ARIZONA:

What We Were Fighting For:

Arizona had key races up and down the ballot, which included: Kyrsten Sinema for Senate (a seat a Democrat had not held in 30 years); Ann Kirkpatrick for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District; and Katie Hobbs for secretary of state.

Major Objectives:

• Invest in communities of color: Arizona has a growing minority population with large Hispanic, Asian American, and African American constituency groups. The DNC hired base organizers to work within those communities to encourage activism.
• Build long-term infrastructure: Arizona is a rising battleground state for Democrats. Unlike many states where presidential campaigns have run large programs, Arizona is an emerging state that had not been supported with the same type of infrastructure. That all changed this cycle when the DNC worked with Arizona to build that capacity and test new tools to ensure that Democrats can be successful in the state for years to come.

How Your Support Made A Difference:

Investments in Outreach:

• Invested in a coordinated organizing program to fund community organizers and organizing efforts in Latinx and youth communities.

Reaching New Voters:

• Added over 1.7 million new cell phone numbers to our system for campaigns up and down the ballot to reach and engage new voters.
• Overhauled IWillVote.com, which provides voter registration and polling place lookup tools for Arizona voters. This includes offering the polling place lookup widget as a free asset to any state party, campaign, or Democratic organization.
• Through the DNC’s IWillVote initiative, over 62,500 voters in Arizona were able to look up their polling location.

Strengthening State Parties:

• Invested each month in the Arizona Democratic Party through the Every ZIP Code Counts program from October 2017 through December 2018.
• Utilized the DNC’s National Voter Hotline to cover all forwarded calls from the Arizona hotline before and on Election Day.

Activating the Grassroots:

• Using MobilizeAmerica, an online events tool, we led a coordinated campaign to channel grassroots enthusiasm and provide more entry points for activists to find opportunities to volunteer.
• Invested in early grassroots engagement through Resistance Summer in 2017.

Supporting Our Candidates:  

• The DNC created the I Will Run platform, where candidates and campaign staff can access a compilation of best-in-class tools, complete with pre-negotiated pricing.

WISCONSIN:

What We Were Fighting For:

Wisconsin had important races up and down the ballot, including heavily contested elections for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. Democrats re-elected Senator Tammy Baldwin, elected Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes as governor and lieutenant governor, and elected Josh Kaul as attorney general.

How Your Support Made A Difference:

Early Outreach Investments:

• Ahead of the Spring Elections: In January of 2018, the DNC gave the Democratic Party of Wisconsin a grant through the State Party Innovation Fund for early organizing in African American and Latinx communities.
• During the Spring Elections: In addition to monetary investments, the DNC developed and implemented a custom texting program to engage 40,000 African American voters.
• Ahead of the General Election: In August of 2018, Chair Tom Perez launched the DNC’s “New Blue Crew” national youth organizing program at UW-Madison, kicking off their fall campus “commit to vote” push.

Data Infrastructure and Support:

• The DNC acquired the cell phone number of registered voters across the country for whom a cell phone was commercially available. In Wisconsin, that meant nearly 3 million new cell phone numbers for campaigns up and down the ballot to reach and engage new voters.
• Provided Wisconsin Democrats with MobilizeAmerica, an online events tool used to channel grassroots enthusiasm and provide more entry points for activists to find opportunities to volunteer. In total, Wisconsin Democrats were able to schedule 13,751 volunteer shifts via MobilizeAmerica.
• Overhauled IWillVote.com and the polling place locator tool for Wisconsin Democrats to use for their early vote and GOTV push.
• Pushed a digital “commit to vote” program through targeted digital ads reaching sporadic voters and asking them to vote.
• Supported Wisconsin Democrats’ efforts to expand the electorate – helping identify 616,840 Wisconsinites as potential new Democratic voters for campaigns to engage in 2018.

State Party Support:

• Deployed full-time DNC research staff to work hand-in-hand with the coordinated campaign communications teams.
• Deployed full-time operations staff and voter protection support through the DNC’s Team Blue program.
• Invested in early grassroots engagement through the Resistance Summer program in 2017.

NEVADA:

What We Were Fighting For:

Nevada had key races up and down the ballot, which included electing Jacky Rosen for Senate, Steve Sisolak for governor, Susie Lee for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, Steven Horsford for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, Kate Marshall for lieutenant governor, Aaron Ford for attorney general, and opportunities in the state assembly and senate to establish Democratic supermajorities and the first female majority legislature in the country.

Major Objectives:

• Build a strong Democratic electorate: Voter registration is a persistent issue in Nevada. Between 2016 and 2018 Democrats lost almost 30,000 in their voter registration lead. The DNC was one of the first committees to invest in organizers to begin their voter registration program, paving the way for Nevada Democrats to rebuild their advantage.
• Build long-term infrastructure: Nevada is one of the most targeted battleground states in the country. Over the past decade, Nevadans have learned how to build strong campaigns but need support in order to execute their programs. This cycle the DNC worked with Nevada to build capacity and test new tools to ensure that Democrats can be successful in the state for years to come.
• Invest in Communities of Color: The DNC invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in organizers in Latinx and AAPI communities, ensuring that there were robust organizing programs in place in critical base communities.

