John,

Democracy was big news this year. Candidates campaigned on it. Committee hearings and political ads documented attacks against it. Polls¹ showed that most Americans now think it’s in crisis.

So what is the Brennan Center — an organization with “democracy” in its mission statement — doing to protect our democracy? And is it working? The good news: Data from this year shows that investing in the fight for democracy, powered by your support, is making a real difference. Here’s some of what we focused on:

>> We shined a light on election deniers ahead of the midterms
Dispelling the myth of voter fraud² is a Brennan Center priority. We counter disinformation designed to destroy public trust in elections and employed as political cover to pass restrictive voting laws. When candidates for elected office made election denialism central to their midterm campaigns, we sounded the alarm. Our analysis found that these lies showed up in almost every battleground state.

The results? Our experts were quoted in outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post. Multiple news sources, such as Reuters, The Hill, and the New York Times cited our ‘Voting Laws Roundup,’ a comprehensive guide on voter suppression legislation.

>> We equipped Latino voters and journalists
Latinos, one of the fastest-growing voting blocs in the United States, faced a wave of targeted disinformation. As part of our commitment to provide research and analysis to Spanish-language journalists and to engage Latino voters, we launched our Brennan en español initiative — including a Spanish-language website and suite of social media accounts.

Brennan en español made a splash. Just six months after launching, we’ve had 840,000 views of our first video. We partnered with dozens of Latino influencers ahead of the midterms to provide trusted election information, and we’ve been cited in leading Spanish-language media outlets, including Univision, La Opinión, Telemundo, and the Los Angeles Times.

>> We shaped the public discourse around Moore v. Harper
The radical “independent state legislature theory” at the heart of this Supreme Court case would destroy checks and balances and throw elections into chaos. We quickly mobilized our legal team and communications hub to urge the Court to reject this fringe theory.

On the legal front, we helped coordinate amicus briefs³ detailing the dangers of the theory and compiled comprehensive resources annotating each brief. Litigants and the justices themselves used language from our brief during oral arguments.

We also conducted message research to learn how we could effectively message the case across party lines. Using our findings, we produced a two-minute explainer video⁴ — an easy-to-understand animation breaking down how dangerous the theory is. To date, over 1.1 million people have viewed the video in English or Spanish.

Each of these victories matters for our democracy, and we couldn’t have accomplished them without you. As we work to rebuild our multiracial democracy and ensure that every American has a voice in the issues that affect them, your support matters.

Thank you for your support,
The Brennan Center for Justice Team