You all this morning and we're gonna get started in about. 30 s.
Bring me down, can you? Come bring me down, I can Bring me down, I said, Can can't believe, For me, I'm alone if you feel like a woman
Amazing. Alright. Welcome, welcome everybody. Thank you so much for joining us for the, believe it or not, seventh annual Sister District Summit.
I know that you all are rapidly joining. We're gonna just go over a couple housekeeping things and then get started.
First of all, for those of you who are, able to see the chat, please just drop in where you are calling in from.
We'd love to see all of our folks all across the country. Maybe even the world.
Do we have any international? Participants today that'd be pretty cool. So go ahead and drop that in the chat and, I'd also love to hear, if you or see those of you who have been here before, to previous summits, maybe there's a few of you like me who have, who've been to every single sister district summit.
Maybe this is your seventh. So go ahead and drop that in as well. Love to love to see it or if it's, if it's your first, that would be great.
As well. So first of all, you can go to our website, cister district.
Dot com slash summit to find everything that you need and also see where we are at in the agenda.
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We are going to try and answer them, but we may not be able to get to every single one.
There are a lot of you, which is so amazing. But that does mean that we may not be able to get to every chat.
There are a few sessions today that have question and answer sessions. So we will be, able to get to every chat. There are a few sessions today that have question and answer sessions.
So we will be, sort of summarizing those questions and asking the, whoever the host is.
And, but, you know, if you have any other specific questions, we're going to try and get the to them after after the summer is over if needed.
We're gonna try and get the to them after after the summer is over if needed. You can turn on close captioning by clicking live transcript at the bottom of your screen.
And you can change your profile name by hovering your mouse over your name in the participants list on the right side of the zoom window.
Click rename. And if you are having trouble doing that, please post a message in the chat.
One of our staff members will try and help you, but I really, highly recommend you to change your, make sure that, your, name, is, reflective, of, your, actual, name, it's, not, just, iPhone We are going to do our best to stick very closely to time today.
That is one thing that we pride ourselves on here at sister district. So, I'm just gonna very briefly go over the, over the agenda.
We have a special address this morning in just a couple minutes, with Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs.
Very, very exciting. Then we will launch into the state of sister district. We'll go over our 2,024 strategy a youth panel will review the impact that we had last year, then we're going to jump into some organizing workshops, including a lots about donor organizing and how we're gonna win this year in 2,024.
And then we're gonna close out the day with a fireside chat with, Mandela Barnes from Wisconsin, which we are super, super excited about.
So with that, I'm going to hand it off to my co-founder and our executive director, Lala Wu.
Hello everyone and welcome to the seventh annual sister district summit. Thank you Liz for helping get us kicked us off today.
I am so, so excited to be here with all of you every year. This summit is a special occasion where we get to come together to celebrate our achievements, to learn from our challenges, and prepare for the work ahead.
I want to start with just some quick thank yous. Thank you to our incredible sister district staff for organizing this event and for their hard work.
To build power and states all year round. Thank you to our wonderful speakers who are joining us to share their insights and expertise today.
And thank you to all of you, our amazing volunteers and donors without whom this work truly would not be possible.
It's so wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to welcome you ones to this growing community. I am thrilled, truly honored, to kick off today's summit with our very first guest who truly needs no introduction.
Elected as the 20 fourth governor of Arizona, Haiti Hobbs knows the importance of having strong leadership in our states.
And in a year like this one, there is perhaps no more important state than Arizona. Governor Hobbs is also proof that it starts with space.
She was initially elected to the Arizona House in 2,010 and then after redistricting ran for the state Senate in 2,012 in 2,015 she was elected as the Senate minority leader and saw firsthand the importance of increasing democratic power in the legislature.
That's why she found it. The Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee now one of the strongest legislative caucus programs in the nation.
In 2,018 she ran for secretary of state and oversaw both the 2020 and 20.
22 elections. Now as governor, she is determined to flip the legislature and make progress for all Arizonans.
With that, it is my distinct honor to welcome Governor and former state legislator Katie Hobbs.
Hi, good morning everyone or afternoon if it's afternoon or time zone. I am so happy to be here with all of you.
And thank you so much for the work of Sister Districts and Laila for leading this organization that's making such a huge difference for state legislatures across the country including here in Arizona.
It is so great to see so many of you here at the summit who are committed to this really important work.
I know you have a long day ahead of you so grateful to be able to be with you. To help kick things off and tell you about the incredible opportunities that we have in Arizona this November.
It is hard to believe that I'm over a year into this job and we're now closer to the next election than we are to the last one.
I continue to be honored and humbled to serve the state that I love so much as governor. And I always say that this is the best job in America and I truly believe that.
The ability to make a difference in Arizona's lives motivates me every day. There's nothing better than hearing from a tribal community that this is the first time they've had a seat at the table or from the mom of a gay high schooler who tells me this is the first time her son has felt like he can be himself in our state.
Every day that I walk into that office, I think about how we can make people's lives better and that is without a doubt the best part of my job.
From my time in the legislature to Secretary of State and now as governor I've always understood my role as one of a public servant.
But there are too many people in elected office who just think of themselves first and the people they're supposed to serve last.
I think my public service approach to governing comes from my upbringing and for my life experiences as a lifelong Arizonian, as a social worker and a mom, working hard to give my kids the best life possible.
As you may know, I am a board and raised a Arizona. There are only 5 of us Arizona governors who can probably say that My parents who still live in Tempe where I grew up made huge sacrifices for me and my siblings, but we didn't always have enough to make ends meet and sometimes relied on support from our church community and government programs like food stamps.
My husband and I have also raised our kids through financial ups and downs. I've often had to take a second job to help make ends meet.
And that's something that sticks with you when you're making decisions from the governor's office.
I learned the value of service from my parents and my faith, starting as a kid who volunteered at church.
I've spent my entire life serving and never stopped. I put myself through NAU and ASU, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University for those outside Arizona with a combination of work study and scholarships.
And when I graduated, I immediately started as a social worker. Helping everyday Arizonans. My first job out of college, I worked with homeless youth in Phoenix and then I helped run one of the largest domestic abuse shelters in the country.
I am the first social worker ever elected governor in the United States and I think that matters. Because as a social worker I look at the complexity of the issues people are dealing with and I focus on the root of the problem.
I see the way that government can provide a helping hand and the way that onerous bureaucracy can hold people back.
But most importantly, I see the most vulnerable Arizona and how their situation affects an individual, a family and an entire community.
I first ran for office because I wanted to get things done and I didn't see career politicians addressing the most pressing issues.
Some of them are focused on partisan games. Some of them only cared about what special interest wanted, and some of them simply decided our challenges were too tough and they turned a blind eye.
Unfortunately, more than 10 years later, this is more true than ever in our state government. This past legislative session put the partisan dysfunction and complete chaos on full display.
During the 2022 campaign, I talked a lot about how the election was a choice between sanity and chaos.
And that clearly resonated because people still come up to me and say, I voted for sanity.
We defeated Kaos's ringleader, which we now have to do again this November.
But there are still too many politicians following her playbook and a whole lot of them are in Arizona's legislature.
I vetoed 143 bills last session. Think about that for a minute. That's far more than twice a Governor Napolitano's previous veto record.
And I get applause when I say that and believe me, I'm so glad to be there as a backstop to the danger legislation that hits my desk.
But that number also represents how unsurious this legislature is about solving our state's toughest challenges.
Our challenges are urgent. Many are decades in the making. And right now we need leaders who are willing to put partisanship aside and get the job done.
And this is the most closely divided legislature we've had in a long time. By the numbers, but it's also the most extreme by ideology.
Instead of recognizing the ongoing threats to our democratic freedoms, this extreme legislature is considering bills to give Trump Arizona's electoral votes before the election even happens.
They're trying to eliminate early voting, which more than three-fourths of Arizona use. And they're sending me fetal personhood legislation that would open us up to an Alabama style ruling that would devastate Arizona who are trying to start a family.
Our fight for democracy didn't end with my victory in 2022. And it goes without saying that as governor, I will continue to do everything in my power to protect our freedoms in Arizona.
I'm not afraid to talk openly and honestly about the big challenges we face. And I'll never shy away from them.
But I also think it's important to celebrate the opportunities we have in front of us. Arizona has seen incredible growth in the last decade.
The private and public investments we're receiving are creating an economy that strengthens American manufacturing and incentivizes cutting edge innovation.
All while reinvesting in our communities by providing good-paying jobs to grow Arizona's middle class.
Last fall, our Office of Economic Opportunity released a report showing that we now have a record number of jobs in Arizona.
Meaning more Arizonans are at work now than ever before. And they're making more money.
We had the largest increase in median household income of any state in the entire country, even when adjusting for inflation.
We're one of only 5 states that saw income increases. And Arizona is now first in the nation for income growth.
We are on a trajectory for more businesses, more jobs, and more investment. And is the CEO of this state, I will continue to be laser focused on making sure we get there.
I truly believe the possibilities for our state are limitless with the right leadership. Which brings me to the next election and why we're all here today.
This November, we have a chance to win a Democratic governing majority in the legislature. Republicans hold just a one seat majority in each chamber.
But they let the most extreme members of their party, like fake elector Jake Hoffman, insurrectionist Anthony Kern.
And white nationalist Wendy Rogers dictate their agenda. We need legislators who are willing to come together to solve tough problems.
We have kicked the can down the road for too long on issues like water, homelessness, and public education.
I'm ready to get to work, but I need legislators who will do the same. So thank you all for your continued support of Arizona's legislative candidates.
You've done so much already to help us get to where we are today. And put us in this position to win majorities in November.
I'm so looking forward to working with you to flip these chambers in November. So thank you so much and have an incredible summit today.
Thank you, Governor Hobbs, for sharing your inspiring words and vision with us, which remind us of the incredible opportunities that await us this year.
As well as the critical work to build power across the country for many years to come. Thank you so much.
As we reflect on the governor's powerful message of hope, it is a fitting moment to take stock of where we've been and where we're going.
Sister District has its origins on that dark night in 2,016 and that incomprehensible moment where we realized just who was going to be our next president.
Although this all began with a reactive spark. We have since banned the flames of our work with intention, strategy, and planning.
We saw the gap that existed in organizing and resources at the state level, and we aimed to fill it.
Looking back over the past 7 years, that's exactly what we have done. Our collective efforts have made tremendous impacts in state legislatures across the country.
We've mobilized volunteers been a lifeline for exceptional candidates. Flipped key chambers, pioneered cutting-edge research, and so much more.
These achievements have improved millions of lives resulting in just for example, meaningful gun safety legislation in Michigan. Historic investments in education in Nevada, expanding voter protections in Virginia and since Roe fell, every single state with a democratically controlled legislature has taken steps to protect and expand abortion access.
In fact, Democratic legislative victories in 2,022 ensured over 64 million people had their reproductive rights protected or expanded.
But this summit is not just about where we've been. It's about where we're headed.
And together, we're not just a force for change in key states. But we're a powerful movement committed to a freer and fair country for all.
We, all of you, together all of us are a community that's not willing to stand by and watch our country slide into autocracy.
We are doers who understand that democracy is a verb. And we are alchemists who turn anxiety into action every single day.
And so I'm thrilled to be with you all today, our most dedicated supporters as we unveil a plan to guide our work for the next decade.
Our ten-year blueprint for transforming political power in this country, starting with state legislatures. Introduce you to our 10 year blueprint.
I want to start with our mission, which at its core is simple. A bill in during power and state legislatures.
And we do this in service of our vision of a country where all people enjoy health. Well, fairness and freedom driven by progressive state legislatures.
Our work at Sister District has 2 parts. First, winning urgent elections each year and second, building democratic infrastructure for the long term.
And all those supporting campaigns is a huge part of what we do. We are not a campaign ourselves.
My co-founders, Liz and Gabby, Rita and Candace and I, we set out to build an institution.
One that was not subject to the booms and busts of elections, but to be a sustainable model of success, to withstand the political tides.
So with this 10 year blueprint, we are embarking on the next chapter of our journey to reimagine and reshape political power starting with the states.
With legislative maps now largely established after, 2,021 and the litigation having shaken out as it has our focus homes in on key battlegrounds for the rest of the decade.
Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and with additional resources. We're also setting our sites on Minnesota and New Hampshire.
Our strategy is clear. We will engage in key battles with 3 goals in mind every year. First, to flip a chamber.
Second, to hold the chamber. And third, and make inroads into badly gerrymandered states.
So our 10 year blueprint puts all of this into 5 phases. In each phase, we not only identify the best opportunities to build power at the state level, but we will also prioritize opportunities to build power all the way up the ticket.
We completed phase one, defying expectations to build momentum with a historic midterm year and blockbuster.
Performance in Virginia. We are now in phase 2, a truly existential fight for our democracy where we must win at all levels of the ballot.
And in phase 3, we will reap the benefits of and expand on the wins from this year. Phase 4 will be a sprint.
A last chance to surge and gain as much power as possible before the census in 2,030 and redistricting in 2,031.
And in the final phase 5 of this ten-year blueprint, we will leverage the new opportunities afforded by New Maps.
Introduce new states to our portfolio and transform our horizons of what is possible. But our vision extends far beyond the immediateacy of elections.
We are equally committed to building infrastructure and engagement necessary to support this vision. Over the long haul. This includes the continuous investment and creative growth of strategies to support lawmakers.
Boost in state organizing partners. Spearhead impactful research and shipped narratives to deepen public involvement across these strategic states.
Looking towards the future. We aimed play with all of you. A pivotal role and ensuring the Democrats are in the strongest position possible for redistricting in 2031.
Hi, Laying the groundwork now, we're not just looking to win the next election cycle.
We're aiming to define the next decade of structural advantages and unprecedented opportunities for progress and to usher in a new era of progressive power.
As we delve into the specifics of our 2,024 strategy, I want you to keep this ten-year blueprint in mind.
It's the backdrop against which all of our work is set. The future that we are all working towards.
So thank you. Now I'll turn it over to my co-founder, the brilliant Gavi Goldstein.
Hey everyone, wonderful to be with you all. On our seventh Summit, can you believe it?
I see so many friends on the line. I can't believe we've been together this long and it's always such a pleasure to hop on the summit and share the work as Lala so expertly said the work that we've done and also look ahead at the work work ahead.
So we're gonna dive into our strategy session here for folks who aren't familiar on Gabby Goldstein.
I'm one of our co-founders here. And I think that, you know, the summit is always a really great opportunity to reflect on both the work that we've done, to reflect on both the work that we've done, the work a really great opportunity to reflect on both the work that we've done, the work ahead.
And I think that the main theme, TLDR, if if you zone out after this sentence, hear this.
I think that we're really heading into a favorable year at the state legislative level. I'm really optimistic about our prospects and I'm really excited to share with you why.
So you know we've been together at this for quite a while and our mission is more urgent than ever building power at the state level.
And I don't know about you all, but I feel as energized and obsessed and motivated as ever for this work.
You know, thinking back on the day this all started to now. I don't know that any of us saw foresaw that the work would would be this urgent.
But, but here we are and we're doing it together. Many hands make this work light.
So, you know, as I was prepping for this this morning, I was thinking about how yesterday was in International Wednesday and you know in Biden's really excellent state of the union, speech and sort of the union speech and sort of the Republican Party's rather incomprehensible, but I think it really showed us the Republican Party's rather incomprehensible, but I think it really showed us the
stark divergence in the visions for the Republican Party's rather incomprehensible, but I think it really showed us the stark divergence in the visions for the future that are being pursued by the parties and how much of that is running through our states and what an incredibly important role our states continue to play.
