On Sunday, November 20, ninety-eight people tuned in to hear the latest about what’s going on at Swing Blue Alliance. They were lucky to hear from a number of speakers about the state of the Democratic party, the SBA approach to activism, and what volunteers are up to.
Bill Sher: keep things in perspective
“Yes, Virginia gives us pause, but don’t psych yourself out. Keep things in perspective.” That’s how Bill Sher, political analyst, kicked off Swing Blue Alliance’s November All Volunteer Roundup. He was the first of several speakers who offered hope and explained the political situation of Democrats.
Sher reminded attendees that the presidential party gained House seats in 1934, 1998, and 2002; the Senate gained or did not lose seats in those years plus in 1970, 1982, and 2012. What made the difference? Crisis, which the country faces today. In addition, Republicans must defend seats in two Biden-won states and three purple states. In contrast, the Dems have no seats to defend in Trump-won states and only four to defend in purple states.
According to Sher, Swing Blue Alliance is on the right track: Focus both up and down the ballot. Create consistent voters. Start finding votes now.
Paula Joseph –
The New Hampshire campaign is following Stacey Abrams game plan: Organize year round and use every opportunity to connect with voters. Joseph explained the goal: win back Democratic control of the Senate, House, and State Legislature.
Like Abrams, Joseph understands the role of local ejections in both state and national elections. Every local Democratic vote means another individual primed to vote for US Senator Maggie Hassan and US Representative Chris Pappas.
John Loewenstein –
“We are choosing actions that we’ve proven to work,” says Loewenstein, who leads SBA’s research team. For example, in 2018 overall Florida Democratic voter turnout was 64.2%. Democrats who requested mail ballots turned out at 87.6% whereas those who did not turned out at 55%. As a result, in 2020, SBA ran an aggressive vote-by-mail postcard campaign. The effect of receiving SBA cards was to increase turnout by 1.3%. Loewenstein and David Salkever will present all the stats you could ever want at the Swing Blue Alliance Research Deep Dive on Mon, Dec 20 @ 4 pm ET
Jeff Lobo –
What happens when an energetic volunteer reaches out to another volunteer who has taken some time off? The Volunteers Taking Back Democracy (TBD) Calling Corps has contacted 1,000 inactive members of Swing Blue Alliance since it started in October.
Every returned volunteer means additional contact with potential Democratic voters. You can join the Calling Corps every Friday @ 2 pm ET
A door prize?
Every month, a random attendee of the All Volunteer Roundup receives a door prize. This week Lakshmi Rao was happy to receive a Swing Blue Alliance mug.
Door Prize
