Welcome to The Revolution Report — the weekly e-newsletter of our national grassroots organizing network!
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Join us on Monday, November 9th at 8:30 P.M. EST as we celebrate our 2020 election wins, analyze the results, and discuss what we need to do next to continue the political revolution!
RSVP HERE
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OUR PLAN
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This issue focuses on how Our Revolution members carried out our 4-POINT PLAN to fight for a progressive future by #1) Defeating Trump; #2) Electing more progressives to Congress; #3) Building a down-ballot bench; and most critically, #4) Organizing a powerful grassroots movement to win transformative change after the election!
READ BELOW FOR OUR POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS!
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WE GOT OUT THE VOTE!
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Our Revolution’s army of grassroots volunteers powered a massive “Get Out the Vote” campaign all across America. Over 650,000 people joined our rolling national and state virtual rallies, and together made more than 4 million one-on-one voter contacts.
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AT THE POLLS!
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In addition to our massive pre-election GOTV blitz, Our Revolution held over 35 Election Day actions at the polls to get our endorsed candidates over the finish line. Our events were livestreamed non-stop for 12 hours and featured progressive champions like FL State Rep. Anna Eskamani, who won her race for re-election and worked with Our Revolution Florida activists to pass a statewide $15 minimum wage ballot initiative; the newly-elected Mayor of Baltimore Brandon Scott who won his race with the support of Our Revolution Maryland; NY State Sen. Jessica Ramos, a labor champion who won her reelection bid with the help of Our Revolution New York, San Francisco Supervisor-candidate Connie Chan, who’s ahead in the vote count because of the activism of Our Revolution California / SF Berniecrats and Marie Newman, who Our Illinois Revolution helped to become the newest member of The Squad!
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TOPLINE RESULTS
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Our people-powered GOTV campaign worked - not only did we defeat Trump, but our grassroots organizing helped elect 74% of our 450 endorsed progressive champions up and down the ballot!
BELOW: HOW WE EXECUTED OUR 4 POINT PLAN
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#1 - Our Revolution’s grassroots army of volunteers went all out to defeat Donald Trump by winning back working-class voters in the Midwest.
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Our Revolution’s strategy to defeat Trump focused on rebuilding the crumbling Blue Wall - Through strategic organizing, the pivotal states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania all flipped back to blue and ultimately helped swing the White House to Biden. Based on our analysis of the 2016 race - when Clinton failed to effectively counter Trump’s “pro-worker” populist rhetoric in the Midwest - we decided we could not allow Democratic pollsters and consultants to make the same mistake twice.
That’s why our Midwest Campaign focused on organizing working class voters to expose Trump’s failure to deliver on his signature promise to “bring back jobs” to the Rust Belt. Our Revolution’s Field Team organized laid-off factory workers to bird-dog Trump at his rallies and call-out his economic lies. By empowering working class voters to directly confront Trump, our campaign drove extensive national and local media coverage about “Trump’s “broken promises” to workers in the industrial heartland.
Our strategy to defeat Trump by focusing on Midwestern working class voters and union members delivered results. According to exit polling released by NBC News, support for Trump dropped in this region among white voters who did not graduate college. We also played a key role in reversing much of the dip in union support that led to Hillary Clinton’s defeat in the Rust Belt during the 2016 race.
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#2 - In 2020, Our Revolution helped elect more progressives to the U.S. House who will help push for progressive policies under the Biden Administration.
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While centrist Democrats lost ground in the Senate and the House, progressives won big on Election Day. We helped to send Squad members – Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) back to Congress — and grow The Squad with victories for Cori Bush in Missouri, Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones in New York, and Marie Newman in Illinois.
Overall, 75% of our 55 endorsed
federal candidates won their races!
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#3 - Our Revolution’s 2020 organizing strengthened our bench of down-ballot progressive politicians & policies from coast to coast.
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In order to win nationally, we must organize locally. We believe change comes from the bottom up - that’s why 88% of Our Revolution’s endorsements went to candidates running in down-ballot races! In 2020, our members mobilized to elect the next generation of progressive champions to serve on local water commissions, school boards, city councils, and county commissions.
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STATE HOUSE WINS!