And this issue or this idea that national visions for the future increasingly play out in our states is something that scholars like Jake Grumbach and Heather Gherkin and Alex Hurdle Fernandez have really explored and I think the State of the Union speech was a great example of this with Biden specifically calling out state laws banning abortion criminalizing doctors and really carving back women's rights.
And so the vision of women, their rights, their value as humans as citizens is just so one of so many divergences in large-scale future building that we're seeing play out in our states and of course it's all against the backdrop of this revanchist Supreme Court super majority that has really as a core mission the narrowing of federal protections and rights and powers and the enlargement of
state-level power. So really critical that we continue to work on building state power. And you know, this so it's also a great opportunity I think to reflect on the positive power of states from you know raising the minimum wage protecting abortion access and pushing further into reproductive justice right not just reproductive rights but justice the idea that states can set the conditions under which people can choose to parent or not parent and
chew and if they do choose to parent do so with dignity which are blue states are really showing us.
So, you know, our work is is urgent, it's nonlinear, sometimes we win, sometimes we lose on balance, we are winning that is really one of the main points I want to make in this.
I'm in this talk. And really to underscore that, you know, I what I want to share with you is the tremendous progress that we have made in the past 7 years.
And as I said, really optimistic about this year. Okay, so we're gonna do a quick overview of our strategy.
Lala really laid it out. I don't have too much to add. And then really spend a deep dive looking at the electoral strategy.
First, where we've been to set up the the discussion about this year and then this year. We'll talk about the map.
We'll talk about the opportunities and the challenges. As we head into, you know, I keep saying if we had a dollar collectively for every time.
We said that this was the most critical election year of our lives. We'd we'd all be on a yacht somewhere, and but unfortunately it is true.
So, you know, briefly, as Lawa shared our mission, you know, really the why so many of us on the line have been working at this level now of the ballot for a while.
So we know the why, right? State legislatures are a critically overlooked venue of power for the left.
They are the sleeping giants. Of policy and and really the linchpin for you know for the future of the country.
Certainly at the policy level we see this with you know political scientists call this a policy diffusion the idea that that states transfer policy around and that state policy then gets adopted at the federal level and so many policies start in our states both on on the the revanchist side of the ledger in terms of our rights but also on the positive side right on on this world building that we're all engaged in and the positive vision of how our country
can function better when when we when progressives control our states. Leadership pipeline, I mean look, we just had Governor Hobbs on the line.
She started in the Arizona State Legislature. I critical critical pipeline for for leadership development. We are continuing to see that they are absolutely vital.
And our legislatures are vital. They are the bulwark, when it comes to fair elections, voting rights, abortion, democracy, all of these issues.
Huge as you all know, huge return on investment for volunteer time and energy. And we'll talk a little bit about that piece in just a second.
We really are focused collectively on this call on state legislatures because we see that there is this trajectory of the narrowing of federal protections and rights in the expansion of state power.
And we see this in all areas of social and civic life and you know As I've said, Well, I won't say it.
I'll, I'll point to our, our great friend and not Shankar Asario who I know many of you love.
We can't just be against things, right? There are these trends that tend toward an expansion of state power, but we have in our blue states a vision of what is possible.
And I saw some friends on the line from Minnesota, a vision of what is possible. And I saw some friends on the line from Minnesota, new trifecta in Minnesota, new trifecta in Michigan, getting to work, repealing right to work.
Passing red fact, flag laws. I'm here in California that's establishing a public funded abortion fund, right?
So tremendous opportunity to expand the narrative and the. So, tremendous opportunity to expand the narrative and the imagination around what states can do for us.
So that's why we focus on states. So how do we do it? We these are the areas of our work.
We win elections, we support organizers, we develop legislators and we support organizers, we develop legislators and we educate and empower.
And I've developed legislators and we support organizers, we develop legislators and we educated and empower.
And I'm I'm going to go through these quite quickly in the interest of getting to what we all want to talk about which is the map for this year but of course we win elections this is core to what we do at Sister District always has been this is how we do it.
We use our data and and analytics function to identify the most strategic and competitive state legislative races and chambers.
We support candidates through our comprehensive candidate services program. We focus our volunteers on where they can have the highest impact on hard side, meaning in coordination with our campaigns field and fundraising programs.
And we focus on the pipeline through candidate development programs like our future winners program.
We support organizers, of course, all of you, as well as through our state bridges program where we, hold a series of fundraising events for state-based power building organizations that are engaged in year-round organizing work, often led by people of color and really the folks at the center of state policy, right?
Folks for whom state policy, you know, really affects daily life. And we have our second, our, our final state bridges event coming up next week.
I hope you all will attend. Perhaps someone can drop a link. I hope you all will attend. Perhaps someone can drop a link to the Mobilize. Perhaps someone can drop a link to the Mobilize.
I'm my fantastic co-founder, Lala, will be moderating a really important conversation there.
We work with legislators to make sure that once they're elected, they have the resources and importantly community that they need to to thrive.
And and we also work with others who run national organizations focused on state lawmaker support. We run a table where we get together with those organizations every couple of months to hear what they're up to.
And here, you know, exchange. Ideas, work together where we can, so that we're really providing targeted support to our state lawmakers.
And then we run our award winning research program. We'll talk a little bit about that as well as civic engagement programming to to help the public understand better understand the importance of states and raise the the visibility of our incredible leaders at this level of the ballot as well.
Okay, so let's take a deeper dive into that first pillar, our political strategy. So in general, the strategy is always the same.
We're always looking for 3 types of legislative chambers, right? There's 7,000 state ledge seats across the country.
How do we choose? The first cut is always to look at the chamber level. We're looking for 3 types of chambers.
First is our blue flips. Those are chambers where DEMS have the opportunity to compete for a legislative majority, right?
Chambers that we think we can flip this year. The second are blue holds where Democrats have a fragile democratic majority and we really need to lean in and make sure that we don't lose lose that chamber.
And then the third are blue inroads or no chamber left behind. These are chambers where we do not have a one cycle solution.
We are not likely to flip the chamber. The in this given year, but we have the opportunity to break Republican super majorities or trifectas we have the opportunity to position ourselves for future success, which is really important.
Put a stake in the ground and make sure that we are investing in the long term in places that really have the opportunity for for democratic growth.
But in any given year, the, the mix of chambers and seats changes, right?
The schedule of state legislative elections changes year to year. The composition of chambers shifts year to year and really importantly the set of broader electoral opportunities change each year.
You know, this is a really important piece of the equation. We're always looking for opportunities to force multiply our efforts, right?
We're our efforts to drive awareness, resources, turnout toward state legislative races are nested in in in battlegrounds that will reverberate all the way up the up the ballot.
So this year really focused on presidential battlegrounds where all of our states are presidential battlegrounds. Focused on on states that also offer competitive Senate opportunities.
Gubernatorial opportunities not many not many combinatorial races up. Yeah, this year, but there are a few and will be there.
And ballot initiatives, places that are holding ballot initiatives for instance on abortion, Governor Hobbs own state of Arizona is likely to have an abortion protection, ballot initiative this fall will find out in the summer if they get enough signatures, but we're really looking for those broader opportunities.
Really important. So let's take a step back for a second and think about where we've been.
I, you know, I get this question fairly often. We lost a thousand state legislative seats during the Obama administration.
How are we doing that? So let's take a step back and and think about this. So when we started the organization in 2,016 the Republican Party controlled the most state legislative seats.
That it ever had since the founding of the Republican Party. So let me just repeat that. In 2,016, Republicans controlled the most seats that they had since the founding of their party.
They controlled 67 of 98 partisan chambers, right? This was the lowest point of democratic investment and interest in state legislatures, arguably in American history, right?
I mean, as I said, the Republicans controlled more seats than since the founding of their party. So this wasn't an accident, right?
We, we know that there's been generally, get generational investment in conservative infrastructure in candidates, in institutions and policy and ideas, and we've really struggled on our side really, oh in my view, over-invested in in federal solutions tactics strategies really to the mutual exclusion of state power building it never needed to be 0 sum but it has been and so as a result we came into 2,016 and the founding of this
organization with really anemic institutions to support candidates and policy and inemic institutions to support candidates and policy and and all the rest.
And, and policy, and, and all the rest. And so, where are we now? Right?
We came in at this low point, very low point. We came in at this low point, very low point.
I think the bottom line is we came in at this low point, right? We came in at this low point, very low point.
I think the bottom line is we knew the work wouldn't happen overnight, very low point. I think the bottom line is we knew the work wouldn't happen overnight and it hasn't, but we have made tremendous and very, very strategic games that have really shifted the balance of power in the country.
At the state level. And so Net of the about a thousand seats that we lost during the Obama administration.
We've gained about a hundred 50 seats back. Now that doesn't tell the whole story, right?
It depends on where those seats are, right? It depends on where those seats are, right? One seat makes them majority in a chamber.
So I think the majority in a chamber. So I think the better way to look at it is that Today, more people, for instance, more people live in democratic controlled states than Republican-controlled states, right?
42% of Americans live in blue trifectors, all only 39% in in red trifecta.
And in 2,016 as the stat here shows the Republicans controlled 67 partisan chambers today it's 56 Right.
So we have clawed back a tremendous number of chambers and and pat and really shifted power through strategic investments in progress and I think we should really feel incredibly good about that.
The strategic piece of it, right? Just a hundred 50 seats net. Have gained us 11 chambers.
And sister district has been directly involved in many of those chamber flips. We've flipped 10 chambers since since our founding in 2,016 in in washington Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, so nice.
We flipped the house twice. And, and as you can see of a hundred 77 candidate endorsements, we've had a hundred 15 wins and that's a 65% lifetime win rate and that's right where we want to be, right?
That means that shows that we're in strategic 50 50 districts that really could go either way and it's our volunteers and our staff on the line of this call that are getting our candidates over the finish line.
So really, really important to see those games. And so looking at this year, going into this year, I think that, you know, the TLDR is state legislative Democrats are heading into this year with momentum.
I think that that's that's the bottom line that I hope you all come away with. 2022 was a very historic year at the state legislative level.
It was it was a remarkable deviation from historical midterm trends. Right? During midterms, historically, the president's party loses down ballot.
And, you know, up ballot, right? That didn't happen in 2,022 the way that it normally does what happened i mean there was a huge galvanizing force around the Dobs decision and and also good strategic investments in organizing.
And through that, Democrats elected every incumbent senator, in organizing. And through that, Democrats elected every incumbent senator.
We expanded, we, Democrats elected every incumbent senator. We expanded, we flipped a Senate seat as well.
We won most of the competitive gubernatorial races and we only lost the house by 6,600 votes that may be less than you know the number of folks in your neighborhood right we lost the house across the country by 6,600 votes tiny tiny tiny margin and at the state ledge level it was a historic election as well.
We, you know, as you can see here, it was the first midterm election since, 1,934.
That the president's party did not lose a single state legislative chamber. That is wild, right? And we had new trifectas blossom in oddly in states that all start with an M.
Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota. We defended fragile majorities in in places like Maine and New Mexico.
Gained a governing coalition in the elastic Alaska Senate flipped the Pennsylvania house, and, achieve chamber level super majorities in, in Nevada and Vermont, Delaware, and prevented Republican super majorities in in Wisconsin and at least initially in North Carolina.
I don't know if you guys were following along, but unfortunately a Democrat. Flipped her party affiliation in North Carolina and delivered a veto proof.
Super majority, which we're gonna break this year in, in North in the North Carolina house.
So, you know, 2023, I think really built on that momentum. We saw Democrats running proudly on protecting and expanding abortion access.
Which continues to be a winning value for us. Issue and value. We saw those beautiful winds in Virginia reestablishing a majority in the house and holding on to the Senate and as well as Andy Bashir's reelect in in Kentucky and in special elections we did well as well.
So the big picture I think going into this year is that it is an optimistic political environment down ballot, right?
There's a lot going on at the national level and and we can, you know, and that's certainly matters and you know we can talk about how and why and all the rest but we are going into this year at the state legislative level with this the wind in our sales right historic midterm performance continued wins in 2,023 I think Biden mentioned in his state of the union address exactly that we won in 2022 and
in 2023 and we're going to keep winning. It is I think a better environment in certain respects than the last presidential because sometimes people will say well isn't the right point of comparison, 2,020, why are you talking about 2,022, 2,023?
Shouldn't we be talking about the last presidential? And and as you know as you might recall, to the ledge DEMS didn't do all that well in the 2020 election year and in some respects I think this is a better environment at the state ledge level particularly in 2 respects I think this is a better environment at the state ledge level particularly in 2,020 the pandemic was very disruptive for
down ballot candidates who most need to be out on the doors. Particularly in 2020 the pandemic was very disruptive for down ballot candidates who most need to be out on the doors.
They need to be out on the doors. They need to be in community talking to down ballot candidates who most need to be out on the doors.
They need to be in community talking to their constituents and their voters. On our side, we were not able to campaign in 2,020 in those traditional ways.
On the Republican side, they were still out at the doors and doing all the, you know, all the things.
But that really hampered us down ballot. And then I think Dobbs, you know, continues to be, was, was not, obviously the, the, the decision came about after the 2020 election. And I think it continues.
It's very clear. It continues to be an, redistricting, I think, you know, created a heterogeneous landscape, right?
Some, states continue to be very badly gerrymandered, but others, are much, much fairer than they were, were in prior cycles and we'll talk about Wisconsin.
I know we've got any cheese heads on the line. But, but really and truly there's, new opportunities and you know different states have different contexts, right?
But overall I think that the the political environment for us down ballot is favorable.
But of course, everything's going to depend on execution, right? You know, we have done a tremendous amount of work in our research program looking at this phenomenon of down ballot roll-off.
What does that mean? It means when folks Click the top of the ballot, right? Like they tick the box for president, but they don't vote all the way down to the state legislative candidates running in their district.
And what we found, we look, we went back and looked at all the battleground states going back to 2010.
And what we found was a very, very alarming trend. And yes, both parties experienced this phenomenon of roll off where you know where where voters you know literally roll off their ballots from the top to the bottom but state legislative democrats experience it much more frequently and profoundly than Republican candidates.
And so you can see this stat, we checked it a thousand times and it really is the case that going back to 2,010 down Ballot DEMS experience roll off 80% of the time versus 40% only for Republican candidates.
So we have a tremendous challenge on our side to get our our folks to vote all the way down the ballot.
Now this is a turnout problem. This isn't a persuasion problem. This isn't about getting persuading folks to go out and vote.
These are people who are going out to vote already. They're in the ballot box. They're there.
They just aren't ticking the box on our side and they are ticking the box on the Republican side.
So that's something that we really need to focus on. We're doing a tremendous amount of work on that right now in our research program to better understand why this happens on our side.
And what we can do about it. And so we've got a large-scale project underway.
We're working with data for progress. We've run focus groups. We have run a large national survey.
Will be, providing public, results on that research quite soon. And then we're going to be moving into it.
A message testing phase to better understand what messages will encourage and move our voters to take all the boxes. Again, this isn't persuasion.
This is this doesn't require getting one single person out to vote more than is already going out to vote.
This is a different kind of persuasion, right? This is persuading people to vote all the boxes on their ballot.
And we can see how important this is because here are just a few stats on the tiny margins.
To the success in 2022 that we had right so folks i saw missy sorado's name being shouted out on on the on the chat.
Missy Cerrado flipped the Pennsylvania house. One seat flipped the Pennsylvania house with 63 votes.
Now think about that. 63 votes. 765 votes in one seat flipped the Michigan house, right?
