11 Comments
Jul 11, 2023Liked by Micah L. Sifry

While I love a good after action report, the older I get the more things remain relatively unchanged. This could have been written after almost any election cycle over the past 20 or so years.

Unless and until major donors and the party leaders decide to fund a generational foundation around a "50 state strategy" that hires people for long term employment (rather than cycle by cycle)... Little will change as the incentives will not change.

While elections are, in fact, won by just a few seats now... The reality is, still, the vast majority of seats in Congress are UN competitive.

I hope this same story will change by the time my grandchildren can vote (and I have none).

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author

There are some major donors and donor-networks represented among the people who pulled this survey together, so perhaps you should be a little less cynical about the prospects of change. But yes, the incentives are the heart of the problem.

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Well, that’s bleak. I had a great experience volunteering on Shahana Hanif’s City Council campaign. It was powered by the core team of volunteers, by design. They trained us to run phone banks, to launch persuasion and GOTV canvasses, to in turn train new volunteers, etc. I guess because she was a community organizer herself before Brad Lander recruited her, which eventually led her to run for his seat. And I guess my experience was unfortunately the exception that proves the rule. Alas.

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Jul 11, 2023Liked by Micah L. Sifry

This really resonates and is the focus of our work at Rising Organizers and Rising Organizers Action. If we invest in grassroots leaders where they already are and build strong infrastructure, we can build more sustainable power in communities and avoid these kinds of boom and bust cycles. Funders should prioritize that work more deeply.

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author

Absolutely and thanks for adding that--I had meant to include Rising Organizers in my list of green sprouts pushing through the cracks.

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Jul 14, 2023Liked by Micah L. Sifry

Thank you for the FEMA Flood Maps shout-out ... for a service we rolled out about 20 years ago. ;-) Glad it's getting to the people who appreciate it!

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Jul 12, 2023Liked by Micah L. Sifry

Interestingly enough I had the same issues with HRC’s campaign. I live in NYC and could NEVER get anyone from the campaign to respond so I could volunteer. And now Jay Jacobs has abdicated any responsibility for losing Congress.

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Other than that Mr. Sifry, how was the play?

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author

I enjoy whistling past graveyards, long walks on flooded beaches, sunsets lit by forest fires...

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Well nothing wrong with that. No less effective than standard DP field ops. The Dems have ONE strong thing going in their favor… DJT. Should be enough but who knows?

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What do you say to people like David Shor, who say data shows that phone banking and knocking on doors is more or less useless ?

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