and ideas
for the future. Everyday Americans are rallying in defense of democracy at
the same time that the President of the United States is rallying
Americans to come to democracy’s defense. That’s why we’ll win. That, and
a whole lotta work ahead of us.

Here’s where I want to open it up to you. What did you think of Biden’s
first 2024 ad ([ [link removed] ]here) and his Jan 6th memorial speech ([ [link removed] ]here)? What
did you like, what didn’t you like, what do you want to see more or less
of? [ [link removed] ]You can click here to let us know. I’ll read through all the
responses and report back to y’all what I’m hearing. Because we’re in
touch with the Biden/Harris campaign, I will also share this feedback with
them to let them know how this communications strategy is landing with the
grassroots army that they’re depending on to help defeat Trump and MAGA.

I’ll catch you next time.

When I was writing the original Indivisible Guide with Leah back during
that dark time in the wake of the 2016 electoral catastrophe, I closed it
with a jaunty line: “We will win.” Leah sometimes edits out my rhetorical
flourishes (Leah editorial note: and to be fair, often they should be
edited out). But not that one. And while Indivisible remains steadfastly
dedicated to focusing on the “how” of winning, I’m looking forward to
talking about the “why” with you a bit more this year, too.

2024 is gonna to be a big one for our democracy. And one way or another,
it’s gonna end with a crescendo. Together, we’ll make sure it’s a high
note.

In solidarity,
Ezra

Ezra Levin

[17]Indivisble Co-Executive Director

Pronouns: He/him

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