404 votes in one seat, won the, won the Michigan Senate, right? So these are tiny, I mean you can see point 0 0 1% of the total votes that came in for Pennsylvania House candidates in 2022 flipped that chamber.
And so now you can see the connection with roll-off, right? If we could just get, you know, a thousand more people or 500 more people who are already out to vote.
To kick that box down ballot, we would win so many places. And one quick, stat on that that I, I love.
I mean, I hate it, but I love it. I think it really drives the point home. In 2021.
60,000 more people voted for Terry Mcauliffe, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia.
60,000! More people voted for him. Then voted for down ballot Democrats. And we lost the House by 735 votes, approximately, right?
So if we had just persuaded 750 people who already went out to vote for Terry.
6,750 people out of the 60,000 who voted for Terry and rolled off.
We would have held the house. Tiny, tiny margins. And so chipping away at this down ballot roll off problem is critically important if we want to continue building power.
Okay, so everything depends on execution. Okay. Let's talk about the target map.
So this year, we have the tremendous opportunity to flip, I think, a few more chambers.
And that these opportunities are really, really good. So I think right at the top is, you know, are the Arizona chambers and I know many folks on this call have been working to flip the Arizona legislature for many many years now right we have taken a number of runs at it I think this this year is the year right this is you know we're 2 seats away in both chambers.
This is absolutely a presidential battleground, right? 10,000 boats in Arizona is all, you know, all that Biden one buy.
There's now, you know, an open Senate seat. Whoop, there it goes. Toss-up open Senate seat.
As I mentioned before, there's likely, I think, to be a ballot initiative protecting abortion access in Arizona on the ballot this year.
And, and which is very, very exciting. So in addition to the the chambers in Arizona being a an excellent set of flip opportunities they are also nested in these critically important battlegrounds, presidential, Senate abortion battlegrounds.
Next is the Wisconsin Assembly. I got any cheese on the line. Oh my gosh. You know, I have to say that I am.
I love all of my children equally in terms of all these flip targets, but Wisconsin is, I'm extremely excited about Wisconsin.
So for folks who haven't been following along, too closely on Wisconsin. So for folks who haven't been following along too closely on Wisconsin, it has historically been an incredibly gerrymandered state and, Republican, the Republicans have controlled the legislature and run the board when it came to redistricting.
For decades. And that happened again after, 2,020. The General Assembly produced terribly gerrymandered maps.
But in 2,023 a an incredible progressive coalition came together to elect liberal Judge Janet to the state Supreme Court by 11 points which is a huge huge margin that she won by and it flipped the court to a liberal majority.
And and then they took up those maps and they threw them out as as gerrymanders as illegal gerrymanders.
And so there was a process to redraw the maps and certainly one can quibble with the weather the maps.
We're the absolute pinnacle of fairness, but they're good. They're good maps.
And they certainly give us an opportunity to compete for the first time in decades. In both chambers.
Now, the assembly is on the flip map and the the Senate is on the inroads map simply because the Senate is only half of the seats are up in the Senate this year and so what we will talk about that a second but the assembly is certainly ripe to flip and of course this is also nested in a presidential battleground.
Biden carried Wisconsin with 22,000 votes. Tiny, tiny margin, critical Senate holds with Tammy Baldwin up for reelect.
So, I'm really, really important opportunities in Wisconsin. The Pennsylvania Senate is a harder, harder flip, but it's on our map.
We need 4 seats to flip that chamber. Some good opportunities. Definitely excellent opportunities. This year again nested in a critical presidential battleground, right?
Biden carried the state with 50.0 1% of the vote. I mean, it doesn't get.
Much smaller than that. We have a critical Senate hold with Bob Casey. And so, you know, really good opportunity there.
We have on our watch list near the New Hampshire Senate in House. We're very close to being able to flip both of those chambers blue, 2 seats, 3 seats respectively.
It is, we'll see how things shake out there. It is a presidential battleground, right?
Biden, Biden carried it, you know, with 50, about 52%. There is an open gubernatorial, which is important there.
We are, we're, we're, we're, we're watching what's happening in New Hampshire to see if we can be helpful in getting those chambers over the finish line.
In terms of the hold, now these are the chambers where we have a fragile democratic majority that we need to hold on to.
So that it does not slip back into Republican control. And at the very top of that list is the Michigan House.
Now the Michigan Senate is is also a fragile democratic majority, but they are not holding elections this year.
So that's why the Michigan House is on on our map and not the Senate. We have a 2 seat majority.
It is, you know, Every day that this trifecta, this beautiful new trifecta has been in effect has been a pleasure to see what they have been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time has been nothing short of spectacular and it's absolutely critical that we hold on to it so that they can so that big Gretch with her big Gretch power can can continue to make these incredible
policy games. And, again, extraordinarily tight presidential battleground, right? Michigan voted for Biden with 50.6% of the vote tiny tiny margins.
We have an open Senate race, Debbie Stabenow is is retiring. Very, very important in Michigan.
The Pennsylvania house, you know, like I said, Missy Sorado flipped it with 63 votes.
There have been some special elections along the way. And we continue to have a one seat majority. Very, very narrow majority, right?
Again, nested opportunities presidential, Senate, etc. But really, the the Pennsylvania House is absolutely critical that we continue to hold on and continue to build power in the Pennsylvania house and hold on to that that chamber.
The Nevada Senate and assembly, I often, you know, people often assume wrongly in my view that Nevada is a blue state.
Nevada is not a blue state. Nevada is a purple state. It is very, very similar to Virginia in that sense, right?
It is really, we have majorities in in the Senate and the assembly but it is it is a battleground and I will say that the Republican governor in Nevada is quite popular and you know has sort of is a battleground and I will say that the Republican governor in Nevada is quite popular and you know has sort of is again looking at sort of the Glenn Youngkin, Virginia, kind of, again, looking at sort of the, the
Glenn, in Virginia, kind of, comparison, key, unlike Glenn Youngkin, the, governor in Nevada took abortion off the table and was basically like we're not we're not we're not touching abortion we're not gonna do that and as a unlike youngkin who you know basically was gunning to dismantle abortion.
And as a result, you know, Nevada is a very purple state. Those chambers need to be protected.
It is absolutely a presidential battleground, right? 30,000 votes in 2,020 for Joe Biden in Nevada tiny tiny margin there we've got a critical Senate hold with Jackie Rosen so it stays on our hopeless.
We've got the Minnesota house on our watch list. We have a fragile majority in in the Minnesota house again watching to see what happens and you know presidential battleground Biden carried it with 52% of the vote in 2020 important set it hold with Klobuchar.
So we're watching Minnesota.
And then takes us to our inroad states. So, you know, first is the Wisconsin Senate. Now, as I said, the new maps in Wisconsin give Democrats the opportunity to compete for majorities in both chambers.
So on the map, the Wisconsin Senate is flippable. We are going to flip the Wisconsin Senate on these maps.
The question is when and because only half of the chamber is up this year, the other half will be up in 2 years.
We, you know, we're, we may not be able to close the deal this year, given who in the chamber is up.
What we can absolutely and will do this year is we will break the Republican supermajority in the Wisconsin Senate by one seat, right?
We will break the Republican supermajority in the Wisconsin Senate by one seat, right? We will break that supermajority in the Wisconsin Senate by one seat, right?
We will break that supermajority and we are going to set ourselves up for an easy flip in 26 if it doesn't happen this year.
So extremely excited about the Wisconsin Senate. The Georgia House, you know, I think, we continue to, invest in the Georgia House.
We see a tremendous amount of opportunity in the Georgia House. You know, the maps continue to be gerrymanders and there's been litigation about it and unfortunately the maps, the maps are going to stand for this election.
But there, are good new opportunities on these new. Maps for us to continue to build power.
And there is potentially no closer presidential battleground than than Georgia right 12,000 votes in 2020 really really important for us to continue to make gains in Georgia.
Really, really important for us to continue to make games in Georgia and keep our stake in the ground and build towards the future.
The last one is North Carolina and what I want to say there is that we have the opportunity. The last one is North Carolina and what I want to say there is that we have the opportunity to flip, and what I want to say there is that we have the opportunity to flip, sorry, to break Republican super majorities in both chambers.
Now what happened in 2022 in North Carolina was really unfortunate. We lost 2 seats in the Senate and that brought us into a super minority.
So Republicans had a supermajority in in the Senate. But the problem is we also lost a couple of seats in the house.
Initially we held enough seats in the house to keep from super minority. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, there was a Democrat in the House, Trisha Kotham, if anybody's falling along.
Who switched her party affiliation? She switched from being a Democrat to a Republican.
She joined the Republicans and she gave the Republicans a veto proof super majority. Now what that means is that beforehand when so for instance in Wisconsin as well both Wisconsin and North Carolina had a situation where the Republicans had a super majority in the Senate.
But not the lower chamber. What that meant is you need to have a super majority of my party in both chambers in order to override the governor's veto. Right?
So you usually, so if you don't have a super majority in both chambers, the governor can reject legislation that comes to her desk.
And we heard Governor Hobbs say that she vetoed, gosh, what was it, about 200 pieces of legislation.
I remember reading that during her first year in office, Katie Hobbs vetoed more legislation than any governor in Arizona history and she's able to do that because Republicans don't have super majorities in those chambers.
So what happened in North Carolina is we fell into super minority in both chambers. And even though we have a democratic governor like Katie Hobbs, we have a Democratic governor in North Carolina.
He was not able to veto the bad legislation that the legislature would send to his desk because they had a super majority in both chambers.
And that's where we are right now. So they were able, so the Republicans in North Carolina were able to pass terrible abortion restrictions, all kinds of bad policy and the governor the Democratic governor cannot veto what comes to his desk in North Carolina.
We're gonna break those super majorities in both chambers this year. That's what we're going to do in North Carolina.
And of course it's a presidential battleground. Trump carried it in 2020 with 49.9% of the vote, right? That was enough to be the winning candidate in North Carolina.
Tiny, tiny margins. Open seat for governor this year in in North Carolina and again that's extremely important because we need you know we need to break these super majorities and keep a Democrat in the in in the governor's house so that even if we don't have majorities in in the legislature which we're not going to we're not going to have majorities will we'll have a Democratic governor who can
veto. Bad bills. So the year ahead, we are in the process. Like, as, as with every year, you know, we're in the process of figuring out exactly what, what, what seats we're going to be playing in our incredible political team, Sean Werner and and Taylor Hugland, our incredible political team, Sean Werner and and Taylor Hugland are hard at work talking to candidates.
I'm talking to partners on the ground, figuring out where the best opportunities for us are. And of course we we launched our electoral strategy last month and then as always we'll be doing our wave one endorsements in late April wave 2 in June and all the rest.
And you know I want to put we're gonna open up for we have time for like just a couple questions but before that I saw a comment in the chat earlier and I wanted to address it.
Which is, you know, when you look at our map, it's not every single state where there are important ballot race you know up ballot races especially Senate races right so you know places like Montana and so forth also have important races.
Now remember so you know why aren't those on our map how does our map end up looking the way it looks remember our first priority is the state legislature.
We're looking for states that we where where there are chambers that we can flip this year.
Or hold on to fragile majorities or make inroads into. And I want to say one specific thing about the in road states.
How do we choose those in road states? Because certainly there are other states like Ohio or Montana that could also be quote in road states.
So when we decided to we really decided to dig into that a couple of years ago and we took a look going back 20 years at what sort of antecedents what sorts of precursors we might be able to identify that would show us when a legislature was more likely to flip blue.
And what we found 100% of the time in the past 20 years. Is that when a legislature flips blue a state legislature it is preceded 100% of the time by that state voting for the Democratic presidential candidate.
100% of the time. So that's why states like Georgia, Wisconsin, even North Carolina, which has voted blue at the presidential level in the past couple of cycles.
That's why those states are on our inroads list. We are prioritizing states that have shown us, have given us an indication that we're in a strong position to be on the road to flipping those legislatures in the medium term.
So just wanted to share that little piece of insight well. So I think we have time for one question.
We are, we're actually at time. I'm sorry to say. That's okay.
Oh, okay. No worries.
But you, that was amazing. And we're going to share all the slides. But you, that was amazing. And we're going to share all the slides, later.
So hopefully folks will. Still have lots of information afterwards.
Super. Well, in that case, please, apologies for not being able to, to answer questions, but, but hopefully that was helpful.
So that, that concludes our strategy session. I will hand things off to Susan.
Awesome. Thank you so much, Gabby. It's so exciting to hear about our 2 24 strategy. Hi, everyone.
My name is Susan Farrell and I'm the head of organizing at Sister District. It is my great pleasure to moderate our first ever Sister District Summit youth panel today.
We know that political work spans all intersections and generations and that we are stronger and work most effectively when we can collaborate.
So for the next 30 min and generations and that we are stronger and work most effectively when we can collaborate.
So for the next 30 min, we are stronger and work most effectively when we can collaborate. So for the next 30 min, we're going to hear from 3 fantastic youth organizers who are blazing trails and fighting for progressive change.
And we're going to explore how they feel Sister District can successfully recruit younger organizers to join our ranks and how we can most effectively partner with youth organizations.
I'm gonna ask a few questions, but then I hope we'll have time for an audience question or 2, so please feel free to put your questions for us in the chat.
And I would like to start by inviting our panelists to introduce themselves. The leave they're popping up on our screen right now fantastic.
Hey everyone. Okay, so would love to start with our panelists introducing themselves. Oliver, could you please start and start by telling us your name, background, and what political organizations you're involved with.
Sure thing, thanks Susan for having me and everyone. This is really exciting to be a part of. So my name is Oliver Shirley.
I am currently a law student at Columbia University. I'm in my second year. My work with Sister District, I began volunteering in 2017 with the San Francisco group, writing postcards in 2017 with the San Francisco group, writing postcards.
And then in 2020 began phone banking, had a text bank. That I organized with Neil, Morgan, former head of organizing.
And then I was an organizing fellow and get out the vote fellow in 2021 in Virginia and I kind of kept coming back to host more and more phone banks.
And so I've been doing that kind of on and off every fall and then in spring of 2,023 I helped put together an organization called Law School Democrats of America, which is a group dedicated to organizing law school students and getting them involved in the electoral process a bit more than they currently had been.
Awesome. Thank you so much, Oliver. Always great to see you. I would love to turn over to Yana now to introduce yourself.
Oh, I'm so sorry. I cannot hear, can others?
What about now?
Oh, yeah, now we can hear you. Thanks, Tiana.
Hi, my name is Yana Batra. I am recovering from a cold, so please forgive me if I sound a little congested.
That this goes away for sure today. I'm an organizer with the D of Justice Coalition.
It's a statewide use nonprofit organization in Georgia that I co-founded in my sophomore year of high school.
Now I'm a sophomore in college. I'm mechanical engineering major at Georgia Tech.
And I've been organizing with you as you see in a few different capacities right now.
I serve as our campus mobilization director. So I lead a team of 19 college students organizing on 14 of Georgia's largest campuses.
And, organizing on 14 of Georgia's largest campuses. And, you, I just see a general organizes high school students and college students on a full slate of youth priorities, through legislative advocacy, electoral advocacy, training, and then, you know, media communications.
Yeah, it's really nice to meet you all.
Awesome. Thanks, Yanna, and thank you for being with us through a cold wishing you the speediest recovery that's no fun.
Great and then Aidan would you like to close it out with our
Yeah, hi everybody. I'm also kind of going through cold right now. Sorry. I'm a third year of student here at UC Davis and I currently I mostly serve as the president of the UC Davis and I currently I mostly serve as the president of the UC Davis College Democrats where the president of the UC Davis College Democrats, I mostly serve as the president of the UC Davis College Democrats.
