Introduction: Making 2026 Too Big to Rig
Dear friends and allies -
We’re back for the July edition of the MVP newsletter — The Power Move 💪💪🏽💪🏿.
I’ve written before about voting in my home state of Georgia — a state I had all but written off politically … until the 2020 election cycle.
On January 5, 2021, I proudly watched as voters in Georgia elected Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to become the state’s first Black and first Jewish U.S. Senators. These wins secured Democratic control of the Senate — something many thought a state in the Deep South could never accomplish.
For weeks, I had been volunteering to help ensure Democratic voters’ ballots were cast and counted properly — no small feat in a state with a long history of voter suppression. I was running daily phone banks for thousands of volunteers, all of whom desperately understood how critical it was to elect Warnock and Ossoff, especially after living through Trump’s first term.
I stayed up until 2:00 am and jubilantly watched as Warnock’s race was called. Exhausted, I went to bed hoping for good news for Ossoff the next day.
The next day was January 6.
As I refreshed my internet feeds and listened to the dulcet tones of Steve Kornacki waiting for Ossoff’s race to be called, something else was taking over the news: Trump supporters were marching to the U.S. Capitol.
I felt like I was watching in slow motion: a mob of mostly white people with MAGA hats and Trump flags getting closer to the Capitol, then on the Capitol steps, then scaling the side of the Capitol building, then breaking windows and doors as they climbed inside with palpable fury and violent intent.
I watched in shock and disbelief, which soon gave way to fear and horror. How could everything change so quickly?
Two hours later, they called the race for Ossoff.
Friends, January 6, 2021 is what we are up against this November. It might not take the form of a fatal riot or violent attempted coup; they’ve maneuvered carefully over the past five years so that it won’t have to. But the attacks on our elections from Trump and his allies already are and will continue to be just as ruthless, lawless, and power-hungry.
I’m not saying this to scare you or make any of us feel helpless. I’m saying this to acknowledge the reality we are in.
But that’s just one side of the story.
Now, much more than six years ago, people — including MVP and our partners — know what’s coming, and we are ready.
From “ICE Out” in Minnesota to stopping partisan gerrymandering in Georgia to securing a slew of policy wins in Arizona, we’ve seen what organized people power can do.
MVP has a plan to make our 2026 victories too big to rig (which you can hear about at our August 5 national briefing), but our partners can’t implement the plan if they don’t have the funding.
I don’t usually ask for your investment in The Power Move, but this year is different. We are 97 days away from Election Day. Early voting starts in September. Your support has helped our partners organize all year, but there is still so much work to do to defend our elections and win resoundingly in November.
Real-talk: Democratic-aligned voter contact is far behind pace due to lack of funding. One national partner just shared that their voter contacts are down 49 percent vs. this same point in 2022, with only 1.7 percent of “priority voters” contacted so far. Imagine coming short of flipping the House or Senate by a few thousand votes in one or two races because our partners didn’t have enough money to turn out the voters we needed to win.
If Billy Wimsatt, our Executive Director, were writing this, this is what he would say: We need to get our partners as much money as we can, as soon as possible.
We have momentum, and our partners are doing the right work in the right places. Here’s a sampling of how, with enough investment, they will flip the House, flip the Senate, and make our midterm victories too big to rig, even in the face of brazen attacks on our democracy.
On November 4, 2026, we might all still be glued to Steve Kornacki waiting for election results, but at least we’ll know we did everything we could to stop authoritarianism, protect our democracy, and move our country forward.
Thanks for being in this fight with us.
Annie
Annie Lipsitz, MVP Donor Communications Manager
(On behalf of the MVP team)
Photo: Michiganders for Money Out of Politics at the Michigan State Capitol last week, where their massive petition signature collection was approved, moving them a huge step closer to getting a money-out-of-politics ballot measure in front of voters in November.
MVP Partners Doing What They Do Best 🏅
Our partners have been organizing all year, and now they are turning that organizing energy into electoral mobilization to elect bold Democrats up and down the ballot.
Here’s a bit of what they’ve been up to lately.
Photo: Maine People’s Alliance organizing for more funding for programs that working-class Mainers need.
Maine: Organizers are the Maine-stay 🦞
Maine has a new U.S. Democratic Senate candidate — Troy Jackson, former Maine state Senate President and Majority Leader, candidate for governor, and lumberjack. The Maine Democratic Party convened 577 delegates — out of the more than 4,000 delegates who ran, including many MVP partner staff and members — in Bangor this past Saturday to nominate a new candidate after disgraced former Democratic candidate Graham Platner exited the race.
Now, MVP partners Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) and Food AND Medicine (FAM), who have built trust and deep relationships with voters, are galvanizing the grassroots movement Platner helped grow, and finally defeat long-time GOP Senator Susan Collins. Jackson is leading Collins in the polls, in a race we must win if we want to take back control of the U.S. Senate. Our partners’ ground game could make the difference in what is likely to be a nail-bitingly tight race.
