What Is MVP Doing to Stop Authoritarianism?

Since the 2024 elections, one of the biggest questions we have gotten from MVP donors and supporters is: What is MVP doing to stop authoritarianism?

The purpose of this post is to offer a clear-eyed but hopeful answer to that question.

Scholars of authoritarianism and groups like Protect Democracy have laid out the authoritarian playbook and shared global lessons learned about how to pull democracy back from the brink. 

Some of this is in the hands of political leaders, media, courts, universities, corporate leaders, and the national security state – but history teaches us that one indispensable component is civil resistance. Fueling this civil resistance is the crucial role MVP and our partners and allies have to play. 

Our local, state, and national partners are working to mobilize mass opposition (e.g., the March town halls and April 5th “Hands Off” Day of Action); shift political winds; turn popular will against Trump and his cronies; divide the MAGA coalition; strengthen the spines of judges, public leaders, critics, and whistleblowers; organize federal workers; scare and demoralize GOP lawmakers prior to the midterms; and translate public anger into electoral change – to throw the bums out!

Tackling Authoritarianism on Seven Fronts

To get specific, we’ve mapped our partners’ work onto Protect Democracy’s seven core tactics of the authoritarian playbook. Here are those seven tactics, along with toplines of what our partners are doing to fight back.

Click each link to jump to the respective section below.

1. Aggrandizing Executive Power: To counter Trump’s autocratic power grab, our partners are working to flip the House, win key state races, and pressure vulnerable GOP reps — building political power to rein in the regime.
2. Corrupting Elections: Our partners are securing elections by electing pro-democracy state Supreme Court justices and Secretaries of State, and deploying local safeguards against election subversion.
3. Scapegoating Vulnerable Communities: Our partners are shielding immigrant, LGBTQ+, and other communities through organizing, legal action, and policy campaigns to defend these groups’ dignity, safety, and inclusion.
4. Politicizing Independent Institutions: By winning down-ballot races and ballot measures, our partners are fortifying local institutions — from Attorneys General to School Boards — that can resist Trumpism at the ground level.
5. Spreading Disinformation: Our partners are using trusted messengers, deep canvassing, and culturally resonant campaigns to combat disinformation and win hearts and minds from the ground up.
6. Quashing Dissent: Our partners are mobilizing public protests, protecting digital infrastructure, and strengthening movement technologies to ensure organizers can organize, mobilize, fundraise, and resist repression.
7. Stoking Violence: To counter rising threats, MVP is supporting mutual aid, community safety, and de-escalation training to keep our partners and their communities safe, prepared, and resilient.

Below are more details on each area of this work.

Aggrandizing Executive Power

Here is a deceptively simple truth: The most effective thing we can do to stop authoritarianism is flip the House in 2026. 

This is why MVP was a co-convener and the first funder of the Battleground Alliance, a nationally-coordinated effort that will play an integral part in winning the chamber, as well as delaying and defeating GOP bills between now and the midterms. 

Associated Press – 2024 House Election Results

Trump indeed may not care what the House says, but a Democratic chamber will assert its Constitutional authority in ways a Republican chamber clearly will not: Blocking legislation, launching investigations, issuing subpoenas, suing the administration, and more. We are in an unquestionably stronger position if at least one branch of government is a check on executive power, rather than acquiescing, or worse, endorsing Trump’s efforts to dismantle democracy.

Target Districts and 2024 Vote Margins, Updated 4/15/2025

If one is focused on winning back the House, why not invest solely in the DCCC and House candidate campaigns? There are several important roles in this political ecosystem, and MVP’s local partners bring a fairly unique electoral superpower to the table: Year-round, homegrown organizing persuades and turns out voters that transactional voter mobilizing (and TV ads) can’t easily reach or win over. And, these groups stay around long after Election Day, continuing to organize in their communities year-round and build long-term grassroots power.

On the theme of organizing year-round: Our local partners are already hard at work pressuring vulnerable GOP representatives to abandon the Trump agenda. The more we can sustain this important work to hold these swing-district GOP reps’ feet to the fire, the more it will cause them to curtail Trump’s actions, purely out of concern for their own electoral survival.

Screenshot: Indivisible Brooklyn’s Bluesky account, 3/19/2025: Staten Island “Empty Chair” Town Hall to Pressure NY-11 GOP Rep. Malliotakis – Organized by MVP partners Citizen Action of NY, Make the Road NY, Indivisible Brooklyn, and other allied groups

In addition to Congress, there are smaller but vitally important checks on executive power at the state level. Every governorship, every legislature, every trifecta we can win, is another check on the Trump regime’s power — and local organizing groups like those MVP funds play an outsized role in these elections. 

Case in point: On April 18, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a GOP plan to force schools to open their doors to ICE agents. In 2022, MVP partners helped elect her by less than 1%.

