Sandra Radoff, Co-Director of Students for Justice, talks with Deepak Puri, The Democracy Labs, about a grassroots effort that grew out of the challenges and opportunities created by COVID. The Students for Justice started with an idea about overcoming restrictions in the earliest days of the pandemic.  It is now an organization that provides paid internships to college students to introduce them to career opportunities in politics and advocacy.

Deepak and Sandra talk about:

• The under-utilized power of students for political campaigns and to strengthen democracy
• College students targeted by the organization to participate in paid internships
• Role of adult mentors to help students find their place in the political process
• Opportunities for organizing, campaigning, and direct field exposure for students
• Recruiting students and virtual house parties
• Growth of voter outreach on social media
• Value of a virtual and hybrid approach to engage student interns

@VoteSFJ #StudentsforJustice #VoteSFJ @TheDemLabs #GrassrootsOrganizing #VoterOutreach

StudentsforJusticeVote.org

TheDemLabs.org

David Lytel, Founder of Majority Messaging, has extensive experience using digital tools to persuade and motivate voters, starting with serving in the Clinton White House and being responsible for the first websites.  Investing in quality e-mail lists is the starting point of an effective campaign to reach those most likely to contribute, volunteer, and turn out to vote. Strategies include buying lists of names of voters and testing to determine the value of those names.  

We talk about:

• Targeting e-mail lists to reach voters and the nationalization of campaigns
• Ecology of online fundraising
• Value of e-mails sent to previous donors
• Why the Subject line is crucial
• Strategies for building e-mail lists
• Challenges of moving from e-mail to text

#MajorityMessaging #Email #Fundraising #OnlineFundraising #Voters #GOTV

MajorityMessaging.com

Sara Schreiber is the Executive Director at America Votes coordinating the activities of progressive groups. Strategies for engaging voters have widened as the options for voting have expanded. America Votes educates people of all ages about the need to vote, finding them where they are throughout the day. Sara emphasizes that connecting with voters on issues is one way to persuade Independent voters, a growing segment of the electorate.

We talk about:

• The Blue Surge Electorate in 2020 and 2022 and the potential for 2024
• Engaging voters who are digital natives
• Need for in-person one-to-one conversations
• Turning voting into a habit
• Increase in the number of Independent voters, particularly in swing states
• What will drive voter turnout in 2024 

@AmericaVotes #VoterTurnout #GOTV #IndependentVoters #ProgressiveVoters

AmericaVotes.org

Po Murray, Founder and Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance, joins Deepak Puri in an interview about ending gun violence. After the shooting at her local Sandy Hook Elementary School, Po took a fresh look at gun control and the role she could play in keeping weapons of war out of the hands of civilians like her neighbor who shot and murdered 26 people that day.

Po and Deepak discuss:

• Working with survivors of gun violence to create a sea change in the dialogue about guns
• Role of revenue from the sales of weapons of war in lobbying for relaxed gun laws
• Marketing of assault weapons to young people
• Need for individuals to speak up to their elected officials about the need for an assault weapon ban
• Lunch lobby sessions to urge Congress and other elected officials to act

@NewtownAction @NewtownActionAlliance #EndGunViolence #HonorWithAction #BanAssaultWeapons #BanWeaponsOfWar #GunControl @TheDemLabs

NewtownActionAlliance.org

TheDemLab.org

Heather Booth, Founder of the Jane Cooperative, talks with Deepak Puri about her current work and experience as an early activist in the civil and women's rights movements.  Organizing abortion services In the pre-Roe years and participating in the Freedom Summer Project taught Heather the importance of community and speaking up. As Founder of the Midwest Academy, Heather has influenced and instructed many of the leading Democratic leaders of our time.