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Our state-level progressive champions aren’t just winning - 81% of our state rep and state senate candidates won their races - they’re breaking barriers and building a more inclusive, representative government. Dagmara “Dee” Avelar, longtime advocate for immigrant rights, became the first Latina to represent the 85th District in the Illinois House. Tarra Simmons [D-23] is the first former felon to serve in the Washington State Legislature, and hopes her victory will inspire other formerly incarcerated people to run for office. State Rep. Anna Eskamani, who represents District 47 in Orange County, is the first Iranian American elected to the Florida Legislature. Nikil Saval, who was Philadelphia’s first Asian American Democratic ward leader, now becomes the first Asian American elected to the Pennsylvania Senate. And in Puerto Rico, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, a member of the Citizens’ Victory party, became the first lesbian woman of African descent elected to the Puerto Rican Senate.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMERS!
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In 2020, Our Revolution doubled down on the work to reform our broken criminal justice system at all levels of government. From county sheriffs to state attorneys general, we are growing a nationwide bench of criminal justice reform champions. Since we first worked to elect Larry Krasner to be the District Attorney of Philadelphia, we have seen these efforts pay off. Last year, Chesa Boudin was elected to be San Francisco DA and Mike Schmidt won his race to be DA in Portland. And 2020 will add to that count with the election of progressive prosecutors like Jose Garza in Travis County, TX; Eli Savit in Washtenaw County, MI; Alexis King in Jefferson-Gilpin County, CO, and Monique Worrell in Orange County, FL - and top cops like Charmaine McGuffey, the new Sheriff in Hamilton County, OH. All our endorsed candidates are championing a progressive policy agenda - Support for ending cash bail; stopping mass incarceration, treating substance abuse as a health crisis; and the pursuit of restorative justice. Overall, Our Revolution’s slate of criminal justice reform champions won 75% of their races!
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PUBLIC EDUCATION CHAMPIONS!
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Our members volunteered to elect public education champions across the country, including Krystle Dupree, who will fight for increasing investment in special education in Ann Arbor, MI; Lisa Escarega, who will be championing better pay for teachers and the expansion of pre-school as the newest member of the Colorado State Board of Education; Jessica Vaughn who’ll fight against the privatization of public education in Hillsborough, FL; and Alan Wong, who’s advocating for free college for all on the San Francisco Community College Board. Nationally, over 63% of our slate of public education champions won their races!
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CITY & COUNTY WINS!
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Across the nation, 57% of our candidates won their races for city and county positions. Bernie started his career as municipal elected official where he implemented transformational policies. That’s why Our Revolution is working to make sure city and county councils are led by progressive champions who put the interests of working families over those of real estate investors and corporate lobbyists. From Black Hawk County, IA Commissioner Chris Schwartz, to DC’s newest City Councilmember Janeese Lewis-George, to Holly Mitchell, who will be part of a historic all-women-led Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, we are continuing to fight for change from the bottom up!
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OUR REVOLUTION MEMBERS!
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Our Revolution also helped propel our own members to victory around the country. Grayson Lookner of Our Revolution Maine scored 91% of the vote in his race to represent District 37 in the Maine House of Representatives; Two members of Our Revolution Oregon won their races to be city councillors: Sarah Spansail for Medford City Council, Ward 1 and Jason Clark for City of Talent Council, Position 6; And Chad Albritton - who was inspired to run for office after attending Our Revolution Florida’s Organize to Win Summit earlier this year - won his race for Casselberry City Commissioner, Seat #4.
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BUILD A BENCH: BALLOT MEASURES
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We didn’t just organize to elect progressive candidates, Our Revolution members also mobilized to pass progressive policies all across America. Whether it’s guaranteeing paid family leave and a living wage or ending the failed war on drugs, our members are tired of waiting for the establishment to act, and so we’re taking upon ourselves to fight for transformative change. Overall, Our Revolution endorsed 28 ballot measures, and 78% of them passed!
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In a huge victory for workers, Florida said yes to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, becoming the eighth state - and the first in the South - to raise the wage. Our Revolution Florida’s organizing and GOTV efforts helped deliver the win, sending a message to the White House and Congress that voters want action on a $15 minimum wage. As Our Revolution Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese told The HuffPost, “I think the significance of Florida is it is a pivotal swing state. If $15 passes in Florida, it will send a clear message to the incoming Biden administration that raising the minimum wage is not just good policy but also good politics.”
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Colorado became the 9th state to enact paid family and medical leave with the passage of Proposition 118 Colorado Families First. Prop 118 will create one of the most progressive family and medical leave programs in the country. This Proposition builds on the work that low wage federal contract workers achieved under the Obama administration, pushing the President to sign an executive order providing paid sick and family leave to workers under federal contracts, and creates pressure on Congress and the Biden administration to take further federal action on this issue.