MPA has a goal of turning out 50,000 rural Maine voters for Jackson in November, while FAM will rely on their deep community relationships in eastern Maine to remind voters that Collins — who has repeatedly voted for GOP economic policies — is responsible for the region’s job loss and economic decline.
Read more about partners’ plans to defeat Susan Collins — and defend a U.S. House seat — in our Maine State Plan here.
Photo: Activate 48 organizational leaders celebrating their electoral victories the day after Arizona’s July primary.
Arizona: Electoral Victories Activated 🚀
Last Tuesday, Arizona held its primary elections, and MVP partner Activate 48 helped advance bold candidates in four key state legislative races that will help flip the Arizona state legislature and secure a Democratic state trifecta.
Having bold Democrats in control at the state level will help block Trump’s attacks and open the door to creating a system of co-governance where organizers work with elected leaders to deliver on the policies that working-class Arizonans need — accessible healthcare, immigrant protections, affordable housing, and more.
Activate 48 is a coalition of four MVP partners in Arizona — LUCHA (Living United for Change in Arizona), Worker Power, Our Voice, Our Vote (OVOV), and Chispa AZ. Since their founding in 2019, the coalition has become a powerhouse organizing bloc.
Ahead of the primaries, Activate 48 published a voter guide to help voters make informed decisions at the polls. The voter guide included profiles of Activate 48’s endorsed candidates, many of whom won their primaries.
- In Legislative District 8, Democratic incumbents state Senator Lauren Kuby and state Rep. Brian Garcia won, running on platforms of environmental protection, economic justice, and immigrant rights, with endorsements from several unions.
- In Legislative District 20, Democratic incumbent state Rep. Betty Viegas won, who has successfully advocated for more affordable housing, tenants’ rights, and access to clean water.
- In Legislative District 24, in which four Democrats competed for two state House seats, newcomers Lisbeth Arescurenaga and Alberto Flores pushed out the incumbent Democrat state representative, Lydia Hernandez — the self-proclaimed “most conservative Democrat” in the legislature. Arescurenaga and Flores both brought their lived experience as immigrants and working-class Arizonans to their campaigns.
- Also in Legislative District 24, Democratic incumbent and progressive champion state Senator Annalise Ortiz won. She has successfully advocated for worker protections, affordable childcare, and homelessness services.
Working across four legislative districts — the four listed above plus Legislative District 21 — Activate 48 partners knocked 46,000 doors, sent 77,000 pieces of mail, and had a huge digital footprint in support of their endorsed candidates to land these primary wins. But these victories are not only about this moment. As Activate 48’s Coalition Director Dr. Reginald Bolding said:
“The doors we knocked and the races we won are not the story … The real story is what’s happening next. We don’t organize to win elections and disappear. We organize to govern.”
Hear more about Activate 48’s primary victories and their work ahead here.
Photo: Michiganders for Money Out of Politics (MMOP) canvassers collecting signatures for a money-out-of-politics ballot measure.
Michigan: Grab a bucket and some water. It’s time to MMOP. 🧼
Organizers with Michiganders for Money Out of Politics — MMOP — just reached a major milestone: They have enough valid signatures to move forward with their ballot measure campaign to ban utilities companies and government contractors from making political contributions. MMOP organizers and volunteers led a statewide effort to collect more than 560,000 petition signatures — well over the 356,958 valid signatures needed for the measure to qualify for the November ballot.
Despite a mountain of opposition backed by billionaire corporate interests, MMOP’s people-powered campaign prevailed. Here’s what Christy McGillivray, Co-Chair of the MMOP Steering Committee, had to say:
“After nearly a year of tireless organizing by volunteers and supporters, voters are one major step closer to making their voices heard at the ballot box to rein in out-of-control corrupt spending by big corporations and state-regulated utilities. Today is proof that a people-powered movement can stand up to some of the most powerful special interests in Michigan.”
What this people-powered movement has accomplished is not just about the ballot measure itself. Through this campaign, our partners are recruiting volunteers, developing leaders, training organizers, and building infrastructure that will have long-term impacts on the state landscape. Just a short scroll through MMOP’s Instagram page and the sight of hundreds of people in orange MMOP t-shirts is evidence of the work they have done to turn this campaign into a movement for change.
MMOP’s fight is not over. Next, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers and the state legislature have to approve the ballot measure language. Once MMOP clears those two hurdles, they will launch an all-out voter mobilization campaign ahead of Election Day when the measure will go before voters.
In addition to our own investment in MMOP’s partner organizations, MVP has been working behind the scenes with other funders to make sure MMOP has the resources they need. We are hopeful that, with enough continued funding, MMOP can pass this ballot measure to mop up Michigan and get money out of politics.