We're the official arm of the Democratic Party at UC Davis. We do a lot of work to organize students to engage with politics both, locally, but also in federal elections going into, you know, US Senate and congressional races across California and to Nevada and even Arizona.
We've worked very closely with Sister District, especially with some of their Virginia races and they've created a great program and infrastructure that we've been able to to work with and I'm looking forward to talking about that.
So thanks for having me.
Cool. Well, thank you, Aidan. And again, wishing you a speedy recovery too, something must be going around across the country, I guess, but so excited to dive in.
With our first question for this panel. So a big focus for some of our sister district teams has been recruiting younger members and activists to join their ranks.
So in your opinion, how do you feel that Sister District can attract younger organizers and volunteers and what would make you or what has you, what has made you interested in working with an organization like Sister District. And why don't we go in reverse order?
So A and I'll kick it back to you.
Yeah, of course. I mean, it kind of in my experience, I've definitely noticed that I think young people are tend to be a little bit more skeptical of both of like the Democratic and Republican parties, especially kind of on like the national level.
So my kind of strategy in terms of reaching out to younger people and I think it's something that that works pretty well is really just focusing on the issues that young people really care about, particularly like issues like climate change or reproductive freedom or labor rights, etc.
And I think sister district is in a pretty good position in terms of like they can disassociate from like kind of the stuff with the federal elections in terms of like, they can disassociate from like kind of the stuff with the federal on the federal elections and focus on the stuff with the federal on the federal elections and focus on the fact that like on these issues that really matter to young people elections and focus on the fact that like on these issues that really matter to young people, like
local elections and focus on the fact that like local elections and local government is really, really matter to young people like local elections and local government is really, really important to, you know, getting a lot of the progressive changes we want to see done.
I also think for, local elections, it's definitely like easier to connect with these local candidates compared to like for example like a congressman or a US senator.
I think their experiences tend to be a lot more, a lot more, similar in terms of like the issues that you community faces, they're easier to contact.
So I, I definitely would like for attracting younger voters, I definitely think, you know, focusing on the issues, focusing on the fact that like local elections are really, really important.
And also really just, you know, making sure that young people have the opportunity to connect with these candidates as well.
Like, it's one thing to be able to be like, Hey, this person's really cool.
It's another person. It's another to be able to meet them and I think this has a really good infrastructure to be able to you know engage with these candidates and have them show up like fundraisers to events and those are always good opportunities to you know engage with young people and have them you know meet the candidate get to know them.
And then for your existing volunteers, I think it's always good to just make sure that you're their work is recognized and they're given opportunities to lead and grow and grow in the organization.
So that's kind of where I would go for that.
I love that. Thank you, Aidan, for sharing. Tell that, you know, we can really get that direct access to state legislature candidates because the races are smaller, which is awesome.
And that relatability to the issue is super cool. So thank you for sharing. I'd love to hear from you as someone who works in one of our target states in Georgia.
Absolutely. I think that was an incredibly comprehensive and very accurate answer. So I'm hoping that, I won't be too repetitive.
I would definitely say Georgia is in a very unique position. When it comes to to the youth though, because of exactly what we were hearing about earlier.
Georgia was decided by less than 12,000 votes and Georgia compared to all other battleground states in the US has the highest share of youth voter population.
Relative to any other battleground state. So I think really one very important way. To engage young people is to build a message on that idea of youth voter power right I think too many young people feel that voting is a really difficult you know is a doesn't work right that's sort of the sentiment right my voice doesn't count in this way.
And so I think there's 2 ways that we try to counter that. One is to focus local, right?
Exactly what Aden was just speaking to. Instead of focusing on these, you know, national races, which are obviously very important, especially in a battleground state like Georgia, continuing to focus on downbell races like sister district is so good at is a great way of making sure that young people understand that our vote share is incredibly important.
Georgia and particular has several districts which are some of the youngest in the country so something like 30% 40% of those districts are voters between the age of 18 to 34 which is what's typically described as a youth vote share and so focusing on these races, I'm focusing on having these candidates engage with the young people in their communities is a really good way for in turn those voters and those now energized, engaged, and activated young
people to support the work of sister districts, right? To build this national effort of young voters who understand the power of their vote and ways in which they can not only cast develop themselves, but also engage other people in building that voter power.
I love that. That really has me fired up. Thank you, Yada. That's so cool.
And Oliver, from your perspective, I know you've worked with Sister District a lot.
What would you add to this?
Yeah, I would add in addition to those excellent, excellent answers, you all should go into leadership in political organizing.
I would add that I think one of sister district's greatest strengths is the impact that their efforts make because these races are ones that are decided by, you know, tens or hundreds of votes.
And the state house is where so much important policy gets done. Particularly in this political climate.
I think really distilling that messaging and that opportunity that can be offered to youth kind of politically oriented individuals that's really a really important focus I think because I think as was said before there's a sense of frustration at the national level in a big way and I think one of the main selling points of sister districts approach and what has kept me coming back over and over and over again is just the fact that you can
give an hour or 2 and really create a lasting impact that will have ramifications down the road.
Yeah, absolutely. The impact we can create on these state led races. I missed our busy schedules is just like so powerful, which actually leads me perfectly into the next question.
Which is I know that you all are so busy. Youth organizers in general are so busy and leaders in this movement are so busy saving our democracy, saving our planet, making sure the next generation is okay.
And so I would be curious to hear from each of you what would be needed from a sister district team or from Sister District in general to make a partnership with a youth organization like yours successful and make it worth your while.
And, would you like to start this time?
I'm gonna go run and grab some water actually. I'll be right back.
Oh, please do. Please do. We gotta, we gotta stay hydrated. That is one of the keys to success here.
Aidan, how about you?
Yeah, I'll just kind of talk to more like, have, how I've worked with this district in the past.
I think I've noticed from like a lot of youth organizations that they're very momentum based that it's it's kind of slow to you know get the ball rolling into get started but once like they do get started they're you know they're onstoppable they keep going and I think Sister District has a good opportunity to I mean both partner with the existing organizations that already have the ball rolling but
also partner with the existing organizations that already have the ball rolling but also specifically the organizations that are just have the ball rolling but also specifically the organizations that are just kind of starting out, but also specifically the organizations that are just kind of starting out like some of these smaller like the organizations that are just kind of starting out like some of these smaller like College DEM chapters or generation action chapters or so on and so forth who are, you
know, on campuses that have a lot of students, but they're just they're just new and they just don't have the gears of like, you know, momentum to have behind them.
And what I mean by that is I think this sister district has an opportunity to collaborate with these organizations, given your guys' like existing infrastructure with, you know, hosting, given your guys' like existing infrastructure with, you know, hosting phone banks, being able, given your guys' like existing infrastructure with, you know, hosting phone banks, being able to connect with these local candidates, you know, hosting phone banks, being able to connect with these local candidates, hosting like fundraisers across
the, like, being able to connect with these local candidates, hosting like fundraisers across the, like the country and have those candidates like flying in for them.
I think it's, it's a good opportunity to get like, you know, the one or 2 or 5 members in those chapters to, you know, engage with sister district and kind of get experience for, you know, how this political organizing works because they can then take that experience students that they run into and hopefully they can get the ball rolling and be able to be more effective.
You know, partners and collaborators going into the future. I also think like on the topic of like the infrastructure, I think it's really, really cool.
And this is something that's, that's, just, you know, is helped specifically out with, with my chapter is being able to help us book speakers or, you know, they hosted like fundraisers in our in our city and we helped like staff the fundraiser or they had the infrastructure of like setting up the phone banks and so on and so forth and I think like being able to just like connect with them
and immediately have those resources available is really really helpful and useful for for small chap small and big chapters alike.
And I think that's a, that's a great opportunity that you guys have is to, collaborate with these chapters in that way.
That makes so much sense. But being able to just give an opportunity of like, hey, plug into our phone bank, Hey, we have access to a candidate.
Would you like them to speak at your chapters meeting, that type of thing? That is super helpful to hear.
Yana, how, would you answer this question?
Yeah, thank you for bearing with me. I would say at you by JC, we're working really far to build a pipeline of engaged young people who, you know, are already raising their hands to be involved, right?
These are young people who are passionate about issues like we've been talking about climate reproductive access among so many others and to build, you know, expertise and provide training to these folks to cultivate a new cohort of youth organizing leadership.
Right where these students can join progressive organizations and also very importantly, local and state and even federal campaigns with the tools to be effective from day one, right?
To bring expertise to these campaigns to understand how to reach and activate other young people. And I think it will be really incredible for these really impressive and inspiring cohort members to support y'all in the work that you're doing here, right?
To be connected with y'all in terms of how can I be a part of this local campaign where reaching out to young people would be incredibly effective.
How can I with the media training that I've gotten be an effective surrogate, right, in the swing state where it's very important to build trust between young people and the candidates who are running here.
And then additionally to, you know, really provide y'all, with staffing with tools with really again, the expertise in reaching your voters in terms of designing phone making scripts in terms of, you know, providing insight on some of this programming and in ways to actually reach and engage young people.
And so I think that sort of arena where you know we can help find young people who are really passionate about getting involved from a very young age in sort of the hard work that it takes to do all of this phone baking in this candidate support.
I think that would be really tremendous.
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing that insight. Super helpful and informative. And Oliver, I'll pass it over to you next.
Yeah, in addition, again, to the excellent things that have already been said, I would add, I think it would help to assume nothing, when, engaging with, younger, volunteers and organizing, youth groups because the, I counted myself as someone who is relatively informed and plugged in in undergrad and I didn't necessarily know, you know, who my
local state legislator was or kind of what the off cycle election schedule looked like. And so the ability to kind of break down just.
The way sister district does with candidates, you know, having the one page or the way that I know the amazing organizing fellows shout out to the organizing fellows are able to kind of break down the, state legislative kind of picture and what state legislatures do and how it's different than the national the national party you know just coming into those interactions with kind of planning to start from a blank slate in terms of not
making assumptions about what they already know. And then once you can establish kind of what the shared level of knowledge is kind of running from there because like Aden said it's a really it's a really really sticky experience.
Once you get the opportunity to jump in and make calls and kind of get that feeling. I know myself personally I've never phone banked my partner kind of got me to start and it's once you get over that initial threshold, you want to keep coming back.
And so that kind of initial contact is so important.
Yeah, absolutely. That's really, that's wonderful to hear about. And I think really helpful to like remember that that leading with assuming nothing, right?
And making this a super open and welcoming space. Wonderful. Well, I will ask one or 2 more questions before we see if there's any questions from the audience.
So just here's a logistic question for everyone. Like, how do we get in touch with you organizations and with young organizers.
Like, what is the best way? Is it, you know, tweeting at you? Is it on Facebook?
Is it through email? What is the best way to reach out to youth organizers would love to know the secrets.
Oliver, can I kick it back to you?
Sure, this is this is where I'm very excited to still be included on the youth panel, although I'm not super active on on Twitter or TikTok or any of that.
I think, I mean, just going back to what our other panelists are doing. I think trying to get in front of as many college students as possible or getting involved with.
High school, you know, AP government classes, kind of reaching out to teachers. I knew I know in my high school I went to public school, the AP government teacher had a volunteer for a presidential election.
And so there are lots of opportunities to kind of get in front of, get in front of the younger volunteers to kind of get in front of, of opportunities to kind of get in front of, get in front of the younger volunteers and get them, you know, just kind of get them familiar with Sister District and what its mission is.
Yeah, find those channels to get in front of people. Cause right, once we can talk about Sister District, I feel like so much of that, the resources, the impact really sells itself.
So that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, Aidan, anything you would contribute to how we can reach out to, to the youths?
Hey, yeah, I'll just kinda speak on unless about reaching the youth of more reaching out to organizations.
I think definitely like each college campus for example has like a like a like a website where it has like all of like the clubs on campus for example and that's definitely like a local chapter, like that's definitely a resource that local chapters can, you know, look through and see if there's like a politically engaged or that they can they can reach out to.
I also think like on kind of like a more broader level, there's other organizations that, like do these sort of works on campus, like for example, like grassroots, DEMS HQ or, you know, other words like that where you can like, I think there's definitely opportunities to reach out to them, be like, hey, like we're interested in working on this campus.
Like, do you guys know anybody there? And from there, I think it's definitely. Useful to be able to have like at least just one contact on a campus and they can just go from there and like it's like, hey, do you know anybody else or any other clubs on campus that would be interested in working like working on this and that's that's definitely a good way to build.
I would say is just, you know, looking through the existing infrastructure that's there.
Yeah, establish those connections, right? And then you can have like that foot in the door that can keep growing, definitely.
Yanna, is there anything you want to add?
Okay. So I'm not gonna harp too long on the social media point. What I will say is I think we over emphasize the need to be on TikTok.
Thank God.
So good news for everybody here. I don't think it's as important. We are only a little bit, you know, recently getting into the TikTok and then anyways what we do that I think is much more important.
And then anyways, what we do that I think is much more important, is actually going in person and reaching students where they're at, is actually going in person and reaching students where they're at.
And a lot of this is really similar to what Aidan and Oliver just shared. But what's been extremely successful for us, in terms of, you know, reaching college and high school students is canvassing, right?
Is going out, going to a college campus, setting up a table, putting some merch on there, right?
Throwing some free ramen on the side so that we can hopefully get some kids, a few more, mules, on, the, table, and, actually you can get paid to do this, but also all of you care about climate, right?
So come to this event, will cater a little bit of, hey, remember what it was, might have been Taco Bell or something. Meet us where we're at, right?
We'll meet you where you're at physically in person and engage on these issues that you really care about and sort of suite the deal.
So I really can' . So, yeah
Meet him where they're at. I love that. And Taco Bell doesn't hurt, I would say is the sub tagline to that.
Thank you so much, everyone, for sharing. It looks like we have a great question in the chat from all, for those who don't live in battleground states, what are some of the best ways for young folks who don't live in a state that, you know, is maybe a battleground for 2024, like a Pennsylvania or Georgia to have a real impact with Sister District campaigns.
And I'm happy to pass it back to Aden.
Oh yeah, thank you. Yeah, I was just thinking about that question. And I think definitely, particularly when we were organizing for some of the Virginia, you know, House of Delegates and Senate elections, we definitely try to focus on like 2 things, definitely one being solidarity that you care about.
As students, we care about these issues and while, you know, I mean, California hasn't always have the most gleaming record on every one of these issues, but, you know, we definitely have it better than in some other states.
So focusing on the solidarity of like you care about these issues and. Like other people don't have it as good as you.
And you have an opportunity to help make a difference. And in those other states in terms of, you know, like helping see change in their state and local government.
For the people who are less solidarity focused, I always try and focus on like what comes around goes around like changes in different states can also inspire national change or change with even within your own state.
I like to point out that sometimes of like a lot of these like big national bills that we look at that, you know, like change the entire momentum of the nation.
Like, they have, you know, like change the entire momentum of the nation. Like, they have, they, they're often looked like based on like other piece of legislation that we're in different states.
I think also in like state legislators, legislatures like even in California, like we definitely look to other states for like inspiration of like how they're doing things.
So while you know if you phone bank in Virginia and you're from California like the result of that election may not personally affect you like immediately.
Like if you can help inspire change, like that's immediately like great for the people who live in those states, but also it can help like it create the momentum to change things in your own state, but also it can help like and create the momentum to change things in your own state or even nationally as well.
Yeah, that's awesome. Over to you, Oliver.
