MVP friends,

I’m writing this note for you if you’re as outraged as I am at the start of this Trump II administration – and if you want to put your money where it will:

1. Stem the damage in the immediate term, and
2. Start our comeback in the medium and long term.

MVP has just launched The Comeback Campaign, an all-hands-on-deck push to fund the most effective frontline groups around the country working to protect communities, block MAGA, and plant the seeds to win back power in 2026 and beyond.

(If you’re short on time, you can contribute here and skim the rest later.)

What’s the plan? 

MVP is funding six priorities in the First 100 Days (detailed bullet points here):

1) Protect Vulnerable Communities

Marginalized communities are under attack. MVP partners are fighting back. Our urgent moral challenge is to resource these groups fully — groups working on immigrant rights, defending LGBTQ+ communities, reproductive rights, and more — so they can counteract the immediate threats while building power to prevent future harm.

2) Pressure Congress: Stop MAGA Bills

Republicans have a slim 220-215 House majority. We need just three GOP votes to tank harmful bills. MVP is leading the charge to organize “The Battleground Alliance,” an unprecedented collaboration of year-round organizing groups pressuring vulnerable House members to block the worst of the Trump agenda.

3) Strengthen State-Level Organizing

MAGA has gained the upper hand because people-powered democracy has diminished. The solution? Serious investment in a revival of deep, year-round organizing. MVP is leading this charge by 1) doubling down on funding groups organizing large, engaged membership bases, and 2) nurturing state-level alliances and “state ecosystems” that can grow power year after year, and influence policy at EVERY level of government.

4) Scale Up Progressive Media

To transform politics, we’ve got to transform culture – starting with our media ecosystem. In past years, MVP has invested modestly in progressive media and media-based organizing… But 2024 was a wake-up call. We are now focused on scaling these efforts, to combat misinformation and right-wing indoctrination – which threaten Democrats’ standing among core constituencies, especially the youngest generation of voters.

5) Defend the Wisconsin Supreme Court

The most important election of 2025 is on April 1st in the ultimate swing state of Wisconsin, and none of us can afford to sit it out. MVP partners are mobilizing to protect the 4-3 liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which will impact gerrymandering, abortion, and voting rights – and could even be critical in flipping a congressional district – in advance of 2028.

6) Take Back the House in 2026

The single best way to stop the Trump agenda is to flip the U.S. House in 2026. Through the newly-forming Battleground Alliance, MVP is funding an unprecedented, coordinated organizing effort in the most competitive House districts — first to stop the worst bills in 2025, and then to flip control of the entire chamber in November 2026.

How much money do these groups need right now?

MVP’s goal is to move $3 million by February 28th to the organizations leading this work (this month is when they need it most), and then move a total of $10 million by April 30th.

I’d like to see us raise $180,000 from this note alone. Can we do it? I did the math and the answer is yes, if we treat this as the “all-hands-on-deck” moment it is.

This note is going to 60,000+ MVP supporters. So, could…

• 36 of us give $5,000?
• 72 of us give $2,500?
• 180 of us give $1,000?
• 360 of us give $500? 
• 720 of us give $250? 

Here’s the basic pitch: Trump is moving full-steam ahead to cause chaos and suffering, so we want to make it as easy as possible to fund the most impactful groups right now — all at once, vs. everyone needing to research hundreds of groups in dozens of states.

MVP’s state advisors are tracking the groups that need the money most and can use it to make the biggest impact – and we’re moving new money out the door every week. 

If this sounds good to you, join us in launching our comeback in these first 100 days.

What matters most to you about contributing right now?

I’m thinking a lot right now about how we make it through these next four years… And I’m reminded of this quote by civil rights activist Grace Lee Boggs, who said:

“You don’t choose the times you live in, but you do choose who you want to be.”

I think this is huge. Who do we want to be, as Trump tries to undo decades of progress and cause untold suffering to marginalized communities and future generations? Or, as my mentor Maria Nemeth put it: Who are we willing to be? 

So this is the question I want you to ask yourself as you’re considering whether to contribute to our Comeback Campaign, or what would be a meaningful amount to give.

Who am I willing to be? Is it to be an engaged citizen? An effective activist? A protector of democracy? A generous philanthropist? A good ancestor to future generations?

For me personally, it’s all of these. But even more viscerally, it’s to be a loving father. 

Every morning, five-year-old daughter Ayla runs into our bedroom and greets my wife Kelly and me with a joyful squeal and precious snuggles. A few minutes later, I’m making my coffee and reading the headlines on my phone: “Trump immigration crackdown sweeps up thousands.” “Trump leaves global climate agreement.” “Trump shutters USAID, threatening millions in extreme poverty.” “As Trump returns, state lawmakers pursue bills that would treat abortion as homicide.”

This is not the world I want to leave Ayla. I feel so ashamed of what we as a country are doing, and the dark road that Trump and the GOP are trying to take us down. And I feel so incredibly angry. I honestly don’t even know what to do with these feelings on some mornings — many mornings.

But then I look at what MVP’s partner organizations across the country are already doing — hosting Know-Your-Rights trainings for immigrant communities, pressuring vulnerable GOP House members to vote “no” on MAGA bills, organizing to win policy campaigns at the state level, forming plans to flip the House in 2026, and so much more — and I know what I can do: Put all the energy I can toward supporting these groups. 

Wisconsin Working Families Party, an MVP partner mobilizing voters for the state Supreme Court race on April 1, 2025

Pennsylvania United – Right to Counsel rally in Pittsburgh

Asian American Advocacy Fund | Asian American Advocacy Day at the Georgia state capitol, leading an advocacy training, 2/4/2025

It’s going to take all the resources and creativity we can muster to limit the damage of this administration and bring the MAGA era to an end, and there are no guarantees of when or if we will succeed. 

But as Rebecca Solnit says: 

“The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.”

So I want to say thank you to you, for all the ways you’ve supported MVP and our partners to get to this moment. And from my heart to yours, I hope you’ll stick with us now for this next crucial chapter. The more money we can move now to our frontline partner organizations, the more effectively we will stage our political comeback – in these First 100 Days, the rest of this year, in 2026, and beyond.

Are you willing to be a part of the MVP Comeback Crew?

Let’s do this.

Zo Tobi, MVP Director of Communications
(On behalf of the MVP team)

p.s. – Year-round power building requires year-round funding. Want to select the “Make it Monthly!” option and become a part of our community of MVP Sustainers?