Press Release: Progressive Turnout Project Raises $1.4 Million to Support Democratic Voter Turnout Programs

For Immediate Release

Press Contact: Claire Rogerson

847-220-2984

July 13, 2016

Progressive Turnout Project Raises $1.4 Million to Support Democratic Voter Turnout Programs

New Democratic PAC raises $1.4 million from grassroots donors for voter turnout programs in competitive congressional races

[CHICAGO, IL] – Today Progressive Turnout Project (PTP) reported $650,000 in Q2 fundraising, bringing their cycle total to $1.4 million.  Launched just a year ago, the group has already built a grassroots donor base of more than 36,000 donors with an average contribution of just $14.

PTP was founded to address what has become the Democrats’ Achilles heel: low voter turnout. In 2014, turnout was just 36.7% nationally, and even lower among key Democratic constituencies: young people, minorities and low income people, and Democrats suffered as a result. TV, the traditional fallback for campaign spending, has proven to be relatively ineffective at boosting turnout, leaving Democrats searching for new ways to get their voters to the polls.

“PTP is focused on developing a set of tactics that can reliably turn out those sporadic Democratic voters, and has partnered with a wide array of academics and research-oriented groups to put together programs that combine tried and true tactics with cutting-edge ideas,” said Executive Director Harry Pascal.  “In the past two cycles, there have been 61 Congressional races won or lost by 5% or less- that’s just a few thousand votes. In 2014, more than 44 million eligible voters of color did not vote and 66 million eligible voters earning less than $50,000 did not vote.  If we can find ways to get even a small fraction of those voters to the polls, we can have a major impact on races around the country and help ensure that everyone has their voice heard.”

PTP will be targeting sporadic or inconsistent voters in the most competitive congressional districts in the country as part of the larger Democratic effort to take back the House. They have announced investments in CA-52, IA-1, IL-10, ME-2, MN-8, NY-3 and NY-24, and plan to expand to more than a dozen districts by November and have well over 200 staff on the ground.


   Progressive Turnout Project is a grassroots Political Action Committee (PAC) with a single mission: get Democrats to the polls.  They design, test, and execute specialized voter turnout programs targeting sporadic Democratic voters in the most competitive congressional districts in the country. In the 2016 election cycle, they will send their trained teams to districts across the country to run tailor-made turnout programs complementing the work campaigns do and boosting Democratic turnout.  The group has already announced investments in six Congressional districts for the 2016 cycle: CA-52, IA-1, IL-10, ME-2, MN-8, NY-3 and NY-24.