Given “the extreme nature” of Donald Trump’s vehemently anti-LGBT administration, the Human Rights Campaign is pumping nearly $30 million into an effort to elect pro-equality candidates in 2018. “It’s not enough to resist the hateful policies and attacks coming from the Trump-Pence regime,” said HRC president Chad Giffin, “we’ve got to accelerate the pace of progress toward full equality and secure protections for LGBTQ people in states and communities across the country”:
The LGBTQ rights group is spending $26 million on “HRC Rising,” a new campaign aimed at electing pro-equality candidates and fighting homophobic policies in all 50 states. HRC will beef up its staff and volunteers nationwide, but make a particularly strong push in six states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. It will also focus on trying to unseat about two dozen House Republicans with records of voting against LGBTQ rights but who represent districts Hillary Clinton won last year.
According to HRC, the electoral push—the largest in the organization’s history—will also defend incumbents, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the only out member of the chamber. “We are seeing more activism than we have ever seen in our organization’s 37-year history,” Griffin added. “We intend to harness that energy.”
The group’s grassroots expansion is partially spurred by the defeat of former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who lost re-election in large part due to the hugely unpopular, anti-trans “bathroom bill”:
The way HRC sees it, the secret to the North Carolina victory was significant long-term investment and staff deployment on the ground. That’s the same tack it plans to take in other states leading up to 2018. The group has already begun recruiting at least 20 new full-time staff for political, field and volunteer engagement work. Those staffers will team up with HRC’s existing volunteer-led committees around the country to expand local partnerships, mobilize constituents and register voters.
“Our grassroots army of over 3 million has proven that, even in the face of unprecedented challenges, we can make incredible progress and defeat the hateful politicians who've been emboldened by Donald Trump when we organize and mobilize,” said Griffin.
“The power and determination of the 10 million LGBTQ voters and our allies across America will only continue to grow stronger in the face of discriminatory attacks on our rights and freedoms.”