Building to Win: Lessons from the 2023 America Votes State Summit
By Daria Dawson, America Votes Deputy Executive Director
Last month, members of the America Votes coalition gathered in Washington, D.C. for the 14th America Votes State Summit. This was our largest summit yet, with more than 1,800 registrants from 47 states. During last year’s State Summit, we were gearing up for a fight. This year, we celebrated progressives’ historic victories and started planning to build on this success in 2024.
America Votes’ largest ever midterm mobilization effort was a key reason we did not see the “Red Wave” so many pundits had predicted in 2022. Our partners knocked more than 26 million doors and had nearly 5 million conversations with voters in the leadup to Election Day. We followed that up with another 5.7 million door knocks in Georgia ahead of the runoff. Just before the Summit, we knocked on more than 535,000 doors and made over 678,000 phone calls in Wisconsin as part of our largest ever program for a Spring election. The results were undeniable: we stopped the Red Wave and Judge Janet Protasiewicz won by more than 10 points.
We spent this year’s Summit celebrating these victories and planning to increase our impact in 2024. Over three days of presentations, breakout discussions, and impromptu conversations between partners, two key themes emerged:
- The Blue Surge is real, and it is here to stay.
- Defending reproductive freedom is a winning issue for Democrats.
America Votes has been a center of gravity for the progressive movement for 20 years. This year’s State Summit was an amazing opportunity to gather in person to celebrate what our coalition has achieved and steel ourselves to fight MAGA again, and win, in 2024.
Below are some highlights from the State Summit for anyone who wasn’t able to make it or who attended and wants to relive the amazing experience.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
This year’s State Summit marked 20 years of America Votes, and we had a lot to celebrate this anniversary. From holding the Senate, to winning power in states across the country, to giving Wisconsin a progressive Supreme Court, the AV coalition and our many partners worked hard and delivered big wins this past year. The Summit was an amazing opportunity to come together to celebrate, recharge, and plan for the future. Now we are back home and back to work, but the lessons we learned and the connections we made at the Summit will stay with us. These partnerships were key to beating MAGA this year, and they will be crucial to building progressive power going into 2024.