Yeah. I was I was gonna say I would I would say you know all of all of what I was saying about policy like anything else is momentum dependent and you see things happening in another state and it becomes a lot easier for it to happen in your state.
Or just kind of states all around. I grew up in New York. I was in California for a long time.
So it on a national picture for a long time, so I was in California for a long time, so on a national picture it wasn't so much, there wasn't so much, so on a national picture, it wasn't so much, there wasn't so much battleground, it wasn't so much, it wasn't so much, there wasn't so much, kind of battleground, conversation
happening. But what I found also, and for those that, conversation happening. But what I found also, and for those that, have been on phone banks that I've led, this will amplifying impact and amplifying the support that the candidates already have in their home state and the infrastructure that they've already built out, cleaning up, you know, phone banking lists is one of the most satisfying things for me
because I know it means that somebody who is on the ground knocking on doors is going to have to spend a couple seconds fewer going through that, you know, dead phone number, that meaning not disconnected, you know, dead phone number, that meaning not disconnected.
And so the idea, the idea of kind of amplifying something that's already happening not disconnected.
And so the idea, the idea of kind of amplifying something that's already happening and so the idea, the idea of kind of amplifying something that's already happening and kind of lifting that up, is really powerful for me and kind of lifting that up, is really powerful for me and kind of lifting that up, is really powerful for me and I found it's been powerful to, communicate with
others
That's awesome. Oh no, you go.
And one thing, oh sorry. Yeah, one thing I'll add to sort of that ripple effect that, all of our native have just been talking about where what happens in one states politics often is married in another cuts both ways, right?
When we're looking at some of the really harmful legislation up in the Georgia legislature right now. That's the same legislation that just got passed in Texas and Mississippi and Florida, right states that unfortunately aren't as much of a battleground as we would like them to be.
But the same legislation that's activating people in Georgia has already, you know, been passed is already harmfully affecting people in Texas and Florida in some of these other states.
So one thing that we try and do is make it very easy for people who, you know, might have less of an opportunity to combat this legislation in their own red state to actually come and, you know, support students, support young people, support all Georgia citizens and making a difference in their own state, right?
And that's how you figure out what works when you're when you're saying, okay, like how do we convince, you know, maybe 5 Republican legislators in Georgia to say no to this piece of legislation.
How can you mirror the strategy back in Texas in Florida and use Georgia as a sort of testing ground for the messaging that really, you know, uplifts the power of people in Georgia.
And might also work in Texas and Florida in these states where, you know, literal voting power is being suppressed at a much higher degree.
So I think really pulling in that energy of like, we know that this policy is in place here.
Can you help us stop it in this other state? So that we can figure out how to stop it nationally so that we can make these protections not just for Georgia citizens but also for states where you know those protections really aren't present at the moment.
Yeah, that ripple effect that you talk about is so real. And I just, yeah, appreciate everyone's contributions here.
We're gonna close with one last question, which is of course relational organizing is a huge part of political work.
Of course, relational organizing is a huge part of political work. And we've talked a bit about like, you know, organizing is a huge part of political work.
And we've talked a bit about like, or like, you know, organizing youth groups and organizations and working with them.
But what would you say to folks on the line who are trying to get the younger folks in their lives involved in sister district and in politics and activism.
Hey, do you want to start?
Okay.
Oh, yeah. I mean, definitely like. Focusing a lot on like the relational side of things.
It's always good to try and make politics, you know, fun for people. No one like, there's always kind of, there's already an existing barrier entry to get involved with politics.
And I think, you know, if you have a young person in your life who, you know, may be scared of getting involved with politics.
It's really important that you, you know, try and help break down those barriers. Like, not obviously not breaking it down entirely for them because they have to invest a little bit into that to be you know wanting to stick around.
But I think for young people as well, it can be very intimidating, to get involved with politics.
So you can find ways to make things interesting and, and definitely not, you know, super scary and, and like the world's ending, the world's on fire.
Like, you, you can, you can, it doesn't have to be as, you know, black and white as that.
Also just trying to focus on like what are people's, you know, individual, you know, strengths and weaknesses.
If you're, you know, a really big introvert and you don't feel comfortable like, you know, going to knock doors or making phone calls, like, that's okay.
Like, how about we, we, we set you up to go do letter writing or if you or do text banking, for example, or if some if you're someone who has like mobility issues, for example, like focus on like more virtual events like phone banking or text banking or so on and so forth like making things easier for folks and finding a way to lean into their existing strengths is always going to be an important way to get people
involved and get people into the room.
And what I would add to that is the vibe of Kitchen table issues, right? Which I think we often tend to talk about in the context of slightly older voters and not so much young voters, but when you're talking about an electorate that's 18 to 34, there are kitchen table issues, right?
We're putting groceries on our table. We're paying utility bills. We're worried about student debt.
And so when you're talking to young people, it can often feel overwhelming for a young person to try and get involved because the sentiment around youth voters tends to be this mindset of they're gonna save our country, right?
They're gonna push back against the polarization, right? They're gonna take action on these issues that feel huge that feel, you know, overwhelming to be a part of.
When you can bring that conversation back to when you're talking to your kid when you're talking to.
You know, a student when you're talking to a young person your life, bringing it back to the issues that just affect their day to day, right?
How can we talk about student love that? How can we talk about on a local level? Is there a pothole in your road that you're upset about?
Right, if we bring it back to these smaller issues that affect folks everyday lives and give really simple actions for people to be a part of, like Aidan mentioned, making a call, sending an email to a legislator as a constituent can often be extremely powerful, right?
Because these are not legislators who often have to feel that direct accountability with their constituents, especially young ones.
So bringing it back to really simple issues and using that as a way to sort of escalate folks into taking action in these larger and larger ways, I think is extremely important, right?
And they didn't already spoke about, you know, bringing those barriers down. I think that also comes down to the issues in the way we talk about them, right?
How do we take an issue like reproductive access which feels overwhelming to deal with in the national level? Right?
We have to flip Congress. We have to make sure that we can get a bill on Joe Biden's desk that he can sign off on.
To protect Roly Wade. That's huge. But when we're talking about, you know, a reproductive access in the in the perspective of, you know, health care expansion while we're talking about removing legislation that takes away money from planned parenthood in Georgia.
That's something where somebody could call their representative and say, hey, I'm a constituent.
I care a lot about this issue. How can we, you know, make this work in a way that benefits me and benefits you, right?
How can I as a young person take a really, really simple action on this big issue. I think that's the best way to use those relational skills to actually have that direct conversation with people about what's impacted their lives and you most likely already know that, right, about the young people you care about, you know where these issues are impacting them.
So when you're speaking on those, I think it's much, much easier to get involved and bring young people in than when you're putting a lot of pressure on these huge national issues.
Absolutely.
And I would, yeah, so I would say flexibility and creativity, giving folks not just the flexibility in what they do, but in the timing that they do it, what time of day they do it, you know, like something like drafting emails that can be sent later, things that that people can do kind of maybe outside normal phone banking hours.
And being creative and thinking about those opportunities for engagement because it's all about getting folks on the ladder of engagement.
You, because it's all about right getting folks on the ladder of engagement. You want to get them involved with one thing, get them to say yes to one thing and then it becomes a lot the threshold to get them to kind of continue to be involved is a lot lower when they're already doing something and so being creative and thinking about like what could we use help with that isn't just phone banking or fundraising.
And also, the thing I heard that is so, so excellent is also taking big policies and breaking them down into small acts.
The idea of, you know, taking these things that can feel overwhelming and giving action items and giving the opportunities, continually just giving the folks in your life.
Real concrete positive enthusiastic with a smile opportunities to get involved and make a difference and continuing to do so just continuing to show up and knowing that a lot of times, you know, if.
Efforts are rebuffed at the beginning it's it's a as much a discomfort and embarrassment sometimes of not knowing how to kind of tackle these huge things.
And so you keep giving folks the opportunity to kind of take a baby step in the direction of taking a small act and that leads to a bigger one.
And that leads to a bigger one. And I think that's something that Sister District already does really well and can continue to kind of be creative about.
Awesome. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I feel so fired up and excited and inspired by you 3.
So thank you so much to Yana and Aidan and Oliver who are doing such incredible work and also Took the time to be with us today.
So just thank you so much for sharing your expertise and with. We just appreciate it so much. Before we transition to our next thing, I have to give a plug to the Sister District Organizing Fellowship, which has come up on this call.
Oliver is an alum of that program. We have other folks on this call who are alums of that program.
This is an awesome training program where we bring in newer, new folks who maybe bring in newer new folks who maybe don't have that political experience and teach them the tools that they need to organize to run phone banks, who maybe don't have that political experience and teach them the tools that they need to organize and teach them the tools that they need to organize to run phone banks to do that voter contact of making those calls and that type
of thing. And we are currently hiring for our summer cohort of fellows. Are really excited to get that program off the ground and have fellows join us at the end of April, which will perfectly coincide with our candidate rollout. So thank you again so much to our 3 panelists.
And now I am very excited to pass the mic over to Sean Werner and, Raven, Douglas, who, are, going, to, talk, about, our, 2023, impact.
Thanks, Susan, and thank you for such a great panel. That was really awesome and really inspiring. Hi, everybody.
I'm Sean Warner. I'm organizing a political director and I'm just gonna walk a little bit before we head into 2,024 it's important for us to take a step back and remember the amazing things that we all collectively accomplished just last year.
Obviously everyone knows we want 8 of our 10 races in the Commonwealth of Virginia securing making sure that we held on to that slim majority in the Virginia State Senate.
And we flipped the Virginia house. It's fun to talk about all of those races and winning, but what the impact that we ultimately have is absolutely massive.
In 2,023 we raised over $551,000 for our 10 candidates and I think that the one thing that is unique about sister district and I think that all of the energy on this call is awesome around early dollars.
This allows our candidates to receive those resources and then for other folks that tend to make their funding decisions later, our candidates are in a better position so that they can get more money because as we all know, early money is like yeast and it makes the dough rise.
And so, 75% of all of our resources were contributed to our candidates. We were talking a lot about the phone banking.
It is important to remember that the Virginia House of Delegates was decided by 965 votes.
And we have 51 to 49 seat majority and because of the power of everyone on this call and the teams that engage, we made over 328,000 dials.
Now, 40% of those were done in the summer before September one. That's not a typical because we make so many dials during Geo TV reminding folks to get out and vote.
I think the one thing that's really, really powerful is that, you know, Virginia has no contribution limits, right?
And so people can write 1 million dollar checks and there were people that were writing those size checks. But I think that the thing that is the most important is if you added up all of the contributions from our network throughout the country in each of our races prior to election day we were one of the top 10 donors.
So that is really articulating and highlighting the role that we can have in these elections. I also say that winning elections is important, but it's only important when we can impact the public policy.
Let me go to the next slide.
And those wins have been absolutely huge. I'm sure everyone has saw that we have now in Virginia, you know, the former capital of the Confederacy, the largest black legislative caucus, including the first black speaker in Don Scott and Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas.
You don't follow her on Twitter. I highly recommend it. She is a ton of fun. And it's also important to realize that we are no longer on the defensive.
We are on the offense in Virginia, making Governor Youngkin veto very popular legislation, whether that is increasing the minimum wage in expanding access to ballots, and protecting LGBTQ folks, we are able to ultimately, shape the narrative in Virginia.
It's also been amazing to see some of our rock star lawmakers like Danica Rome already passing for bills that is sent to Governor Youngkin and I think that the most important thing for us to remember in a post-dobs world is that we protected abortion access in Gabby's conversation she was talking about how we are in a more favorable climate down ballot.
It is important to remember as she had mentioned, 2,022 we did not lose a single legislative chamber for the first time in the since no early 19 hundreds 2023 we win again and a large part of that was a referendum on Governor Young's attempt to pass a 15 week abortion ban.
The voters are with us. We have to do the work, but we know what to do. And if we all collectively do that together.
2024 is going to be in just as an impactful year as 2,023. So with that I'll kick it over to my colleague Graven.
Thanks so much, Sean. Good morning for afternoon depending on where you are. My name is Raven Douglas and I'm the head of Civic Engagement Programs, your sister district.
I'm so thrilled to be here sharing some exciting updates from our civic engagement and research departments.
Here's since our district our commitment goes beyond just elections. We are truly dedicated to making a lasting impact on progressive change.
So let's dive into the incredible work that unfolded in 2023. Why year we were hard at work in both of our civic engagement research departments making intentional strides towards impacting long-term progressive change.
One of our flagship initiatives, the Purple District Network, has been instrumental. This inclusive, this exclusive state legislator network supports progressive lawmakers specifically in purple districts.
In 2023 we recruited 28 new members bringing the size of our network to 90 state lawmakers across 30 states of our network to 90 state lawmakers across 30 states including the size of our network to 90 state lawmakers across 30 states including many sister district alumni.
Our community voting efforts include 3 to 4 virtual convenience convenings annually, a quarterly newsletter, a resource library, and a member directory that we just recently moved to our webpage to make it more accessible to our members.
Recognizing the need for greater support. We have also launched our first identity based caucus, our Black women's caucus, as well as an advisory committee to continue to provide the critical resources and government support that state legislators need all across the country.
Next slide, please. In our commitment to understanding and addressing downward engagement, since your district is in the process of conducting insightful research.
Many voters even when they are sufficiently motivated to go to the polls or mailing their ballots will vote solely for high salience races at the top of the ticket and not in state like the state of elections further down the ballot.
Currently there is little existing research that identifies or explains the reasons why voters engage in this down ballot roll off behavior.
In partnership with data for progress. We are working, we conducted focus groups followed by a large scale survey.
To find more about public perceptions of state power, state legislators and voting in state legislative elections.
This research dives deep into how voter spanning the political spectrum and various demographics perceive their state representatives, the importance they play on state versus federal power.
And their voting behavior from the top to the bottom of the ballot. Building on this research, we're actively developing a toolkit for volunteers, organizations, and key partners to utilize in the field this fall.
Next slide, please. And as we reflect on the ever-growing power of state legislators, we understand the need to tell compelling stories.
In 2,023 we partnered with Team Both to amplify these narratives through OP-eds and Q&A's spotlighting historic first among elected state lawmakers from the first Korean American woman elected to the Virginia House of Delicates to the first openly LGBTQ.
Senator and Doris history to the youngest black person elected to any state legislator in this country. Now is the perfect time to tell resident stories about the power and promise of state legislators.
Looking ahead to 2,024, we're expanding our narrative work by collaborating with additional media partners and stakeholders.
Are relaunching our state power series. This initiative aims to spark conversations around the increasing importance of states and the essential need for sustained state power building efforts.
Additionally, keep an hour eye out for our new SDN monthly newsletter called States and SETS which will feature our research.
You can learn more about our purple district network members and updates from our target states. And lastly, but certainly not least, you can go to the next slide.
Let's talk about our state for this program, which is a corner. Sone and laying the groundwork for electoral victories.
And 2023 we achieved remarkable milestones hosting 5 virtual fundraisers supporting 8 organizations across 5 virtual fundraisers supporting 8 organizations across 5 key states.
Together, we collectively raise over $125,000, bringing our total friends race over half a million dollars since 2,019 when the program was first started.
So far this year we have a raised nearly $55,000 in supported organizations in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Bars of passing our monthly productive fundraising goals for the year. Don't miss our next, which is next Wednesday, March thirteenth.
We really hope to see you there. Thank you for being a part of our journey and for your unwavering support as we look back on 2023 we can see the true impact you all have made in the foundation we laid for even greater strides.
So with that said, we are going to take a very short break and come back at, 1055.
