As many Daily Kos users know, I am a big fan of Twitter
But likely not for the reasons that any of you think.
I ❤️ Twitter because there is no other way in the world I’d trade jubilant cheers with Cher over the Windsor decision on marriage equality or send out a review of a an actor’s portrayal of a character and see that he liked my review (Titus Welliver from Amazon’s Bosch tv series) within minutes.
It’s the connection to people far away from me in distance geographical and metaphysical, both, which intrigue me.
This week, that network of connections brought me an introduction to Suhda (Su) Mohan and Rachel Murphy Azzara from my Montana friend and Veteran, Joshua Manning (one of the founding members of Common Defense PAC).
The common thread for all of us? Politics and grassroots action at the local level.
Why is this News and why should I care?
There is a reason why the Republican Party holds the majority in 2/3rd of all statehouses and Congress and even more Governor’s seats.
It’s because the Right has been funded by wealthy individuals via Think Tanks and 503(c)3 and 503(c)4 and 527 SuperPACS since the 1970s — and since then, they’ve been paying for actions like precinct-level canvassing year after year to continue to maintain an accurate picture of their Base voters — and to ensure those voters all turn out, every election, via more canvassing and GOTV (get out the vote) actions.
The Left has never had funding for this level of work, and some of us have bemoaned the lack of such funding for many long years. But we simply haven’t ever had an organization or even a group of organizations which focused on empowering grassroots activism to elect more Democrats by creating a SuperPAC to fund other organizations which are already at work at the local level, like Indivisible and SwingLeft.
Today, that is about to change.
Social Media URLs
website http://democratsworkforamerica.org
twitter @DemsWork4USA
Facebook http://Facebook.com/DemsWork4USA
Their staff and Board of Directors are comprised of experienced, core-Democratic political activists who bring a collaborative, energetic and creative mindset to supporting the issues, candidates and outreach efforts needed to make America a country of opportunity and equality for all.
Administration (& Board members)
- Rachel Murphy Azzara, Founder & Director
- Sudha Mohan, Co-Founder & CFO
Board of Directors
- Sally Albright
- Matthew Chapman
- Rich Wilkins
- Patricia Fuller
- Diane Straub
- Beverlee Hughes
- Tre Temeprilli
Their Mission Statement:
Democrats Work For America is a political action committee (PAC) formed explicitly to empower political grassroots activists by providing the needed resources to put their ideas into action. The scope of our mission includes:
- Get Out The Vote efforts
- Community Education and Targeted Outreach
- Improved Messaging on Democratic Platform Awareness
- Coalition Building
- Candidate Vetting
- Campaign Support
These are the activities necessary to fully canvass our Base and the self-identified Independents who may lean-Democratic, on an ongoing basis, to ensure good data for our volunteers to use while canvassing for candidates for city, county and state level offices; to inform and educate our Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters; to register voters and work GOTV (get out the vote) actions.
This is like seeing the launching of The Heritage Foundation, only for our side!
The projects which might receive funding and other assistance from Democrats Work For America are things like this:
Targeted funding for county level PCO (precinct committee officer/precinct captain) recruitment and training in CDs (congressional districts) identified as “swing left” in the next election cycle.
Meaning the project would help pay for Field Organizers who would specifically seek out and identify prospective PCOs and get them connected to their County PCO organizer and signed up for training and put into the field within weeks, so that the county LDs are ready with expanding information which can help them win next year’s election in a District already identified as READY to go blue with the right amount of effort.
This is a good explanation (in a linked thread, just click that Tweet to go read the entire thread) of Who and What they are from their Twitter timeline:
Why are you telling Daily Kos readers about this organization?
The group is currently in the process of seeking initial large dollar donations to fully fund their endeavors and they only filed as an IRS 527 entity LAST WEEK. They are fresh out of the gate and eager to spread the word about their prospective work as soon as possible throughout the Democratic social network online and offline.
As they acquire funding, they want to prepare to begin the moment they are able, which is why they reached out to me to help introduce them to our Community — because within the next year, there is a very good chance that some of your own local candidates will receive some assistance from the Democrats Work For America SuperPAC.
To that effort, I’d like to ask the readers to offer up local level projects which could help elect local candidates where you live. Things like:
- a Scholarship fund for local college Poli-Sci students to work part-time to help PCOs Walk-and-Knock and canvass their precincts
- $500 to $2,500 for County PCO organizers to hire summer help for canvassing events/Party Building events
So if you like the idea of this, leave a comment and a project summary for me to foward on to Su and Rachel.
How can you help?
If a SuperPAC to fund local grassroots activism sounds like a great idea to you? Please share this story on social media.
I want the name DemocratsWorkForAmerica.org to become as well known on the Left as The Heritage Foundation is for conservatives and I want it to be associated with Daily Kos.
As you should know, Daily Kos has raised millions via Act Blue since 2004 (Over $10 Million in total, according to the Daily Kos Act Blue hub page), funding mainly federal election candidates. Imagine how much progress could be made with support for state level candidates at or above that level of support?
Consider a donation to help them start posting fundraising numbers, as everyone knows seed money (even tiny seeds!) is important in the calculations of wealthy donors on whether or not to fund a particular organization.
Because I know at Daily Kos it’s helpful to have a Goal for fundraising, I asked Su Mohan to create one just for this story introducing the organization to our Community.
Click that Act Blue banner or this link Donate Seed Money Here
I’ve been waiting decades for just such an organization to rise up on the Left.
Imagine... a group of people who want to turn decades of experience and skills into a resource bank of both money and actions designed to give the issues and candidates on the Left a helping hand up to start getting their message out to the people who need to hear it.
So that we can put more Democratic candidates into elected Offices and start to #WinBlue!