Here is the latest from an email that the group Indivisible sent to their mailing address…
For decades, Republicans entrenched their power by artfully taking over state legislatures. They weaponized their control to roll back voting protections, institute suppressive voting rules, and gerrymander district lines to maintain GOP power while losing popularity.
And it worked… until we built the blue wave, which swept the House and State Houses, too. We won:
✅ 350+ state legislative seats
✅ 7 new governorships
✅ 7 state legislative chambers
✅ 6 Democratic supermajorities
✅ 6 Democratic trifectas (total one-party control of the state government)
The opportunity
With the state-level wins we scored in 2018, we have new leverage for states to stop Trump’s agenda, turn back the Republicans’ damage, and go on offense to advance bold progressive ideas and policies that’ll shape the progressive landscape in 2019, 2020, and beyond.
To save our democracy, we have to organize at the state level. Our federal work will continue, but taking our fight to the state level, we can:
🇺🇸Expand voting rights
🇺🇸Draw fair district lines
🇺🇸Protect communities under attack by the Trump administration
🇺🇸Demonstrate our bold, progressive vision for the future
What it’ll take
💪Mighty organizing support from our team. We’re doubling our organizing team (to the tune of 14 organizers, 3 training organizers, and 2 digital organizers) to provide critical support to strengthen statewide coalitions, coordinate actions, lead targeted online and in-person trainings on state advocacy tactics, and more.
💪Strategic policy guidance. We’ve hired 3 policy staff to help strategize full campaigns from start to finish, identify and track priority legislation, develop targeted policy resources to help Indivisibles take action, and organize strategy calls.
💪Innovative digital and communications support. We’re hiring 3 communications staffers to propel massive online engagement in the states, provide email and text recruitment for events, and amplify campaigns via the press.
💪Critical state and local legislation tracking tools. We’ll be using the best software available to provide important bill tracking and updates to groups carrying out state-level work on the ground.
We’ve developed a three-pronged strategy that groups the states based on potential for impact, existing organizing infrastructure, and Indivisibles’ appetite for state-level work — so we can put our muscle behind the best tactics and strategies to win real change.
We’ll provide advanced support to target states to bolster models for a progressive future, advance pro-active democracy reform, and defend against attacks on democracy and vulnerable communities. We’ll offer other states working on key pieces of legislation our national-level organizing, policy, and communications support for specific issues or bills, and we’ll offer scaled support to the rest to build foundational statewide organizing infrastructure.
How we know it’ll work
We tested the model in a few key states — Virginia, California, and Arizona. The results were pretttttyyy awesome…
In Virginia: In 2018, Indivisibles pushed for their top priority — expanding Medicaid. With targeted resources and messaging from our Policy Team, Indivisible groups partnered with a range of organizations to press the state legislature to include Medicaid expansion in the budget. This coalition held four actions at the Capitol, getting the attention of local media and legislators. This pressure was so powerful that legislators who had stymied this vote for five years switched their vote, which passed 61 to 31. State Representative Danica Roem specifically cited Indivisible as the reason for successfully passing the expansion.
In California: Indivisible groups formed Indivisible CA: StateStrong, an active coalition of over 40 California Indivisible groups. Indivisible Policy staff worked with groups to identify key issue areas, guide them to use their constituent power strategically, focusing on five priority bills. Indivisible partnered with California organizations to coordinate lobby days and targeted calling campaigns pushing for progressive policies like net neutrality and renewable energy.
After Indivisibles sent 36 letters to the committee considering a bill Indivisible co-sponsored that would provide better community oversight of policing, a committee consultant said “I’ve never received this many letters before. I don’t know who you Indivisible people are or how you are organized, but it’s working.” Of the five bills prioritized by Indivisible, four made it to the governor’s desk, and three became law. They also played defense, killing two bills that would have allowed more corporate money into politics and given away control of California’s electrical grid to the federal government.
In Arizona: Indivisibles stopped two voter suppression bills. Indivisible staff provided rapid-response digital recruitment to organize Arizonans and partner organizations to fill the floor, provided on the ground strategy support, developed calling resources, and helped with live coverage. Neither of the bills passed the Senate floor because of our grassroots defense — a major victory for defending democracy in the states. While we got an early win, this fight is far from over — and Arizona Indivisibles will continue to defend our democracy at the state level.
Now we’re ready to roll out the best tactics to make change at the state level to all 50 states.