Pacific time, and then Susan will give us more information on our breakout sessions.
Hi everyone. Welcome back and I'm back to explain how our organizing workshops are going to work.
It has been awesome hearing about our 2023 impact and our 2024 strategy and now I'm really excited to dive into workshops where we will explore tactics and strategies that will help us win this year.
For this first round of organizing workshops, we have 2 fantastic sessions planned that you can choose between.
The first is a donor organizing workshop with Haley Batch who is the executive director of donor organizing hub.
This is actually part one of a 2 part workshop. The second part will be in our second organizing workshop time block.
So join Haley for this first training which will focus on frameworks and practices to recruit new donors and maximize your fundraising efforts in 2,024.
Our second fabulous option in our first organizing workshop time block is a panel with 3 incredible sister district leaders on surviving, thriving, and winning in 2,024.
Election cycles can take a lot out of us as activists, so police join Sister District staff and volunteer leaders for a conversation on how to confront the uncertainty of this stressful election year with optimism and resilience.
While getting your friends involved too. After the first round of workshops, we'll come back to this main room to hear about our next round and then go from there.
So please look to the bottom of your Zoom screen where you should see several icons and select breakout rooms.
You might have to click the 3 buttons that say more to find that breakout rooms option. And then choose which room you would like to join.
We will have staff in this main room to help you get to the breakout. Room of your choice if you're having any issues.
But really excited to dive in and I hope everyone has a wonderful time.
If you don't see the breakout room, just put in the chat, which room you wanna be in and we will try to move you there.
For those that are still in the room, if you did wanna go to a breakout room, could you just put in the chat again?
I think we got everyone who wrote it and I apologize if we didn't but just put in the chat if you want to go to a breakout room which number and we'll get you there.
Hello, if you recently joined, our call, if you would like to join a breakout room, we're currently the, the room number one is talking about donor organizing.
It's a 2 part of a 2 part. Series today, but recruiting your donors.
The second breakout room is surviving, thriving, and winning. If you want to put in the chat, if you're not able to join those, we can move you.
If you've recently joined.
Hi, Ingrid.
I'd like to join group 2.
Okay, sounds great. We'll put you in there.
Hi, if you've just joined the meeting, just please know that we're in breakout rooms.
You can join, breakout room one, which is donor organizing. About recruiting or breakout room to surviving thriving and winning in 2024.
If you need help joining those breakout rooms just put in the chat or raise your hand and we can unmute you and let us know which way you want to go.
Yeah, hi, Kerry. Breakout room number one, is about donor organizing, recruiting new donors.
It's part of a 2 part series today. Led by a woman named Haley Bash.
The breakout room too is about surviving, thriving and winning in 2024.
So either of those sounds good.
The first one.
Okay, sounds great.
No, you're welcome. It's no thanks for joining us.
Thanks. Sorry for joining late. Supposed to be. I was supposed to be canvassing in Arizona today.
Oh!
And, and I, I'm from Yolo, Sister District Kilo and was heading down there with Kelly Wilkerson and got a sore throat and I couldn't go so I'm going on a future trip but I thought I would.
Check in today.
Yeah. Absolutely. We are going to move you to number one. Okay.
Okay, thanks.
If you have joined in recently, we're on in breakout rooms. The first breakout room is donor organizing.
It talks about recruiting new donors and the breakout room number 2 is When we talked about surviving, thriving and winning, we're happy to move you into a breakout room if we're still interested in going.
You can either ask to be unmuted and we can you can let us know or you can put it in the chat either way.
Hello, if you're just joining us. Wanted to let you know that we are in the middle of breakout sessions that you are totally able to join.
Still, we have breakout room one which is donor organizing. And talking about recruiting new donors and breakout room number 2, was talking about surviving, thriving, and winning in 2024.
You can either raise your hand, let me know. I can unmute you or if you also want to just put in the chat, I'm happy to move you there as well.
Is it over?
I can't hear you.
Sorry, I was on mute. We're in breakout rooms. So there's a bunch of people and there's a bunch of people, that are sitting still out here just so that you're aware there is on their phones on mute.
So.
I can't figure out how to get my background. I'm sorry. I'm on my phone as well.
You're totally fine. No, we're glad to have you. So.
I've been I've been monitoring the slack. It looks like it's going really wrong.
Maybe I.
Okay, got it.
Yeah, for sure. So, so just think there's other people on this phone. Yeah, but I will, do you want to join a breakout room?
No. When are the breakout rooms over?
Okay. They'll be over and just like, less than 10 min, about 10 min and then we'll go into other breakout rooms just that you're aware.
Okay, so I might do that when I'm gonna get my computer set up and everything and background and then I'll pop back in.
Okay, sounds great.
Hi, Dina. Would you like that?
That we get out.
Dana, would you like to join a breakout room?
Oops.
Hello and welcome if you're just joining us. We're currently in breakout rooms where we are talking about one of 2 things.
The first breakout room is about donor organizing and recruiting new donors. Breakout room number 2 is about surviving, thriving, and winning in 2,024.
There's still about 10 min left in those breakout rooms and we'd love to have you join them.
If you are unable to see how to join them. If you are unable to see how to do so, we're happy to see how to do so, we're happy to see how to do so we're happy to move you as well if you put in the chat which breakout room you put in the chat which breakout room you as well.
If you put in the chat, which breakout room you'd like to go to that's number one is the donor recruiting you donors.
Number 2 is surviving in 2024.
There I am. Hi everyone. Welcome back to the main room. I hope everyone enjoyed this first round of organizing workshops for our second round.
We have 2 another 2 great sessions to choose from. So Haley will be running the second part of our donor organizing workshop where we will dive into how to structure your fundraising plans and activities to maximize donor engagement and the do's and don'ts of escalating donors to reach their full potential.
I highly recommend that if you joined Haley's first session with us that you joined the second part to round out this training.
And our second option is a conversation with Sister District staff and our digital firm middle seat on digital organizing in a presidential year.
What messages resonate with voters and volunteers and how can we deliver them effectively through tactics like email and social media.
Join us for a conversation about how to reach and activate volunteers in and outside your network through digital tactics and what messages will really cut through the noise in a busy presidential cycle.
So please choose from the breakout room options which session you would like to join. We are going to get started in just a minute, 1145 am Pacific.
So feel free to select your breakout room and then, you know, grab a quick glass of water and we'll see you in there.
How do I join? Break room one.
Well, of you.
What?
I'll move you to room one.
Okay, thank you.
Hi Rick, sorry I just saw your question. There is just there are just 2 sessions today but I can move you to the room.
Ingrid, you should have gotten, a message saying you were invited to join room to or like rejoin or.
There should be something at the bottom of your screen.
What screen are you talking about?
Just on your Zoom screen at the bottom, I moved you to room, to the breakout room.
Hmm.
So it should say like join.
Really?
The same thing it said the first session. I don't know if you know if it said it.
Yeah, I don't see any joint. The word join.
Or just breakout rooms.
Hmm.
No.
Let me see if I can give you to the second one and then move you back and see if that works.
Hold on. Let me see.
Is anything popping up?
Right.
Okay, please choose the 2. Yeah, but it doesn't have it's not highlighted.
If it does, please choose. Okay.
Oh, now it says joint. Okay.
Does anyone else on the call still need to be moved and if so can you just put the number in the chat?
I think we got everyone else.
Did that work? Ingrid or are you in the wrong room?
I wanted not to be with donors, the donor group.
Okay, so the digital organizing then? Okay, so it should pop up now.
Yeah. Okay, thank you.
Hi, N. Do you need to be put in a breakout room?
Awesome.
Yeah, I was off doing a VoIP pro calls for, Wisconsin. So I, I, didn't, so I'm not sure, and I copied the link to see what the lists are, but what are the things that are going on now, so I'll see if they apply to me.
Yeah, sure. So the one is, digital organizing in a presidential year. So, with our
That's that's not me. Keep going. Anything else?
And another one is just the donor organizing part 2 with Haley Bash. So she did a part one and now she's doing a part 2 for donor organizing.
Yeah, probably not that. I mean, I mean, I donate to this is your district, but I'm not like a high roller or like an organizing of donors if that's what that's for.
Yeah, it's like to learning how the kinda like fundraising. So the second one might be.
But Yeah, okay, so so are those the only 2 in this time slot?
Okay.
Yes, and this goes to, for another 30 min and then we'll have a quick break and then we'll be doing the fireside chat with Mandela Barnes.
You're on the West Coast, right?
Okay, I'd like to be. Yeah, I'm on the West Coast, so let's see if it's.
So that'll be at, let me just look at what time.
Well, you can tell me in your time and I'll convert it.
Okay.
Oh, it's fine. All of our numbers are West Coast time. So, 1235 Pacific.
Yes.
Okay, oh, that's soon. I thought you said you were gonna go for another half hour.
It's 12 o'clock now and then I thought you said you're going to go for another half hour.
It's 12 o'clock now and then I thought you said you're going to take a break I thought it was like a lunch break where you can all schmooze or something.
Yeah. 5 min, yeah. We wanna take ship, you know. Okay.
No. Yeah.
Oh, okay. Well, looks like I don't have time to take that walk. I will take the walk afterwards, maybe.
Yeah, after.
I don't know, maybe I'll take my small walk. Okay, so 1235.
Yup. No problem.
Okay, thank you very much. And I'm sorry that I missed, you know, I only got to see the first hour of the opening.
Is it going to be recorded and sent to us?
It's recorded, yeah, so you'll be getting that.
Oh good, and how long did that go on for? Was that a 2 h or one half hour or what?
You've been on, for 3 h. So far.
You've been on for 3 h, so, that means, yeah, so from 9 to 10.
And, and these started eleven-ish or something? Is that one? Yeah. Okay, so I missed an hour.
The workshops. Around 11, yeah.
What?
Okay, well that's good. That yeah, I learned a lot like the drop-off thing was really Interesting to me.
The drop off, yeah.
Rollover or the drop off whatever that word was Yeah, because I always was interested in the fact that the Central Valley elected Democratic presidents.
Hmm.
But sent the Republican Valladeo. Back to Congress. And that made me think that part of the reason would be that the Republicans vote down ballot and the Democrats don't.
Right. Yeah.
And that could account for that surprising. Contrast and the yeah Also just my 2 cents worth in I was very discouraged by the turnout.
I haven't looked at the final numbers, but I think that general voters just all over in California and I guess in some other states too was low turnout.
And the Democrats had very low turnout. And in this one race I was following, which is not your legislature race, so you're not interested in it that much, but it's the Congress, you know, CD, 22, Central Valley District and.
Hmm.
More Republicans showed up than Democrats for this one. So even Even in that, you know, and those that voted for this.
Bye. Right.
Congressperson, you know. More Republicans voted even if you put together you know the 2 democrats who are running and the 2 Republicans who were running It was a bigger number.
So it we got our work cut out for us. That's all I can say. Okay, and that's one of the ones you were calling on flipping the house.
What?
Yeah, for sure. Okay, well, we'll see in a little bit. Thank you. We'll see you in a little bit.
Okay. Thank you.
Yes, and I love sister district. Okay. Alright, so back to, okay, so I'm gonna leave this, I guess now.
Let's see.
Hi, Eloise. We are in breakout rooms right now. Would you like to join one?
One is digital organizing. And one is donor organizing.
And you could put it. Hi, how are you?
Yes, hi, Claire. I'd like to, I think I'd like to, or join the digital organizing, please.
Okay, we'll send you now. Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi.
Hi, Bonnie. We're just finishing up in the next 15 min our breakout rooms. Would you like to go to one?
One is digital organizing in a presidential year and the other one is donor organizing.
To do digital organizing. Thank you for keeping track of me. Oh, the farmers market.
Sure, no problem. I will move you now.
Thank you.
So you should just see a pop up.
Thank Katherine, did you want to be put back in a room?
Sorry. Room one, donor events. Sorry about that.
That's okay. Okay, I'll know you now.
Katherine, if you're having any Wi-Fi issues, if you turn your camera off, it might help.
I don't know if that there was a problem in the room.
Okay, welcome back everyone. It is 1235 at least where I am on the West Coast and we are back for, the one to close out our summit with a really, really special, guest and conversation.
So welcome back everyone to this very special segment of our summit. Today we are incredibly honored to host a conversation with an exceptional leader who's dedication to empowerment, equity, and transformational change has left an indelible mark on Wisconsin and beyond.
Mandela Barnes has spent his career working for Wisconsin's working people. He not only served in the Wisconsin legislature, which we love, but he also became the state's 40 fifth lieutenant governor, the state's second ever black statewide elected official and ran a record-breaking US Senate campaign where he came just 1 point away from unseating a two-term incumbent in Wisconsin's closest Senate election
in 100 years. Determined to support other diverse and groundbreaking candidates across the country, Mandela founded the long run pack and he also returned to organizing as president of Power to the Poles, Wisconsin, an organization dedicated to empowering underserved voters in the state.
I am thrilled to welcome to the virtual stage for a fireside chat, a true advocate for change, and former state legislator Mandela Barnes.
Hello.
Oh, thank you. Hey, hey, hey. Thank you so much. It's good to see you.
We finally got this figured out
Okay.
Yeah. We did we did I'm so glad it's great you as well. So I, you know, I really just scrapped the surface when it came to your bio.
So I would love for you to just talk a little bit about to start off by introducing yourself, talking a little bit about your story.
And if you could also share what inspired you first to run for office?
Well, absolutely. Again, just want to say thanks for having me. And I want to first say that if it weren't for my personal story, I wouldn't have been elected to the state legislature would not have been a elected lieutenant governor would not have had the foundation to run for the United States Senate and I'll say that because specifically my background is different than a lot of other folks in the United States in it.
My story is a very Wisconsin story. It is a very working-class story. And it's a story that many people relate to us.
I was able to transcend a lot of the boundaries and cross a lot of the division and able to get over some of the humps and hurdles that many had not been able to in the past.
So I was born and raised right in the heart of the city of Milwaukee and although majority of the state of Wisconsin is not an urban center like the city of walking so many people can relate to the fact that my mother you know was a public school teacher my dad worked their shift on an assembly line and it was their union jobs that gave us a ticket to the middle class.
My parents worked incredibly hard to make sure that I had the best future possible in front of me and they always kept me engaged in civic activity.
My parents would take me to every election. My dad would make me get a sample valid just so I could be familiar with the process to know how things worked.
I know the process and I can become familiar with names. But I didn't necessarily see myself person when a career in politics from a young age.
I didn't. I didn't think that was for me. I didn't think it was for me. I didn't. I didn't think that was for me.
I didn't think it was something that was meant for me to do. I, you know, could see people running for office, but not necessarily a bunch of people who shared a story like mine or, looked familiar who were sitting in those scenes of power.
But I went to college at Alabama and University in Huntsville, Alabama.
My major was broadcast journalism. And I was very young when I started college. I'm 16, but in 2,004, I saw, Barack Obama, like, so, many, other, people, for, the, successfully ran to stay assembly 3 years later.
That's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that story. And that speech is definitely a moment that I think a lot of us.
Okay.
Remember. And, so it's, really great to hear you talk and interesting to hear you talk about your kind of unconventional background as well as an elected official.
And so could you talk a little bit about what barriers you faced as you were running and making that decision and what or who helped you overcome some of those barriers.
And it's so wild that we talk about it as an unconventional background and I remember 2,008 when we had the you know youngest members of congress at that point election he had the most diverse members of Congress had the most women elected congress at that time in 2,018 there was like oh all these unlikely canists from like these are the most likely Americans right these are the most conventional Americans these are the people you can run into
at the post office if you're running to the grocery store people you go to school and work with and it's unfortunate that our our government our politics in general don't truly represent the whole of America.
