The 2022 midterm elections are going to provide a thrilling forum to broadcast our progressive message of hope and compassion. The candidates you help us to elect will be our voices, and progressive policies will be our legacy. Together, there is no limit to what we can achieve.
Happy New Year— Now let’s go make good trouble.
In solidarity,
All of us at DFA
2021 LOOK BACK: ANALYSIS & SOLUTIONS
DFA Member Impact On National Narrative Shifts
Thanks to your support, we are no longer speaking in hushed tones about mere inclusion. We are empowered to seek justice and demand accountability. Thanks to progressives within the judiciary- we saw the historic delivery of verdicts that affirmed the value of Black lives- and the culpability of police. Thanks to diverse legislators at state and federal levels, we saw historic adoption of policies that have begun untangling the webs of patriarchy and structural racism.
With more progressive women (and especially women of color) in office, women’s rights to medical self-determination, workplace dignity, and equal pay are no longer negotiable. Indefatigable DFA-endorsed electeds like Katie Porter and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continue to hold the line on debates about women’s rights, exploited by Republicans to distract voters from their pro-corporate, anti-human policies. Without your early support, we may not have elected such dedicated advocates in Washington.
Elections up and down the ballot have confirmed what progressives have known for decades: status quo candidates are not enough to move voters and win. The people want grassroots candidates who relate directly to the working poor, middle class, and historically oppressed. Your contributions have built the lane where grassroots candidates can rise from the working class to represent real people in Washington.
Three Examples Of Historic Election Victories
- DFA members helped to elect St. Louis’s first Black female Mayor, Tishaura Jones. In a city plagued by de facto segregation via poverty and policy, Tishaura Jones’ victory ushers in a new era where voters in St. Louis will see true representation and the end of appalling exploitation and redlining that ran rampant within St. Louis City Hall.
- DFA members made sure Sharetta Smith beat back red state opposition to become the first Black person and first female Mayor of Lima, Ohio.
- DFA members helped to elect Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black District Attorney. In a city where police and prisons have earned the censure of the global human rights community, Bragg brings his irreproachable history of advocacy and integrity to a critical elected office. Electing Alvin Bragg cleared a path for trying the criminal cases against Donald Trump.
Three 2021 Diagnostic Observations That Solve 2022 Strategy Pain Points
- Internal Party Conflict As Self-Immolation:
2021 elections highlighted an alarming pattern among status quo Democrats. In several races, Democrats withheld support for progressive candidates despite their clear paths to victory. They opted instead to support weaker candidates whose platforms would leave stagnant policies unchallenged and continue to enrich only the wealthy few. This cynical tactic- combined with attendant weak messaging- led to widespread disappointments in battlegrounds like Virginia.
ANALYSIS: Throwing progressive candidates under the bus resulted in Democrats “primarying” themselves when statistically weaker status quo candidates failed to motivate voters.
SOLUTION:Close the support gap for progressives early enough to beat back status quo opposition. The energy invested in obscuring progressives exposed fears about the collective strength of grassroots movements. The challenge between the center and the left is simple: who will concede to the other in service of consolidating voting power? Where progressives fail to fundraise early, a wide lane appears for anti-progress entities to double down on tactics that endanger general elections. In contrast, early and sustained contributions signal that progressive candidates are the best investment for ensuring Democrats hold majorities in the House and Senate.
- Historical Mid-Term Congressional Pattern Compounded By GOP Early Targeting
Historically, whichever party holds the office of President will be usurped in midterm elections. With both the Senate and House operating with a slim majority (further complicated by retirements and alleged Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema), Democrats face peril in midterms. The GOP anticipated this and began rolling out an aggressive targeting strategy in the spring of 2021. Composed of robust GOP support for challengers as well as tens of millions earmarked for media in battleground states- the Republican battle plan is designed to seed fear of defeat and gin up the false perception among centrist Democrats that progress is risky.
ANALYSIS: Intentional negative branding of all Democrats as “socialists” energizes the Republican base and seeds a culture of second-guessing among Democrats. This pushes the center further right, convincing status quo Democrats to sabotage the very campaigns that resonate strongly with their base and stymying fundraising efforts. With hesitancy delaying fundraising until later in the election cycle, otherwise strong progressive contenders are forced to boot-strap and enter the home stretch of elections without resources that assure wide margins of victory.