Heather and Deepak talk about:

• The history of protesting for civil rights and women's rights
• The creation of the Jane Collective and the documentary The Janes, and the feature film Call Jane
• Basics of organizing: members, message, money, and movement
• Wisconsin Supreme Court election
• The upcoming 50th anniversary of The Midwest Academy
• Advice for those who want to make a difference today

@hboothgo @thedemlabs #CivilRights #WomensRights #AbortionRights #RoevWade #Dobbs #Organizing #Grassroots #Volunteers #Protests #Protesting #WisconsinSupremeCourt

TheDemLabs.org

The Janes

Call Jane

The Midwest Academy

Heather Booth playing guitar for Fannie Lou Hammer and others during the Freedom Summer Project in Mississippi in 1964

Susan Pfeiffer is an expert at using phone banks to organize and mobilize voters.  As a veteran phone bank volunteer and manager, she explains how her group is working with volunteers to get the vote out for the Wisconsin Supreme Court Election.

Deepak Puri interviews Susan and they talk about:

• Successful phone banking best practices
• Using phone banking to organize and GOTV
• The impact from innovations in predictive dialers
• How volunteers can participate in virtual phone banking 

@TheDemLabs #PhoneBanking #GOTV #Organizing #Volunteers #WisconsinSupremeCourt #Canvass

TheDemLabs.org

Zach Fang, Head of Sales and Business Development at Vocal Media, is enthusiastic about the opportunities for political and advocacy campaigns to tap into the power of online influencers.  He is also excited about the chances for a diverse community of influencers to have their voices heard and to build stronger communities of interest.

We talk about:

• How influencer marketing is different from other paid media
• The ways candidates and advocates can work with influencers to produce authentic messages
• What happens if TikTok is banned
• What makes someone an influencer
• The use of filters and lenses to amplify a message across multiple communities

@getvocalmedia #TikTok #Influencers #PoliticalAdvertising #InfluencerMarketing #YouTubeShorts #InstagramReels

Vocal-Media.io

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@getvocal?lang=en

Instagram

 https://www.instagram.com/getvocalmedia/?hl=en

Andrea Miller, Center for Common Ground talks with Deepak Puri about grassroots efforts to reach disadvantaged voters and under-represented people to encourage them to vote. With a family background in activism, Andrea is continuing a tradition of providing accurate information about voting and elections.

They talk about:

• Organizing postcarding campaigns by engaging volunteers to send out handwritten postcards to drive registration and GOTV 
• Using the physical mailing address to bridge the Digital Divide  
• Turning out the Black and Hispanic vote
• Voter suppression and removing obstacles to voting
• The upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court special election

@CTR4CmnGround @TheDemLabs #Voters #VoterSuppression #BIPOC #GOTV #Postcarding #CampaignVolunteers #WisconsinSupremeCourt 

CenterforCommonGround.org

TheDemLabs.org

Nicole Bateman, Research Manager USAFacts.org, is making government data available to bring facts to conversations about the economy and political policy. USAFacts focuses on improving timely access to government data to provide a more complete picture for Americans to contextualize the data. In 2023, much work must be done at the state and local levels to inform conversations about political issues with accurate facts from a trusted resource.

We talk about:

• Findings in the State of the Union in Numbers Report that reveal national averages can mask significant differences in how voters view the economy
• With the economy top of mind for most voters, the complete picture of inflation in 2022 and its impact on different voters
• Worker pay, labor force participation, availability of childcare, and unemployment rates
• Growing interest on social media in government data

@USAFacts #GovernmentData #Inflation #Voters #EconomicData 

USAFacts.org

Taylor Salditch is the Interim Executive Director at Supermajority, a women's equality organization offering a wide range of opportunities for marginalized voters to get informed and have their voices heard.  The values-based progressive agenda at Supermajority promotes the needs of women at the local and national levels with calls to action to address specific issues. With an interracial, intergenerational approach to building the community, Taylor emphasizes that what is good for women is good for everybody.

We talk about:

• Why women are the key to winning elections
• Building women's political power
• Keys to effective voter contact with women under 30
• Deep canvassing conversations
• Getting out the vote in 2022 using digital tools and phone calls to engage a broad community
• Goals for 2024 include engaging seven million young women

@Supermajority #Women #WomenAreVoting #Activism #Advocacy #WomensRights #GenderEquality #ProgressiveValues

Supermajority.com