And so when I think about certain hurdles don't truly represent the whole of America. And so when I think about a certain hurdles, certain the whole of America.
And so when I think about a certain hurdles, certain barriers, and I got elected to the state assembly.
I can't say I necessarily fit in but I did know that I was fortunate to be there and I knew that there was work to do.
Work because it needed to be done and also the work to prove a lot of people wrong. So you have to look at it from both sides and recognize that how our biggest challenges rarely have the people who have experiences who have experienced those challenges at the decision-making table.
And that was an understanding that kept me in the fight for better for everybody. I had the opportunity to travel across Wisconsin, all across.
Excuse me. Sorry. It's starting to become allergy season. Do get the flowers and stuff blooming a little earlier than playing.
Yeah.
I saw you know fight against climate change. But I had the opportunity to travel all across this country. I got an opportunity to share my story and I heard so many people share their experiences that were so similar to my own or so similar to the ones that I had known firsthand people at the school with people in my neighborhood and my family members.
But, you know, one thing, you know, in politics. Is that it feels that you know too many of our elected officials not having shares that common American experience shared the experience of struggling not to say that everybody in Congress everybody in the United States Senate has to have had struggle in their lives, but we do need a more proportionate amount.
I would recall being at a meeting, that was a, on some, or excuse me, a summit on poverty.
And we went to breakout sessions. I tell the story all the time because it still perplexes me in this meeting in the breakout groups.
I was pretty familiar with everybody else. Sitting around. So I said, well, I don't know any of you ought to be broke.
And I like I just asked the question. I was like, how many people at this table have experienced poverty in the last 10 years at least.
And nobody raised their hands. I was like, well, it's great that we're here, but I can tell you right now we're not gonna do a lot of problem solving because none of us can speak firsthand to the issue.
And so when I think about the burdens, the hurdles that people have to get over traditionally, you know, even for the legislature, you know, so many people come in who are independently wealthy have a side job.
You know, I was at a point where, you know, I was lucky that I was 25 when I ran for the state assembly where I didn't have any real bills right I didn't have any real responsibilities no real financial burden so that allowed me to go ahead but I think about you know at this age you know at 37 if I were to run for the state legislature I don't know that I can make the
sacrifice to you know to take a job that you know doesn't pay so well especially is you know we try to as I'm thinking more about my own financial future and things I should have done when I was younger.
But taking sacrifices like organizing jobs doesn't lend itself to Greek the solid foundation so that is also another hurdle you know I didn't I didn't work when I ran for the state assembly I was you know the organization I was you know that employed me was a 5 one c 3 and I couldn't run for partisan office as you know as as an employee this organization so I had to leave and
I was fortunate that you know I had a place to stay a house that's still in the family now but everybody doesn't have that.
You know everybody doesn't have those sort of support systems so in order for not just me but all of us to be able to create a system of government that's more reflective.
We got to think about the entry points because they are closed off to far too many people.
Yeah, that's absolutely right. Thank you for sharing that. And I mean, what a story and it reminds me this morning we talked to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and she's shared her experience as well, we talked to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and she shared her experience as well and also not always in her experience as well and also not always in her past being able to make ends meet you know, and also not always in her past being able to make ends meet, you know, growing up in a family where that was
the case and how it really in a family where that was the case and how it really informed her ability as well that was the case and how it really informed her ability as well and it just it's just a really informed her ability as well.
Yeah.
And it just, it's just a powerful reminder that we need people who are coming from this diversity of backgrounds so that we've got that kind of. So, you know, of course you served as a state legislator and as lieutenant governor, you also worked with the state legislature.
So I'd love for you just to talk a little bit more about that experience and what you learned from it about the role that state legislatures play in our democracy.
Hi, you know, I have so much appreciation for state legislative bodies across the country when I was in the state legislation at the same time that Governor Hobbs was in the state legislature.
We were members of an organization called 6, which is State Innovation Exchange, an organization I eventually end up working for at 1 point and you know having those networks truly truly brings out the best, especially people in states where it is difficult, you know, brings out the best, especially people in states where it is difficult, you know, Wisconsin, especially people in states where it is difficult, you know, Wisconsin, you know, very, very deep
in the, you know, Wisconsin, you know, very, very deep in a minority right now because of Jerry.
And we do have a new maps in Wisconsin. And we do have a new maps in Wisconsin. And we do have a new maps in Wisconsin. It is a new day in the state.
We will have, new maps in Wisconsin. It is a new day in the state.
We will have a much better shot, getting some parity in the state legislature. But that wasn't the case when I said, 11 years ago.
It was a place where bad ideas went to die. It was a place that was so very disappointing for so many reasons because the will of the people was never, truly, reflected.
Was never, truly, realized, but, I, think, about, issues, like, childcare, issues, like, education, you know, when I was organizing our issues with jobs and economic development, education, immigration reform and treatment instead of prison.
Those are 4 issues that the state legislature had a significant role in. You know, not so much immigration, but a couple of issues like in state tuition, regardless of, you know, where you were born if you graduated from a high school in the state, you should be able to pay in state tuition and go to a university in state or drivers licenses regardless of your status you know we have a lot of people who work especially in
rural communities where you have to drive a car and you know they don't they aren't afforded the necessary you know documents to be able to get to and from work does create a very dangerous situation because beyond license you can't get car insurance and you know increase so many other cascading problems.
Environmental issues right all these things are impacted the state levels. They have so much autonomy and if we don't have strong state legislators in state legislatures that are response to the people you know the things that happen the federal government won't it won't matter you know we're fortunate that we have the governor's office right now in Wisconsin but having served as lieutenant governor it was a
headache knowing that we want every statewide office in, 2,018, but came away with about 36%, 35% of the seats in the state at the house, about the same in the state Senate.
And so no matter what bold ideas we put out there in our state budget because that's where we had to do a lot of lot of legislating from or attempted legislating from.
Those ideas went to die and these are things people in Wisconsin are overwhelmingly supportive of we are the we're one of like 10 states that has yet to expand our Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act.
Universal background checks supported by a majority of Republicans across the country and in Wisconsin. Issues like taking both action on the climate.
These things have been consistently ignored by the state legislature and there's a lot of power as well. And you know, over the course of the last 5 years, what Republicans in the legislature in the state Senate specifically have done is when they disagree.
With one of the governor's appointees and they've done this with a couple cabinet secretaries and they're coming for a couple of members of the Board of Regents right now, is they'll just remove it from office.
They'll just remove them from office. They'll take a vote and they'll just remove it from office.
They'll take a vote and they'll remove them from their office. They'll take a vote and they'll remove them from their position from their appointed position.
So there's a lot of power and when somebody is doing the right thing, showing up actually delivering for the people, Republicans have consistently stood against it.
And that's why, having fair. Maps matter so much. That's why I had it maps that are not jury-mandered that truly that people get to pick their representatives is ultimately how we save our democracy.
Okay.
Well, I couldn't have said it better myself and speaking of fair maps, you mentioned that there are some new maps which is just so so incredible you know as background for anybody who hasn't been following along judge per se with one her victory in 2,023 last year and as a result it unlocked this possibility that we might get fair maps and Wisconsin and we in fact did Governor Ever sign these into law just a few
weeks ago. So I would love to hear from you. What is it like? What's the feeling on the ground right now with these new masks?
What are some of the new possibilities going to be like with them in place?
There is a lot of possibility. There's a lot of excitement. I was actually at a, at a, last night very non-political galaxy was a girls on the run if that's an organization that is out there.
So I have a number of friends who are on the board. I run a lot myself as some may know.
But one of my buddies was there. His wife is very involved in organization, but he is a he is a, he is a personal friend.
He's also a decent donor in the state and he was just talking about how he's he's told the top of the ticket candidates the state like him is that he's not given to them he's putting all his money in the state legislative races.
So people are very, you know, excited about the process. And one thing I'll say is, you know, the excitement is self carries you a long way.
The excitement itself is not gonna look. You said that have, you know, good candidate recruitment strategies and also get candidate support systems.
Which has been a little tough in the past, you know, certainly, certainly here, but a part of that too is how despondent people have felt going into these races or you know the lack of enthusiasm that people have had for state legislative races given how the masks look but now people are all in on the possibility of us are getting a majority or at least coming significantly closer.
Then we have in previous election cycles. You know, Barbara, I lost by 26,000 votes.
That's 1%. There is no reason why our maps are so disproportionate.
And so those priority issues, those things that people have been denied for like the last 15 years public transportation funding funding funding for clean safe drinking water the things you think should be basics the things that you would assume anybody who's an elected office would be in a rush to support because they're wildly popular they have been ignored but you know, Baba Falls said the will of the people should be the law of the land
and it has not been a lot of lands of time so we are we are we are very bullish about what we can do this November but it's gonna take a lot to get it done.
Nothing will be handed to us.
No, that's right. Well, but I, I love to hear. I love to hear that, the, the message about state legislatures and people are really beginning to see this importance and ready to embrace the possibilities in Wisconsin, the opportunities of which are just truly generational, you know, once in a lifetime kind of thing.
So, okay, we obviously love state legislatures and I have a lot more that I want to ask you about them, but I do.
I am gonna make an understatement here, which is that was Wisconsin is a, it's gonna be an important presidential background as well.
So I'm curious, you know, from you as you look around the country to the recent primary results, which some of which give some pretty concerning signals about democratic voter enthusiasm.
So what's your take and how are you all thinking about turning out voters in Wisconsin?
So my take I'll piggy back off. One of the things I said is Baba followed mentioned, you know, the will of the people should be the law of the land.
Just because, you know, we have good ideas as as progressive, liberals, as Democrats, however you want to frame it because we have good ideas as people who are deeply involved in these spaces does not mean we get to ignore the grassroots and we have been in scenarios too often where that has been the case where we have refused to listen or we have you know ignored you know we have we've ignored a lot of what the
public has been saying in, you know, this moment is no different. We have to take into account people's concerns, especially our base.
We have forsaken our base, time, you know, before in the past in the not so distant past.
You know, I think about, you know, 2,016 is not to put anything on any specific candidate I'm talking about as a whole in any specific candidate I'm talking about as a whole. I'm talking about as a whole in 2,014 in Wisconsin.
I do not remember as a whole in 2,014 in Wisconsin. I do not remember I have no clue what our message was.
I do not remember I have no clue what our message was in. I do not remember I have no clue what our message was in 20 to 14.
In 2016 it almost feels the same way at least in Wisconsin where we didn't talk about a whole lot of issues or ways to improve people's quality of life and we pay for it.
And so with that being the case, you have to listen. And the issue is surrounding turnout in 2,008.
This is another story I tell about our organizing director. You know, we went through our training most of people.
It was their first job out of college, was their first political job for job in politics and the organizing directors said there's no such thing as an apathetic voter.
Just a bad organizer. And that is something I have taken to heart that is something I do not forget unto, you know, until this day.
Again, this applies to me as well. I think about, you know, my own race like I do wish turnout was higher but I don't put that on the voters I think about what I could have done differently and you know hopefully get ready for whatever next go round may be and you mentioned in the intro and back in organizing as president of an organization called Power to the Poles.
We're focused on engaging black brown and working-class voters all across Wisconsin. Our the organization started before I came on board in you know, 22 when I was on the pallet but then the opportunity to lead the organization came around.
We drastically ramped up our efforts, went from just the Milwaukee organization, some walking racing, Green Bay a little bit Appleton, and we are continuing to, you know, raise the resources to expand our operation.
We have a specific target of about 250,000 voters. 250,000 voters across state in an effort to not overextend ourselves to keep us as focused as we can possibly be with a manageable population that will ultimately make the difference and we're gonna hit these folks 6 7 times between last September because we've been on doors in September and election day.
We know that showing up 90 days before an election is not as effective as it used to be. There was a time when that worked, but as information, you know, flows and as disinformation flows, it takes us, you know, reaching out.
So much early because once that disinformation gets in the communities it lasts and for whatever reason the bad information sticks around way longer than the good information or the credible information.
And so what we're doing is having our organizers come directly from the communities that they are canvassing in.
I've been out on doors with them and I can tell you all the doors have not been great and I do think that is actually a good thing because we're not going into this thing blinded.
We have, you know, we have real-time real-world responses from people but also a nice runway to assuage those concerns and to be able to provide credible information to tailor our messaging around what people are already talking about and how they're talking about it.
So I, that's perfect. I have a perfect segue to my next question, which was about messaging.
And so, so what are some of those? You said that some of the doors are always so good.
And so what kinds of concerns are you hearing from people or maybe not hearing from people and and what are some of the ideas for the messages going forward that are going to be effective?
Yeah, I mean honestly at the end of the day people just wanna know, you know that you are looking out for them.
How you're gonna help them and there multiple ways you can get that message across. You know i think about you know election cycles we're able to talk about issues in very broad terms like health care you know we need to expand health care as something regardless of where you are on the democratic spectrum, you agree with expanding, extended healthcare options.
Now it may look differently, but when you talk about, you know, certain things specifically and not saying that you should talk about different things in different communities.
I, you know, I never take that approach. But there are certain challenges, right? Like we know that in black communities, black seniors are less likely to be able before prescription drugs.
We talk about how Biden Harris administration has worked to lower prescription drug costs. Instances of diabetes are also more prevalent. Black and brown communities.
We talk about how the cost of insulin has been capped because you know we know people and have you know met people on the doors and previous cycles you know who had to ration out their insulin and these are things that are helping people in real time.
And, I'm actually gonna do a very non-scientific focus group of just one person in the next couple of weeks.
There's a buddy of mine I went to high school with. We are friends. He, you know, always, you know, had a sense of humor.
So I felt very comfortable engaging him here. But on Facebook, like he popped up with a Trump, 2,024 hat.
And I'm just like, you know, and you know, I was looking at some of the comments, right?
Like, you know, some random people in there, you know, some people were celebrating it. Some people was like, yeah, you know, if some people, you know, were laughing it off.
But you know, I just messaged him and I never message people on Facebook. I can't deal with this too much to overwhelm me.
But I did take a moment to message him and I like look man, I'm not trying to change your mind and you know, our little secret here between us.
I'm absolutely trying to change his mind. But I said, look man, I'm not trying to change your mind, but I am jinually curious like why why you know and if you care to talk about it and he was like yeah I'm happy to talk about it and he says you know he brought up some some issues about like you know he feels that you know people were immediately vilifying and demonizing Trump which you know
may have had a reverse impact in you know it may have garnered some you know undo sympathy to him he talked about you know some stuff about you know taking care of problems at home and you know some some of it was misguided but it was these are his thoughts and these are not his thoughts alone and you know it's somebody I'm really going to be engaged in a much deeper conversation with.
Just to just to know and you know I'm fortunate that you know this is a friend of mine and I can have that conversation I can ask whatever question I want because we go back a long time and we have been through a lot together and you know hoping that you know there'll be a lot that comes as a result of it but I do think There is a need for us to engage in those you know
one-on-one conversations because they go pretty far. Relational organizing is going to be a very important and useful, tactic for all of us.
This this entire year because when people hear something from someone they trust, it makes it that much more likely that they'll, you know, be synthetic and understanding of the issues at hand.
And, you know, throughout our conversations, I want him to have the most accurate information. He can possibly have whether or not he keeps that profile picture is up to him, but I want him to at least be very informed and he is somebody or I am somebody that he can trust and we all have people in our lives that are somewhat similar in certain instances that are similar that we need to take full advantage of those conversation.