How Your Support Made A Difference:

Activating the Grassroots:

• Granted the Nevada State Democratic Party funds to hire base organizers in Henderson and Las Vegas in Clark County to turn out the vote.
• Added crucial GOTV capacity through an investment in organizing efforts in the final week, focused especially on Latinx communities in Clark County.
• Used MobilizeAmerica, an online events tool, to channel grassroots enthusiasm and provide more entry points for activists to find opportunities to volunteer, recruiting over 13,000 shifts.

Reaching New Voters:

• Acquired over 500,000 new cell phone numbers for campaigns up and down the ballot to reach and engage new voters.
• The IWillVote initiative pushed a digital “commit to vote” program through targeted digital ads reaching sporadic voters and running a follow up text and email program asking them to vote early.

Strengthening State Parties:

• Invested each month to the Nevada Democratic Party through the Every ZIP Code Counts program from October 2017 – December 2018.
• Texted 20,000 contacts out of the DNC on behalf of 10 state assembly candidates and three state Senate district candidates.
• Utilized the DNC National Voter Hotline to cover all forwarded calls from the Nevada hotline before and on Election Day.

PENNSYLVANIA:  

What We Were Fighting For:

Pennsylvania had key races up and down the ballot, which included two important statewide re-election campaigns. Governor Tom Wolf won re-election in a state that Trump carried in 2016. Democratic Senator Bob Casey was re-elected to a third term despite President Trump’s support for Republican candidate Congressman Barletta. Additionally, Pennsylvania redistricted the heavily gerrymandered congressional district lines which made the U.S. House races fairer and more competitive for Democrats. Four Democratic women candidates won U.S. House seats, breaking up Pennsylvania’s all-male delegation to Congress: Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), and Susan Wild (PA-07). Democrats also broke the Republican supermajority in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, picking up five seats in the state Senate and 14 seats in the state House of Representatives.

Major Objectives:

• School board to Oval Office: The DNC played a key role in electing Democrats in the state by either directly providing investment or technical assistance to candidates like Conor Lamb (in the 18th Congressional District special election) and the state’s women congressional candidates. The DNC worked closely with Governor Wolf’s campaign, Senator Casey’s campaign, and the U.S House races to provide them technical assistance and, where possible, funding support. Additionally, the DNC also indirectly supported Democrats on the ballot by upgrading the voter file with latest cellphone numbers, which helped down-ballot candidates better reach voters.
• Long-term for 2020: The DNC committed to organizing communities of color in Pennsylvania by hiring organizers from the Latinx and African American communities to organize in their neighborhoods. Additionally, the DNC provided the organizing support needed to reach rural and young voters in the state. This investment helped mobilize voters that Democrats needed to win in the midterms, and also laid the groundwork to mobilize voters of color for future races in the state.
• Every ZIP Code Counts: The DNC supported early deployment of organizers in rural parts of the state. Previous elections taught Democrats the importance of prioritizing rural areas in Pennsylvania. The DNC helped place organizers in between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to ensure that rural voters, neglected in previous years, were prioritized by the statewide organizing program.

Overview of Support:

Investing in Outreach:

• Invested in the coordinated organizing program to hire seven base organizers (three African American and four Latinx) to engage and mobilize Latinx and African American communities throughout the state. The African American and Latinx communities in Pennsylvania were key electoral constituencies for the path to victory for the Wolf, Casey and U.S. House campaigns.
• Hosted a Spanish language phone bank targeting Latinx voters in Pennsylvania.
• Supported the voter protection program with poll observer recruitment tools and shared voting rights toolkits for targeted communities (including Latinx, LGBTQ+, Native American, African American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, voters with disabilities, and faith-based voters) which outline common problems voters face and potential solutions.

Activating the Grassroots:

• Invested in the coordinated campaign to support more than 70 field organizers. The investment allowed Democrats to have enough organizing capacity to cover areas of the state earlier than ever before, particularly the middle-rural counties of the state between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with a focus on the targeted congressional districts.
• Invested for early grassroots engagement through the Resistance Summer program in 2017.
• The DNC’s New Blue Crew Program organized get-out-the-vote events at Cedar Crest College, Temple University, and Penn State. New Blue Crew also sent a campus organizing toolkit to youth organizers in Pennsylvania.

Reaching New Voters:

• Acquired 3.9 million new cell phone numbers for campaigns up and down the ballot to reach and engage voters.
• Identified 1.2 million un-registered potential new Democratic voters in the state.
• Organized “text banks” in Philadelphia, recruiting and training over 150 volunteers who texted and identified over 60,000 undecided voters in Pennsylvania.
• Updated the IWillVote website to be used as a tool for all state parties to register voters as well as to provide the polling place locator tool.
• Ran a ‘commit’ program to identify new sporadic voters and follow up with these voters through text messages and email.

Strengthening State Parties:

• Invested each month to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party through the Every ZIP Code Counts program from October 2017 – December 2018. This is a 30 percent increase from previous $7,500 monthly investment;

Supporting Our Candidates:

• The DNC created the I Will Run platform, where candidates and campaign staff can access a compilation of best-in-class tools, complete with pre-negotiated pricing.

We won in 2018 because of YOUR support early in 2017! We can’t afford to fall behind as our biggest challenge is underway right now.

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE DNC’S VITAL WORK TODAY.