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Our Revolution volunteers organized voters in Oregon, Arizona, New Jersey, Montana, and the District of Columbia to approve our endorsed legalization ballot initiatives. Even the red states of South Dakota and Mississippi passed legalization measures, proving that ending the war on drugs has bipartisan support. There are now 35 states plus Washington, D.C. that have voted to legalize medical and/or recreational cannabis, sending a clear message that it’s time for federal action on ending the failed “War on Drugs.”
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Our Revolution Washington mobilized to pass Referendum 90, Sex Education in Public Schools — the first time in the U.S. that a sex-education mandate has appeared on a statewide ballot. The measure requires public schools to provide comprehensive sexual health education for all students, unless their parents request that they be excused.
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Our Revolution Oregon members organized voters to overwhelmingly pass Measure 26-217, which authorizes a new, independent community police accountability oversight board. The measure, which passed with 82% of the vote, gives the new board the authority to subpoena documents, compel officers to testify, share findings with the public, and name, discipline and terminate officers. Our Revolution Ohio also helped pass a similar measure in Columbus to create a Civilian Police Oversight Board.
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#4 - We must build a movement in the streets and inside the halls of power to win progressive change.
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FLIP THE SENATE
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Even though Democrats won the White House, the control of the Senate is still at stake. We are confident that when Georgia votes are fully counted, we will be facing runoff elections for both Senate seats. Here’s what that means: If both Democrats in Georgia win in their runoffs, the Senate will be 50-50 with Vice President Harris being the tie-breaker.
If we lose these runoff elections and Mitch McConnell continues in his current role, he will block progress on policies like increasing the minimum wage and passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. That’s why Our Revolution is launching a special GOTV effort in Georgia - we must flip the Senate!
Please help us raise $50,000 to hire organizers to mobilize our supporters in Georgia and win this critical battle that will determine the fate of the Senate and progressive policy for the foreseeable future!
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HOLDING BIDEN ACCUNTABLE
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Our Revolution board chair Larry Cohen is quoted in Politico on how progressives are already pressuring Biden to stand up and fight Mitch McConnell and his GOP allies over who will run key agencies in a new administration: “It’s going to be up to our champions in the Senate to say to Biden: ‘If you bring us a bunch of Republicans, we’re not going to confirm them.’”
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No honeymoon: Activists on left prepare for Biden presidency
The LA Times interviewed Our Revolution executive director Joseph Geevarghese about his experience working with Vice-President Biden and what it’s going to take to pressure him to advance our progressive agenda.
“During Obama’s first term, Joseph Geevarghese was helping to lead a labor coalition. He repeatedly met with the administration task force on middle-class families, headed by Vice President Joe Biden, and pressed it to support a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage and other pro-labor initiatives. But Biden’s team was adamant — they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do it. “That first-term experience was incredibly disheartening and frustrating,” Geevarghese said. “We had invested troops and treasure, and had incredible hope that change would come with a progressive, quote-unquote, president. But we didn’t get anywhere.” Now, activists on the left are poised, if Biden’s elected, to be more aggressive from the start in pressing their agenda. They talk of a strategy that combines insider politicking with outside agitation — the sort of demonstrations by fast food workers, Walmart employees and Los Angeles port truck drivers that brought pressure to bear on the Obama-Biden administration by its second term. Within a Biden administration’s first 100 days, Geevarghese said, there would need to be a “mass mobilization” of progressives: “There is not going to be a honeymoon period.”
READ THE LA TIMES STORY
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Unions Hope For Turnaround Under Biden
Workers’ rights advocates are getting ready to push a potential Biden administration to take bold action on DAY 1 to help workers by leveling the playing field on federal procurement rules and other labor regulations that has been tilted in favor of corporations for far too long. Our Revolution Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese talked about how Biden should issue pro-worker executive orders immediately to avoid repeating Obama/Biden’s first term mistakes. “Biden does not have to wait for Congress to act. We don’t have to fix the filibuster for him to be bold on this issue.”
READ MORE HERE
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Our Revolution’s work is powered by YOU — our members, volunteers, and donors. Thank you for your solidarity and commitment. We also want to give a special shout-out to our TOP 30 super volunteers below who helped power our National Phone Bank & Text Teams! Together, we are building a powerful independent political organization that is organizing to win a progressive America in 2020 and beyond!
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