One Year and One Month In
On October 20, 2016, I created a Facebook Group called “National Pantsuit Day — November 8.” I invited a handful of friends to join, and then quickly closed the Facebook tab on my computer and went back to work. Within 24 hours, the group had over 24,000 members. In less than two weeks, it had one million. We (the team of volunteers that had quickly rallied to help me out within days of the group’s creation) realized this was something more than a single day of action — it was a movement. We renamed ourselves Pantsuit Nation and scrambled to prepare for the fast-approaching presidential election while managing the wholly unexpected growth of the group. We put together a phone banking team for Secretary Clinton that was ranked in the top ten call teams nationwide in the weekend before November 8. We organized a small-dollar fundraising drive for her campaign that raised over $200,000 in a matter of days. On Election Day alone, our community grew from two to three million people and we fielded over 140,000 post submissions — mostly voting selfies (often from pantsuit-clad voters!), GOTV reminders and resources, and testimonies from women and men all over the country about why this election mattered, deeply, to them.
It’s been just over a year since that exhilarating, hopeful, and (ultimately) devastating series of events that seemed to culminate late on the evening of November 8 as the results of the election became clear. But it turns out that was just the beginning of this community in many ways.
In the last 13 months, Pantsuit Nation members have donated, via our group, hundreds of thousands of dollars for progressive candidates and organizations. We have marched, rallied, and enlisted by the millions. We have seen hundreds of women and men from within our group step up to say they will run for office. Tens of thousands of our members have reported making phone calls to their elected representatives. Leaders around the country have created their own Pantsuit Nation Chapters — from Idaho to Los Angeles to Kentucky to Boston — to work on local grassroots organizing. And our members have shared stories and listened to those of others with compassion, a sense of urgency to take action, and a willingness to stretch the bounds of their own experience to learn from the experience of others. What a gift and what a powerful way to invest in a better future.
Pantsuit Nation has partnered with organizations like United We Dream, Run for Something, Indivisible Guide, MobilizeAmerica, We Are March On, PL+US, MoveOn.org, and others to promote calls to action, information about ways to become involved, and awareness of the work these groups are doing to create change at every level of our government.
We published a book of stories and photographs contributed by over 250 Pantsuit Nation members and started a podcast, which has featured interviews with activists, politicians, artists, and visionaries. Our team has grown from one (non-politically-savvy and somewhat frazzled mom in rural Maine) to a dynamic and badass team of over forty people, almost entirely women, from all over the country who devote their intelligence, empathy, and intense hope to the work of maintaining this group and pushing our organization forward.
In the next year and beyond, we will continue to develop strategic partnerships with progressive organizations, work to amplify candidates and campaigns ahead of 2018 elections, bring you timely and impactful rapid response calls to action, invest in local chapters in key congressional districts and “blue dots” in red states where progressive women need a voice, and of course maintain our lively, complex, deeply important community where we invite our members to listen, to share their stories, and to think about the ways we can create change in our own communites, large or small.
The Pantsuit Nation Facebook Group grew from a handful of friends to a multi-million-member international community of passionate activists and change-makers. Your voices matter. Don’t underestimate the power and potential of a “secret” Facebook Group to have an impact.
If you would like to show your appreciation for the work we have done in the last year, or support our efforts for the coming year, please consider making a contribution to our 501(c)(4) nonprofit.
For more information about our organization, or to make a donation, please visit our website. Pantsuit Nation is proud to be a project of Civic Engagement Fund.