In Virginia this November, MVP partner New Virginia Majority and others are gearing up to win a Democratic trifecta by flipping the Governorship and holding the legislature. Then, in 2026, our partners will have the chance to win gubernatorial races, end GOP supermajorities, flip legislative chambers, secure Democratic trifectas, and strengthen progressive state governance all across the country. 

Corrupting Elections

Trump will likely do all he can to subvert the electoral process, but he will need the complicity of the state and local officials in election administration, vote counting, and legal rulings. MVP partners, who have always led the local and state fights for fair elections, will play a key role in preventing this. Examples:

State Supreme Courts are essential to protecting fair elections, from ending gerrymandering to blocking partisan election oversight, upholding voting rights, and ensuring checks and balances on GOP state legislatures. In 2024, our partners helped win state Supreme Court seats in Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and North Carolina. This April, our Wisconsin partners helped defend liberals’ 4-3 majority on their all-important state Supreme Court, and our Pennsylvania partners are gearing up to help retain liberals’ 5-2 majority on their Supreme Court this November.

Secretaries of State hold the keys to fair election administration, from managing voter rolls to setting procedures, ensuring voter access, countering election misinformation, and certifying results. Secretaries of State are up for election in 26 states in 2026, including the Presidential swing states of Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin (a state whose SoS race MVP partners helped win in 2022 by 7,625 votes). Our partners’ efforts could swing each of these races, along with others like Pennsylvania, where the Secretary of State is appointed by the Governor (who is up for reelection in 2026).

Count Every Vote rally in Milwaukee, 2022, with Working Families Organization, Voces de la Frontera Action, and others (Photo: Reema Ahmad, MVP)

Preventing foul play: In the lead-up to the 2024 elections, our partners led a multi-pronged approach to safeguarding the process, from ballot curing to legal action, safety at the polls, and digital security. Obviously we lost that Presidential race (though our partners in NC are still fighting to protect the outcome of their 2024 state Supreme Court race!), but these are the same strategies that will stop foul play in future elections.

Scapegoating Vulnerable Communities

MVP partners are on the front lines of the work to protect immigrant, LGBTQ+, and other at-risk communities through mutual aid, know-your-rights trainings, policy advocacy, media and storytelling, legal action, and more.

Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) | Graphic for “Immigrants Belong” Rapid-Response Call, January 24, 2025

Examples:

• Defending birthright citizenship: This January, MVP partner CASA and others sued to stop Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship. On February 5, a judge granted an injunction, blocking the order until the Supreme Court reviews it.
• Protecting educational institutions from attacks on DEI: In March 2025, MVP partner, the ACLU of NH, along with allied groups, sued the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to stop them from restricting schools’ discussions and programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion. On April 24, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, blocking the ED from enforcing its directive.
• Protecting the right to education for undocumented children: On April 23, a Tennessee bill that would have allowed schools to refuse enrollment to children without legal immigration status was declared dead, after months of organizing by MVP partner Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and allies. TIRRC organized 60+ organizations to form the Education for All campaign, recruiting 1,000+ volunteers across the state and holding over two dozen public mobilization events in 50 days.
• Ending local cooperation with ICE: In Pennsylvania, Make the Road PA and a coalition of other MVP partners are pushing municipalities to pass the Trust Act (enacted last year in Lancaster, thanks to organizing by MVP partner CASA PA) to end proactive collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
• Know-Your-Rights campaigns: MVP local partners and allies have been running trainings since before the inauguration – they even got a strange back-handed compliment from Trump “border czar” Tom Homan, who complained that ICE raids were failing because too many people had “been educated how to defy ICE, how to hide from ICE.”
• Standing up for trans rights: In March, MVP partner Equality Federation helped stall a Trans Athlete Ban bill in the Senate, working with its state affiliates (in AZ, FL, GA, MI, OH, OR, NC, NJ, MD, ME, TX, UT, and VA) to send calls, emails, and petitions to Democratic and Republican Senators alike. 

Politicizing Independent Institutions

Trump has a lot of cards to play in this area, but so do we (MVP, our partners, and the broader Democratic and progressive coalition). 

State and local law enforcement and other offices are where we can make the greatest impact right now: State Attorneys General, State School Superintendents, County Sheriffs, Mayors, Town Councils, School Boards, and other offices. 

These nodes of state and local power are where the rubber hits the road: These officials can either reinforce the cruel agenda of the authoritarian regime — or they can stand up and stop it in its tracks. And the same goes for state and local ballot measures.

Fortunately, these under-the-radar, often lower-turnout contests are often where MVP local partners’ efforts can disproportionately tip the scales. Our partners are organizing in their communities year-round, fighting for the issues their people care about most, and can tailor their electoral efforts to these issues and concerns, which are profoundly impacted by these down-ballot elections.