Yeah. Absolutely. I think it's so easy to hide behind screens and just sort of assume things about people.
But you're reminded in those moments where you can actually build those bridges that there are still a lot of conversations that we can and that we need to have.
So I want to make sure that we've got enough time for questions. And so this is, by the way, to the audience.
Please feel free to drop any questions they have in the chat and I will look and see if we have time to answer them.
But I've just got one last question before I get to those actually, you know what?
I want to save that question for the very, very end. So I'm going to hold that question.
But I'm gonna let me ask you this one. So I wanna know you talked a little bit about power to the polls and the work that you do, serving underrepresented voters, and some of the conversations that you're having.
I'm curious what tactics have you seen to be really effective in in building that trust? Is it is it just the like showing up at their door over and over again?
Are there kind of services you can provide resources? What are the what are the ways that you're able to your organization's really able to build those connections.
Absolutely. So one thing we were able to do, our doors in the fall were not necessarily partisan doors.
They were actually some 3 doors we were doing and it was simply just building relationships and it was also talking about, you know, a lot of it was inflation reduction act and how people can save money, how people can save money on their internet bills with the affordable connectivity program, how people can, you know, cut costs and have access to some, you know, some tax breaks tax incentives for some energy efficiency
projects in the home and again those you know prescription drug issues as well so it was building a rapport, it was asking questions, asking what was on people's minds and taking the time to listen without saying, hey, well hope you'll vote for Joe Biden, right?
Like it wasn't, it wasn't that. So people didn't feel any sort of pressure in those conversations and that's what I think helped us, you know, getting the door.
With a lot of people, I think we were over we're getting close to 50,000 doors now and we just hired another set of organizers.
They're gonna be out and we'll be getting those numbers up. Very consistently over the next several months and again like you know people Don't just wanna hear, about, you know, voting for somebody and wanna hear about, you know, Well, they want to be listened to.
That's the that's the other part. People people want to be listened to more than more than talk to sometimes especially those who are filling as if you know they don't want to show up to vote or they don't wanna show and vote for the right person.
Yes, absolutely. You know, we've been doing some really exciting research here on this problem of down ballot roll-off, you know, where voters start at the top of the ticket and they don't complete their ballot and that means thousands of years, thousands of people, you know, in every state all across the country, every year, in every state, all across the country, every year are not, you know, voting for the top of the ticket
and not voting for their state legislative races, which, you know, voting for the top of the ticket and not voting for their state legislative races, which, you know, when racist, even at the statewide level, let alone a state legislative level and entire chamber outcomes can be determined by just a few 1,000 or few 100 or few 1,000 votes.
This is this is a really big problem and one of the I I raise it because one of the things that comes up a lot of the I raise it because one of the things that comes up a lot especially for Democrats and women and people of color and young people is they're scared of voting for somebody who might not share their values.
They don't want to vote for the quote wrong person. And so it's really interesting for you to hear you talk about that because it's something that we're looking at and trying to figure out how we can address that because it's something that we're looking at and trying to figure out how we can, how we can address it at a broad scale as well.
So thanks for that. I do see one audience question in here that, you know, acknowledges that state legislators work at this state level.
But curious from your perspective in, you know, the conversations you're hearing on the ground and all of that.
How is the how of international affairs? How's the war in Gaza? How are these things sort of impacting, the conversations on the ground.
Yeah, oh it is absolutely impacting conversations, in a real way. And it is also stopping conversations from happening.
And this is something that quite frankly the White House needs to figure out if they, you know, will won because they need to figure it out.
Humanitarian crisis needs to be solved. But there's also the impact on, you know, on, on, on the election on, on their political future, right?
Like, I think about, you know, potential for different events that will or won't happen without disruption.
People are rightfully justify or justified, you know, in their frustrations and If people feel ignored that I can guarantee you that I gotta show the phone like, you know, 1819% of uncommitted vote in Minnesota is not insignificant.
Minnesota is a much closer state than people realize. You know, 100,000 votes in Michigan like you know and I do unfortunately you know unfortunately we do hear sometimes oh they'll come back they don't know for Trump they're gonna come back to vote for us we cannot we went into 2,016 with a whole lot of hubris and we were humbled very quickly and I hope I hope and I pray that they are
not going to repeat the same mistakes and we go in to this election cycle just assuming people will get over something and not vote for the youth vote that carry Joe Biden to victory, you know, the youth vote, in Wisconsin.
We had the highest U photo turnout in 2,018 or excuse me in 2,022 the highest people motor turned down the country hit just about 48 49% that will be eliminated if this isn't figured out
Thank you. It's a sobering, a sobering reflection, but thank you for sharing your insights there.
Okay, so we do just have one more minute and so I want to close out with this final question, which is just that, you know, here today we've got some of our most dedicated volunteers folks who have been with us since the very beginning since 2,017 this whole journey that we've been on.
And I, you know, I think we all share a lot of excitement even more so after after hearing you speak, but I would love to hear a little bit as we, you know, steal ourselves for the work ahead.
What's something that gives you hope? How do, how do you stay energized every day?
Yeah, well, first of all, I just wanted to thank all the volunteers for your hard work. I mean, you know, these operations, these organizations, these campaigns, they don't function, without the power of volunteers.
And I think that's one thing that does keep me engaged. I think that's one thing that does keep me keep me active and hopeful that there are so many people who are willing to give so much and times where I feel frustrated or times where I feel I may wanna check out.
I always run into somebody who I've never met before. I'm running to some young people like really really like way too young to vote people who give me hope and and they encourage me because they're coming into this thing and they are involved only because they think things can change.
They feel things can't change and I do believe that to be the case. And whenever I feel that since the optimism start to dissipate, I try to get out and go to some events.
Tonight I'm speaking at the Winnebago County Dams. I'm in Oshkosh right now speaking at their dinner and it's the people that are running to, that inspire me, to stay in this because we are all in this together and, None of us are in this for ourselves.
We're in this for, you know, for the whole we're in this for everybody around us and I do truly believe that to be the case when I see somebody else putting it all out there.
Then I remember that I got another day left in me.
Well, thank you so much. We could keep talking forever. I would love to. But, this, I think that's all the time you've got for today.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You've been such an inspiration. I've learned a lot.
Thank you. Okay.
Anytime you want to come back and announce your next run for office, we're here for you.
Yeah. Yeah.
And, I'm just, I'm very grateful for your time and your leadership.
Thank you.
Well, I really appreciate you. Thank you, for having me. Bye. You too.
Thanks. Okay, so, you know, as we think about the work ahead, particularly now with the opportunities open and was constant and beyond as we just discussed.
This work, I hope that you can feel it the way that I do. I know it's been a long zoom day for those of you who are still with us from the beginning.
But this work, it's nothing short of electrifying. It is so exciting to think about the close margins that are going to be determining not just individual seats but also in higher chambers across the country that remind us of the importance of every dollar, every phone call, every postcard and every single vote.
So with the spirit of action and collaboration in mind and commitment, it's now my pleasure to hand over the mic to our absolutely incredible district captain from sister district California Peninsula, Catherine Grendem.
And hi, Catherine, I just have to say before you take the floor that Catherine embodies the passion and dedication that fuels .
She has a very special message to share about how we can all contribute, to sustaining and amplifying the impact of our collective efforts.
Thank you, Katherine, for everything. The floor is yours.
Hi, Lala. Thank you very much. I am so honored to be here. You know what I've just been reveling in lately.
I've been reveling in how powerful we are. I mean, sister district is just crushing it.
The people who are on the zoom right now are a big reason for that. We've come together.
We've spent our time and our effort and our resources to protect fundamental freedoms. Fundamental rights all over the country.
I mean, if we had not won in Virginia last year, if we had not done all that work, millions of women would not have access to abortions, not just in Virginia, but all over the South.
They wouldn't have the right to determine. Their futures. And we all played a real role in that.
In fact, we are part of a huge grassroots movement that has arisen since 2016.
It's really one of the most effective, biggest movements. Grassroots movements in our country's history.
Simon Rosenberg calls us the most powerful political machine we've ever had. And he does that, he causes that because we keep winning elections.
And we're going to keep winning elections this year.
And as we know, because we've heard this from our own candidates over and over again. Sister District is one of the most effective.
The best organized. Grassroots group within this huge grassroots movement. We are also, I think, Very likely among the best political value.
So here's something to consider. I've heard an estimate that to Bring in one additional Democrat voter.
In a national election or PAC. Costs about $15,000 $15,000 In contrast, we who donate to sister district.
Obtain a far, far better return. And why? It's really the genius of sister district. We have motivated volunteers.
Who put in their time and their resources. And it's all focused on these very consequential races.
Ones in which frequently we Flip entire chambers with a single race, but they're also very small, which means our contributions of time calls, dollars, all of that has a huge impact on that campaign.
So effectively Sister District compounds. The impact of our work time and resources. It's it's sort of like matching donations but on like steroids.
Because we get additional voters by having very motivated volunteers make calls and write postcards. We don't have to pay people to make those calls and postcards.
We have extraordinary volunteers doing it. And we make donations really early compared to everyone else. And those early donations mean that our candidates can hire staff earlier than their opponents can.
And that frees up our candidates to speak directly to voters much earlier in the cycle. And that direct contact.
That is the special sex. That is the most effective way that we can add that additional democratic voter.
So in other words, Working with sister district and donating to sister district provides a much higher impact for us.
Then if we worked for or donated. In most other races and most other organizations. And let's just remember those stats from this morning, right?
We flipped 10 chambers. Out of a hundred 77 races. We've won a hundred 15 times 65% that's crazy but it's particularly crazy because HQ only picks the really close races, right?
Because we want to get that candidate over the line. I mean, let's not forget Melissa Sorado, 63 votes.
Flipped the Pennsylvania house. For the first time in 10 years. Alright, so now I'd like to take a moment.
To think about this Zoom right now. Think about all the people who have come together today. I am so proud of us.
I think being on this Zoom right now and doing the work we do. The most patriotic thing we could do.
Best demonstration of how much we love our country. And we are so lucky to do this work. With this organization.
Run by these people. Reflect on how good it feels. To be on this zoom surrounded by all these like-minded hard-working committed people.
Experiencing together our power. Ability to impact elections. Think for a moment, if you would.
How you would feel. In the face of the news and the polls and the pundits. Talking about how we are surely going into a disaster.
In this country. Think how you would feel if there was no sister district. How much would you pay?
To feel the way you do now. To know that you are making an impact as a result of your work through sister district.
You know, I tell you the intelligence of sister district is a lot of what attracted me to the organization to begin with and it just it just comes through when you when you listen to all of the analyses and and summaries and it's just such an intelligent structure.
Such an intelligent mission. It's truly why why I can remain calm and resolute this year.
Even with all of those doom. Not only do I know that I'm doing everything I can, to help keep our country safe.
I also know I'm doing it with an incredibly smart organization. Run by amazing people in HQ.
So I'm going to call out a few, just a few. First off, Gabby Goldstein.
We asked Gabby to speak at our kickoff last month. Despite the fact she is a brand new mother, 5 month old little boy at home.
Not only did Gabby come, She was enthralling. We had many new people at our kickoff.
And they just couldn't stop talking about Gabby Goldstein. I also wanna call out Susan Farrell.
You know Susan you respond so fast and so completely I swear sometimes I think you're telepathic.
I also wanna call out Sean Warner. Not only is Shawn a walking encyclopedia of political knowledge and experience, he is also the most fun person I have ever met to talk to about politics.
And last I want to call out Lala. My goodness, Lala, look what you have done.
You have transformed us. You have made us a force. Combining our teams with this huge national presence that we have now.
So I'd like to make a suggestion. Right now, we all have a chance. To show Sister District HQ how grateful we are for what they do and for having created such an extraordinary organization.
Some of us know the feeling after doing a events of what it's like when you see the donations coming in.
And you know. The number of donations is almost more thrilling than the amount. So I have an idea.
What if every single person on this zoom right now made a donation for sister district? Even if it's just $5.
It would just be the best way possible to show HQ how grateful we are for making it all possible for us to do this work.
To enable us to have an impact, to enable us to get through all of the pundits and bad news and know that nope We're doing this work and it's been working lately.
Really well and it's gonna keep working this year. And again, We know that the donations that people make to our candidates are compounded because of the way sister district selects candidates and selects races.
Well, Donations to sister district are compounded even further because they're the ones that get the whole process going, right?
Without them, we wouldn't be in a position to donate to those those consequential races, for those extraordinary candidates.
In other words, our donations today, will help HQ, do even more for our candidates and which in turn will produce for us and for everybody who donates to Sister District, an even bigger bang.
For our collective bucks. So I'm asking you to donate to sister district right now. There are going to be donation links in the in the chat and I think what we're gonna do is give everybody a couple of minutes to make those donations.
And, I then we'll finish up. The summit. Thanks very much. And you can take me off spotlight.
Yeah.
Oh, Katherine, don't go yet. Hello, I just wanted to say thank you. You're going to bring tears to my eyes.
You're so generous and kind with your time, treasure, and talent. Truly one of the most amazing district captains that we have here and all of sister district in this incredibly powerful nationwide community.
We're so lucky to have you as part of our team. Thank you for this master class in making an ask.
Those of you who are in various breakouts may have seen in action the different principles kind of like put put into play here so you know it's recorded follow up on it study up but really thank you thank you thank you so much for joining us today to help make the ask and thank you just for everything that you do.
We so appreciate it, Katherine.
Okay. So. As we draw the seventh annual, I can't believe that. Second annual sister district summit to a close.
I just want to leave you with a few opportunities to continue supporting and engaging with our mission. And so the first is to listen to Catherine, do what she says.
And to donate to support our work. We, it's your contributions that enable us to do this work and just think of it this way, that donating is an important form of action and a way to exercise your power and Catherine's absolutely right.
The number of donations today would be really, really thrilling to us if we can get that number up.
It just it just is a little indication of support and a appreciation and really makes a difference in the work that we are able to do together.
So thank you so much for your consideration. Thank you for donating to support us. I know many of you have donated in the past our monthly donors, district defenders if you will, extra credit for signing up to be a monthly donor for us.
It makes a huge, difference. So thank you. Second, please don't forget to fill out your summit survey.
Your feedback is really important to us. We want to make future summits even better than this one. And we read every response and so please fill out that survey while the thoughts are still fresh in your mind.
Next. We've got a state bridge event coming up on Wednesday at 5 PM.
Pacific, 8 PM. Eastern supporting our partners in Arizona and Pennsylvania going to be a fantastic opportunity to learn from amazing leaders on the ground.
I'll be moderating and I would love to see you all there. And finally, last but not least, the sister district swag shop is live.
Show off your sister district pride, buy some merge. It's really cute. Union printer.
It's all, it's very, very cool. Please, please do check it out. So.
Okay, we've come to the end those of you who have been with us from the beginning. I applaud your stamina.
You are still here. Just a few more seconds. You get a prize. As we look to the future, let's the carry forward this energy inspiration and collective wisdom that we've shared today.
What we learned at the beginning of the day from Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs from just now from former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes built of whom were both state legislators before our incredible youth organizers who joined us our staffers, our other guest speakers, and of course our fabulous volunteer leaders for sharing their insights and wisdom with us and for all of you for being here.
We couldn't do any of this without you. We appreciate you so, so much. Thank you.
It's more than we can ever express in words. So I'm really, really grateful to all of you.
For being here. Thank you again for your unwavering commitment to building power in state legislatures and unless somebody tells me otherwise I think that that that is it.
Thank you all and see you on the field.