FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2018
CONTACT:
Priyal Amin;press@turnoutpac.org
Progressive Turnout Project Knocks 1 Million Doors
Grassroots-funded organization continues efforts through Election Day in 18 battleground districts and states
CHICAGO—Progressive Turnout Project achieved a major milestone by knocking more than 1 million doors through its 2018 field program. The grassroots-funded organization aims to increase voter turnout in 18 battleground districts and states through robust on-the-ground programs that include door-to-door canvassing, peer-to-peer text messaging, and phone calls. PTP also plans to run targeted digital ads and send get out the vote mail to inconsistent Democratic voters in an additional 21 competitive congressional districts.
Since June, PTP’s more than 200 field staff have been going door-to-door to have face-to-face conversations with voters about the importance of voting in the 2018 election. Previous PTP programs have increased voter turnout by as much as 14 percent.
“Democrats have a turnout problem when it comes to midterm elections,” said Executive Director Alex Morgan. “If we want to win, we need Democrats to show up and vote at presidential election year levels and that means investing in proven programs that make direct connections with inconsistent Democratic voters and get them to the polls.”
PTP released an expansive watch list in January and followed up with the announcement of its 18 field programs in May. The organization focuses on implementing the latest data-driven voter turnout tactics in some of the most competitive congressional districts and states to elect Democrats to Congress.
Since June, PTP’s Field Representatives have been going door-to-door to talk with inconsistent Democratic voters about the importance of the upcoming election and why they should commit to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot. To date, the organization’s Field Representatives have knocked on more than 1 million doors, engaged in more than 100,000 conversations with voters and secured more than 65,000 commitments to vote across the 18 programs.
“Our field programs produce results and you can look no further than Conor Lamb’s 627 vote win on March 13 for evidence of what we can achieve in a close race,” said Morgan. “We’re active in the most competitive House and Senate races across the country and we plan to get all of these candidates first across the finish line.”
In addition to running its own independent programs, Progressive Turnout Project has endorsed 54 congressional candidates. PTP hired a Fellows Program Coordinator in July to support in-kind efforts to many of those campaigns. The organization’s fellows program is expected to launch next week.
While the group does not rely on volunteers to knock on doors, it joined forces with a dozen other major progressive organizations in July to launch “The Last Weekend,” an effort to boost volunteer activity and get out the vote over the final four days of the campaign.
“We want to put as many resources behind one-on-one conversations with inconsistent Democratic voters as possible,” said Morgan. “In everything we do, we seek to make a strong connection with our voters, because we know that’s the key to victory on November 6.”
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Progressive Turnout Project is a grassroots-funded political action committee with a single mission: get Democrats to the polls. PTP designs, tests, and executes specialized voter-turnout programs targeting inconsistent Democratic voters in the most competitive districts across the country. Since its inception in 2015, the organization raised more than $20 million with a supporter base of over 3 million and invested in voter-turnout programs in 73 congressional races and 17 state legislative races, including 10 Virginia House of Delegate races 2017.