In 2024, our partners helped pass good ballot measures, defeat bad ones, and win races for Attorney General, Superintendent of Schools, County Sheriff, County Prosecutor, and more.

Screenshot: 603 Forward, Town Election 2025 Victory Graphics, 3/12/2025

In New Hampshire’s March 2025 town elections, our New Hampshire partners helped secure big victories, electing 40+ young progressive leaders to Select Boards, School Boards, and other offices. Throughout this year and onward to 2026, our partners are keeping up the fight. 

These local races have always mattered more than many people think — but all the more so in this hellish period of democratic backsliding.

Spreading Disinformation

How do we combat disinformation at the scale we need? There’s no silver bullet. But one key piece of the puzzle — and a crucial part MVP local partners have to play — is the use of what of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace calls counter-messaging campaigns. Look at their synopsis (bold added for emphasis): 

“[Counter-messaging] refers to truthful communications campaigns designed to compete with disinformation at a narrative and psychological level instead of relying solely on the presentation of facts. (…) Research has shown that people more readily accept claims which jibe with their preexisting worldviews and accepted stories about how the world works, especially if framed in moral or emotional terms. Moreover, claims are more persuasive when the messenger is a trusted in-group member who appears to respect the audience members and have their best interests at heart.”

In other words: If we really want to win hearts and minds, throwing money at ephemeral TV ads for candidate campaigns every two to four years is not an effective strategy. Instead, we need to meet people where they are year-round, deploy messengers they trust, engage in conversations in which they feel heard, and appeal to values they share through messages they can relate to.

This is exactly the work of MVP’s local partners, who intimately know their communities, the issues they care about most, and the messages and messengers that will resonate with them.

One strategy which MVP partners employ is deep canvassing: A scientifically-proven conversation method rooted in deep human connection, deep canvassing has been used by grassroots organizing groups for over a decade to influence and persuade voters around race, immigration, marriage equality, trans rights, climate, and more. 

Pennsylvania United – Right to Counsel rally in Pittsburgh

Many of our partners are using this approach to build authentic relationships with members of their community, and shift their perceptions, policy stances, and voting behavior in ways that do not shame or blame, but respect and include — for example, People’s Action nationwide, Pennsylvania United, Down Home North Carolina, Asian American Advocacy Fund (AAAF) in Georgia, GROWW Action in Wisconsin. So many more local organizations could adopt and scale this powerful work if they had the resources.

Quashing Dissent

Less than 100 days into Trump’s presidency, we are already seeing many of the ways his administration is attempting to silence critics and scare detractors. A few ways MVP and our partners are fighting back:

Hands Off! National Day of Action – April 5, 2025

Mass demonstrations to claim the public square: MVP partners played a key role in organizing the “Hands Off” National Day of Action on April 5th, including Indivisible, MoveOn, Working Families Power, Showing Up for Racial Justice, People’s Action, Care in Action, Progress Arizona, Action Together NEPA, and others. These sorts of mass displays of protest undercut authoritarian regimes’ claims of legitimacy, remind people of their agency, and prime them for deeper and ongoing engagement.

Movement technology: For years, MVP and our allies have been sounding the alarm about high-risk vulnerabilities in the suite of technology that powers Democratic and progressive organizing, voter mobilizing, and fundraising. Much of this core technology has now been bought up by Bonterra, an overseas private equity firm which many fear will allow these systems to degrade or worse, and which Senator Ted Cruz has now compelled to turn over internal documents for an investigation. And, on April 24, Trump signed an executive memorandum to investigate ActBlue, far and away the leading online fundraising platform used by Democrats and progressives (including MVP). 

To counteract these attacks and preempt future ones, MVP is working behind the scenes with partners and allies to expand and fortify the progressive movement’s digital ecosystem, and making sure our partners have ongoing access to the tech tools they need through our Tech Tool Stack, offered by our Capacity Building Team.

Stoking Violence

We can’t stop Trump from encouraging violence. But we can support MVP’s local partners’ work to advance mutual aid, community safety, social cohesion, and de-escalation. For example, through our Capacity Building Program, we have been offering both proactive planning and rapid response support to our local partners to address the rising incidence of threats to both operational security and on-the-ground organizers’ basic physical safety. Additionally, we have underwritten partners’ participation in RePower’s training on safe poll monitoring, in which participants learn “the 5 D’s” bystander intervention: Distract, Delegate, Delay, Direct, and Document.

To sum it all up: There is still so much to do, but also so many reasons for hope.

Our efforts have, up until now, been small and insufficient relative to the scale, volume, and brazenness of the attacks we are experiencing. The truth is that MVP and our partners are doing what we can with very limited resources — but there is so much more that could be accomplished with expanded support.