SOLUTION: Recognizing tactics described by Republicans in their 2021 strategy memos offers Democrats- and especially progressives- an enticing opportunity to disrupt what has often been a form of habitual self-sabotage: hesitancy. Even before reviewing leaked strategy memos, DFA’s electoral strategy provided a plan for resistance that precisely aligned against the GOP’s planned battlefronts. We are uniquely positioned to confront and defeat the GOP if our members join us in building a plan of material support that keeps our candidates in front.
- Off-Year Fundraising Challenges Led To Last Minute Election Scrambles
All major political organizations anticipated decreased contributions after the tumult of 2020. However, the left has almost universally reported that the hiccup has been severe enough to induce extreme struggles. The consequences of anemic or last-minute support were evident in defeats suffered by Democrats in November 2021. While Democrats expressed surprise, it was clear that if the statistically stronger progressive candidates had more early and sustained support, they would have swept the polls.
ANALYSIS: While Republicans coalesced around a unified strategy two years in advance of next November’s midterms, Democrats have struggled to embrace the evolution of their base and form a unified strategy of their own. To do so will require them to embrace the racially diverse New American Majority and deliver material relief for the increasingly beleaguered working class. To wit, perception by voters that these concerns are being addressed will determine whether the passion of the 2020 general election is revived in time to secure victories for Democrats in 2022.
SOLUTION: Correct gaps by establishing an early fundraising strategy that puts progressive candidates at an advantage. Learn from the strengths of our opposition and beat the GOP at their own game. Arrive at the election “battlefront” with a bigger war chest and unified “army” of organizers, canvassers, and allies who are well-trained and ready to win.
2022 Paths To Victory
- DFA’s 50 State Strategy: Our 50 State Strategy is so effective that even the GOP is attempting to emulate it. For nearly two decades, we have created public awareness around progressive initiatives and delivered outcomes that voters feel in their everyday lives. That’s how you build a movement. Our work to elect progressives to every level of office- from Aldermen to Presidents, has secured over 1,100 victories, including dozens of historic firsts for women and people of color. In 2022, we must continue the 50 State Strategy not only to capture more ground- but to defend communities from our Republican counterparts’ mission to take over police departments, mayoral offices, and statewide elected offices.
- Stand With The New American Majority: Did you know that there are no red states without racial inequality? That’s right. In almost any red state or battleground state, Democrats can win simply by earning votes from the BIPOC and white progressive New American Majority. Our work to engage BIPOC voters builds engagement for life and has been key to flipping red and purple states blue. Historic 2020 flips like Arizona and Georgia were made possible by Black and brown voters. It makes sense to repeat this winning strategy and expand it. While there are many organizations targeting specific populations within the New American Majority, DFA is taking unique strides to engage meaningfully with ALL communities of color. Earning the turn out of even a portion of registered BIPOC voters can alter the electoral landscape in our favor for decades.
- Flip the South: For over 40 years the GOP has chiseled away at our democracy via their Southern Strategy. As many political experts have noted, Democrats have never devised a similarly comprehensive counter-strategy– until now. DFA’s Flip the South program was inspired by our historic turnaround for the Virginia House in 2018. Our CEO Yvette Simpson, then our national political director, was instrumental in pushing the staunchly red Virginia legislative body to a blue tipping point. Achieved through proven grassroots organizing tactics and innovative applications of data science, the victory in Virginia became a pilot for our comprehensive strategy to flip other southern states like North Carolina and Texas. Given the enormous electoral power of each of our targeted states, the long-term positive impact of 2021 victories is incalculable.
Summary:
Whether they identify as progressive or not, the majority of Americans want the solutions that only progressives offer. However, the potential to use this fact to expand alignment throughout the political spectrum has been squandered with weak messaging, inconsistent funding, and misguided attempts to court the center-right. However, while this has been a dangerous oversight, we as progressives have abundant opportunities to course correct and draw on the massive collective strength we’ve seen coalesce around the people’s political movement. By reaching deeper into historically oppressed communities we can harness the powerful numbers that inhabit neglected margins of our nation.
In the coming months, we will be called upon to once again affirm our commitment to the steady march of progress- to equality, to love of our fellow man, and to life as we know and cherish it on this planet. Let’s release the last year with thanks and take our earned insights into the coming year and coming elections. Together we can win. Together we can continue our good work - and good trouble- toward a true Democracy for America.