Photo: Texas for All and Workers Defense Action Fund march for immigrant rights in the face of escalating ICE attacks on Texas immigrant communities.
Texas and Maine: Honoring the lives of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastián Guerrero
On July 10, ICE agents fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, TX. Three days later on July 13, ICE agents fatally shot Joan Sebastián Guerrero in Biddeford, ME. Neither was armed, and both tragedies, once again, demonstrate just how violent, harmful, and lawless ICE is under the Trump regime.
Our partners in Maine and Texas have been fighting for immigrant rights and protecting their communities during ICE escalations for years. Over the past few weeks, they have been honoring the lives of two community members needlessly lost. In both states, these tragic killings have galvanized residents even more to demand “ICE Out” of their communities and justice for immigrants targeted by ICE.
In Maine, Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) and Maine Youth Power (MYP) published statements and co-organized vigils and days of action honoring both Joan and Lorenzo. See just some of the social media coverage here, here, and here. MPA is also calling on community members to demand Senator Susan Collins — who is in a tight re-election race — do more to get ICE out of Maine and remind her that Maine voters have the power to decide if she keeps her job or not in November.
It was a similar scene in Texas, as MVP partner Texas for All along with Workers Defense Action Fund and other groups co-organized a mass march on July 25 in Houston. They also put together this visual story illustrating the experiences of immigrants in Texas, the fear they are currently living with, and a call to action to honor the life of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by marching and demanding “ICE Out of Texas.”
May all of the work of MVP and our partners honor those whose lives have been lost because of injustice — whether that’s at the violent hands of ICE agents, the inaccessibility of our healthcare system, the lack of affordable housing, or the continued cruelty of our current president. We are in this fight for you.
Photo: Hundreds of GROWW (GrassRoots Organizing Western Wisconsin) members at their Spring 2026 assembly.
Wisconsin: Organizers GROWW their electoral impact. 🌱
Wisconsin’s primaries are on August 11, and MVP partner GROWW (GrassRoots Organizing Western Wisconsin) just did something they have never done: work to elect candidates to the Wisconsin legislature.
GROWW has a long history of organizing residents in western Wisconsin for better healthcare coverage, data center accountability, workers’ rights, protections for rural farmers, and more, largely staying out of overtly partisan, state-level politics in favor of power building, policy advocacy, and hyper-local races.
But just as western Wisconsin has seen corporations and special interests wield power in the region, GROWW and its members have led successful organizing campaigns to push back against that power. Now, supporting state legislative candidates represents one more tool in GROWW’s organizing toolbox. As they said in their open letter to western Wisconsin residents:
“Every new member. Every difficult conversation. Every local victory. Each has expanded what feels possible for our future. … We can’t build the Wisconsin we deserve without passing our legislative agenda — and that means wielding power in our state capital. Our members didn’t ask, ‘Which candidate do we like best?’ They asked a different question: ‘Which races give organized people our best opportunity to build enough power to win the changes we need?’”
GROWW has endorsed three Wisconsin state legislature candidates they believe, if elected, will fight to keep rural hospitals open, regulate data centers, strengthen family farms, and more to support western Wisconsin residents. GROWW will be knocking doors and having conversations with voters in support of their endorsed candidates because, as they say in their open letter, “every new relationship and every new member strengthens our ability to negotiate for the future we want.”
This is the winning formula: Organizing + advocacy + elections = Real power.
Photo: Make the Road Action Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Working Families Party getting out the vote at a community event with Democratic U.S. House candidate Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District.
Summer Special Part 2: What’s Hot at MVP? ☀️
MVP partners are taking it to the beach, the mountains, the desert, and every other summer vacation spot you can think of. MVP is investing in on-the-ground groups across the country to turn their organizing energy into electoral victories. Below are a few of our partners’ priorities over the next three months that we need to fund to win in November. Read the full list here.
North Carolina: Elect Roy Cooper to flip the Senate 🤸🏻♂️
North Carolina is one of the best chances to pick up a Democratic seat in the U.S. Senate by electing former Governor Roy Cooper. Now, we know that this race might seem like it’s in the bag to some, but we cannot take anything for granted, especially this year. Mobilizing massive turnout for Cooper is how we both ensure he wins and also make his victory too big to rig. That’s exactly what MVP partners are doing — rapidly scaling their work to engage working-class voters across the state.
- A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund is registering and mobilizing Black voters in eastern North Carolina and Raleigh.
- Siembra NC is leading engagement and mobilization of Latine voters, leveraging their strong presence in Latine communities in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill and Charlotte areas.
- Carolina Federation is organizing through their chapter members to knock 720,000 doors across the state.
- Down Home NC is organizing rural, Democratic voters of all races with a specific focus on Cabarrus, Rowan, Ashe, and Franklin Counties.
