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

America Votes President Greg Speed kicked off this year’s Summit by welcoming the partners who came together from nearly every state to celebrate our impact in 2022 and plan to keep building progressive power!

Progressive leaders including Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, shared about how we’re growing the ranks of blue states and what we can do to keep building a new generation of progressive organizers.

The Supreme Court Decision overturning Roe has had a profound impact on every election since the opinion leaked. Emily’s List President Laphonza Butler, Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson, and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein joined in conversation that resulted in the consensus that abortion is a winning issue for Democrats.

To wrap up the first day of the 2023 State Summit, we brought together our founding President Cecile Richards, America Votes Georgia State Director Leslie Small, and leaders from AFSCME and Senate Majority PAC to reflect on the impact we’ve had and prepare to build on our work moving forward.

We were thrilled to honor Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer with the Cecile Richards Progressive Leader Award! Governor Whitmer embodies the spirit of this award, working tirelessly to protect abortion rights, voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and workers’ rights along with Michigan’s new progressive legislative majorities. Governor Whitmer’s steadfast progressive leadership in Michigan serves as a model for the rest of the country.

Tuesday evening, we also hosted the Partner Diversity Coalition Reception. This was a BIPOC focused celebration of community that featured local DJs and drag performances!

Day 2

National Education Association (NEA) Executive Director Kim A. Anderson’s speech at the Summit got the entire crowd on our feet. She had us fired up to keep fighting for the best possible education and future for America’s students!

We dug into the data with Tom Bonier, Terrence Woodbury, and GSG’s Angela Kuefler to understand why we didn’t see a “Red Wave” in November and what we can do to build on what worked.

The Human Rights Campaign is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ equality. HRC President Kelley Robinson shared inspiring words and had an insightful conversation with the ACLU’s Deidre Schifeling about this critical moment as we continue to work toward equality for all.

Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party, spoke to the challenges and the need to build strong progressive organizations for a more impactful movement.

AV partners contacted millions of voters last year, with a focus on voters of color. Leaders from the Black Male Voter Project, Somos Votantes, and Asian American Power Network shared about how we can reach more voters and ensure the conversations we have are meaningful.

Crime and safety are key issues for many voters, but it can be hard for progressive campaigns to talk about them. Panelists, including Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, discussed how we can address these issues without fear-mongering, drawing on lessons from the recent Chicago Mayoral election.

To close out the second day, we hosted a reception. The space was filled with excited State Summit attendees and even featured a surprise visit from Doug Emhoff! You never know who you’ll run into at the State Summit.

Day 3

The final day of the 2023 Summit covered winning strategies with leaders from House Majority PAC, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, NAACP, and Giffords.

Each day, we split up into breakout sessions. These included sessions on countering MAGA extremism, election administration, how turning out the youth vote, organizing in specific states, and strategies that worked in 2022 can be implemented or strengthened going forward. America Votes operates in more than 20 states and played a major role in progressives outperforming expectations in nearly every battleground state.

We closed by reflecting on the past two decades of America Votes by hearing from a panel of AV alums. Once you’re part of America Votes, we consider you part of the AV team even after you leave!

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.