With the historic midterm elections now behind us, we at Higher Ground Labs have been heads-down examining the impact the 2022 midterms will have on future cycles. As our portfolio company BallotReady’s research shows, more positions will be up for election in 2023 than last year. And alongside these recent electoral wins, recurring injustices like the Monterey Park AAPI shootings and the murder of Tyre Nichols remind us that progress is a continuous battle.

We recently gathered 300+ political tech leaders at the 2022 Election Tech Debrief in Atlanta, released early findings from the 2022 Election Tech Survey, and are preparing to launch the 2022 Political Tech Landscape Report (for which we’d love your community submissions). In the coming months, we will launch our biennial Investment Thesis followed by our Accelerator Open Call. 

We know there is so much work to do, yet we still choose to emerge with hope — knowing we'll take on challenges together, in community.

Read on below for:

• How you can submit your additions for the Landscape Report Map
• Takeaways from the 2022 Election Tech Survey 
• A recap of the 2022 Election Tech Debrief 
• Our latest investment: Rally by Relentless
• Job openings in the HGL portfolio 

Each year, we publish the Political Tech Landscape Report — an annual research initiative examining the current political tech landscape, the impact of substantial changes over the past year, and needs for additional innovation. We’ve interviewed many political tech leaders and practitioners, including many of you reading this. 

Community submissions are now open for the 2022 Landscape Report. We welcome your additions, suggested revisions/removals, and comments on the Landscape Map (image from 2021 report below). The last day for submissions is February 12th.

Every cycle, Higher Ground Labs releases the Election Tech Survey to understand the trends, use cases, and gaps in political tech, and to better support the progressive movement’s tech needs moving forward. With even more coming soon in our comprehensive 2022 Political Tech Landscape Report, take a look at some of the survey insights gleaned from our community in 2022.

Alongside 16 partner organizations, we were thrilled to co-host 312 political tech leaders at the 2022 Election Tech Debrief in Atlanta, GA. Too often we rush to plan for the next campaign — and when we don’t stop to reflect, critical innovations and lessons get lost. The Debrief aimed to share, analyze, and apply our learnings, so that organizations, campaigns, and staffers up and down the ballot can effectively take our tech and tools to the next level in 2023 and beyond. Read the recap here. 

We are proud to announce our latest investment: Rally by Relentless. Not only does Relentless run scaled relationship-based advocacy programs, it also powers the product Rally which makes this fundamental organizing tactic accessible to progressive organizations nationwide. Learn more about our investment here – and join us in welcoming co-founders Davis Leonard, Zoe Stein, Greta Carnes, and Nora Grossman to the HGL portfolio via LinkedIn.

P.S. They are hiring a Senior Software Engineer!

There are 30+ jobs open across the Higher Ground Labs portfolio. This includes:

• Partnerships Manager, Civitech
• Growth & Marketing Associate, Clipbook
• VP of Commercial Sales, Grow Progress
• Lead Software Engineer, Kiip
• Growth Manager, People First
• Research Data Scientist, Swayable

See all job openings on our portfolio jobs board here.

Last month, we highlighted the impact of some of our portfolio companies on the 2022 midterms cycle. We look forward to helping build on these successes, insights, and learnings as we pave the way forward to 2024. Read our portfolio’s incredible impact, by the numbers.