What is MVP doing about the Democratic Party?

This is one of the most pressing questions MVP has been wrestling with since long before 2024 — and only more so now.

There is no single answer, but there are several significant pieces of the puzzle that MVP and our grantee partners are leading the charge on. This includes efforts to:

1. Run more compelling candidates,
2. Deliver more compelling results once we are in power, and
3. Build a more compelling brand for the party as a whole.

1. Run more compelling candidates

Ultimately, the Democratic Party will only be as compelling as the candidates and leaders that represent it. Across the country, MVP partners are recruiting, training, running, and supporting candidates at every level who are fighting for the communities that Democrats desperately need to win back and/or keep: Working-class voters, young people, rural voters, immigrant voters, and more. For example:

• Across the country, the Working Families Party has launched its biggest candidate recruitment effort ever — Working Class Wins — to recruit 1,000+ working-class candidates to run for local office in key districts.
• In North Carolina, Down Home NC researches, interviews, and endorses candidates who will work for working people — and when there is not a candidate who reflects their values, their members run for office themselves.
• In New Hampshire, 603 Forward has helped recruit and support over 500 progressive young people to run for local office, of which over 250 are now elected leaders. These leaders now help to form the bench for NH’s future state legislative and federal congressional seats. 

2. Deliver more compelling results, once we are in power

When Democrats gain power, they too often fail to make bold, material improvements to people’s lives. This, in turn, reinforces a perception that “Democrats don’t deliver,” diminishes voter enthusiasm, and creates an opening for voters to drift rightward.

Ultimately, the solution is to organize a constituency for bold governance that is broad and powerful enough to elect bold leaders, then create the political cover and pressure to fulfill their promises once they are in office — and that is exactly what MVP grantees are doing.

• In Minnesota, MVP partners helped win a trifecta in 2022 and enacted some of the most sweeping state-level policy changes in recent years. But this progress didn’t come out of nowhere – it was the result of over a decade of strategic organizing and base-building, much of which was led by MVP partners working together around a shared analysis, strategy, and vision. This sustained organizing created the conditions for co-governance — when elected officials work hand-in-hand with close counterparts in civil society to enact a shared agenda.
• In Michigan, MVP partners helped win the first Democratic trifecta in 40 years in 2022 and swiftly acted to repeal GOP laws and enact progressive legislation. Although Democrats didn’t go nearly as far in this legislative session as their Minnesota counterparts, this progress similarly was only possible thanks to years of organizing and a series of hard-won democratic reforms. 

Replicating and building on these successes is the heart of MVP’s steady, long-term work over the coming years. We are helping to fund a revival of deep, year-round organizing in the perennial battleground states (AZ, GA, MI, NC, NV, PA, WI) and other key states by:

1. Strengthening state alliances built around shared analysis, vision, narrative, and infrastructure;
2. Supporting multi-group campaigns that yield policy wins and increased political influence; and
3. Giving capacity-building support to organizations and whole “state ecosystems”.

3. Build a more compelling brand for the party as a whole

Beyond working to create conditions for more compelling candidates and bold governance, MVP and our partners are also in conversation with various leaders within the Democratic Party about how to build a truly multiracial, multigenerational, cross-class coalition that can build people power from the ground up.

As one example: In late 2024, we proudly signed onto the Democratic Power Building Pledge, organized by our allies at Arena, urging the DNC to invest in permanent, year-round organizing and grassroots leadership.

Although MVP’s lane is primarily to build complementary infrastructure to the Democratic Party, we are looking at more ways to engage the party directly. We’ll have more to say about this over time.