- NCAAT in Action (North Carolina Asian Americans Together in Action) is running a campus ambassador program and creator cohort to organize young voters online and on college campuses.
Pennsylvania: Flip three U.S. House seats and secure a Democratic state trifecta 🔑 🪨
The road to flipping the House runs right through Pennsylvania, where a trio of House seats is up for flippable grabs this year.
MVP partners Make the Road Action Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Working Families Party, PA Stands Up, Action Together NEPA, One Pennsylvania, and Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance have been organizing in these districts all year and are focused on turning out working-class voters of all races to flip Pennsylvania 7th, 8th, and 10th Congressional Districts and win a slew of state legislative races to also secure a Democratic state trifecta.
Nevada: Turn out young voters to counter Turning Point USA. 🙌🏽 🙌🏼
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) — the conservative, MAGA, youth-focused organization — has a new Nevada headquarters, three college chapters, and 27 high school clubs in Las Vegas and the surrounding areas alone. Building a progressive counterweight has never been more important in this battleground state.
MVP partner Battle Born Action is doing just that: building a movement of young Nevadans to help elect bold candidates and build the next generation of progressive leaders.
This fall, Battle Born Action is leveraging its college chapters and strong membership to engage young Nevada voters through culturally relevant (read: fun) events young people will actually want to participate in.
Photo: MVP Washington State donor organizing volunteers at a town hall raising funds for MVP’s partners.
Take Action with MVP and Our Partners💥
The summer is flying by, but there’s still time to cool your toes and warm your hearts with MVP and our partners.
MVP Events
August 5: MVP National Briefing - Too Big to Rig: Now Through November
On August 5, join MVP for our most important briefing before the midterms: Too Big to Rig - Now Through November. You’ll hear from MVP staff and our partners about our massive early vote and election defense plans to make our midterm victories too big to rig, make sure every vote is counted, and the elections are certified. You don’t want to miss this one. RSVP »
September 10: House Party Campaign Kickoff Call
Join MVP’s Donor Organizing team and rocking volunteers on September 10 for our House Party Campaign Kickoff Call. You’ll learn how you can get involved in our fall donor organizing and fundraising plans. Whether you're a seasoned MVP volunteer or new to the game, we welcome anyone who wants to help us raise the money our partners need to win the midterms. RSVP »
September 16: Democracy at a Crossroads - A Conversation with Ken Burns
On September 16, MVP’s volunteer-led Legal Community for Democracy (LC4D) is hosting “Democracy at a Crossroads: History, Power, and the Fight Ahead: A Conversation with Ken Burns” — a virtual event to hear about what we need to do now to win the 2026 midterms and beat back authoritarianism. Yes, you heard that right: Ken Burns! RSVP »
Partner and Ally Events
July 30: Indivisible “Hands Off Our Vote” Kickoff Call
On July 30, join Indivisible for their “Hands Off Our Vote” national kickoff call to learn more about Indivisible’s plans to ensure all eligible voters get to cast their ballot, and that those ballots get counted. Learn how you can plug in to defend our elections. RSVP »
July 30: Flip the Vote and Ohio Organizing Campaign
Last month, the FBI raided the offices of MVP partner Ohio Organizing Campaign (OOC) in the latest attempt by the Trump administration to attack pro-democracy organizing. On July 30, join Flip the Vote to hear from OOC leadership about the raid and how they are continuing their work to block authoritarianism and win in November. RSVP »
Volunteer Opportunities
Looking for even more ways to take action? Check out MVP’s Take Action webpage to learn how to organize donors with MVP, get out the vote, and protect our elections.
Photo: Carolina Federation organizers getting energized before heading out to talk to community members.
A Moment of Movement Joy 🪩
We hope the updates in this edition of The Power Move have brought you enough joy, but just in case you need a dose more, this month, we are joyful about music.
Music for the Movement 🎶
MVP partner Carolina Federation has put together version 1 of their “Songs for Organizers” playlist. You may be thinking, “Why are MVP partners spending their time putting together playlists?” Because music has always been a key part of movements for social change.
From “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye, to “War” by Edwin Starr, and even “Freedom” by Beyoncé, organizers have used music to find connections, joy, and meaning in their work, and artists have used music as protest, as advocacy, and as a form of activism in and of itself.
Carolina Federation’s “Songs for Organizers” includes tracks with titles like “Get Free,” “Feel No Fear,” “Seasons Change,” and “If We Don’t Know the Words, We Humm.” As the playlist description says:
”Every movement has its rhythm. Some songs carry us through long organizing days. Others remind us that joy is part of the work, too. This playlist is for the organizers, volunteers, members, and neighbors building people power across North Carolina, one conversation, one campaign, and one community [at a time].”
Got songs that keep you going? Consider making your own movement playlist to jam out to now through November and beyond.
