For Immediate Release: Monday, December 9, 2019
Contact: Shannon Faulise | press@turnoutpac.org | 312.380.1737
Progressive Turnout Project Launches $45 Million Investment in Massive, Data-Driven Voter Outreach Program for 2020
Progressive PAC Will Run Largest Grassroots-Funded Field Program, Training 1,100 Field Staff Across 16 Battleground States, Knocking on Seven Million Doors
CHICAGO — Today, Progressive Turnout Project (PTP), a grassroots-funded organization dedicated to getting Democratic voters to the polls, announced it will be investing $45 million in on-the-ground efforts in 16 battleground states for the 2020 election — the largest national grassroots-funded field program this cycle. The group estimates it will knock on 7.1 million doors prior to Election Day 2020.
The program will launch with 66 field offices and 1,100 staff nationwide, including in the critical battleground states of Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. PTP will also be targeting top-tier Senate races in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, and North Carolina. The group will focus its efforts on turning out inconsistent Democratic-leaning voters, including 4.8 million voters who stayed home in 2016.
“Democrats’ path to victory runs through getting infrequent Democratic voters to the polls and expanding our base,” said Alex Morgan, PTP’s Executive Director. “We can’t rely on the high energy we saw in 2018 to carry over to 2020 unless we start engaging with voters now. Trump is already spending huge sums of money to spread vicious lies and whip up his base. If we wait until September to counter Trump with field efforts, we’re toast.”
Field training will begin in February, offices will start opening in early spring, and canvassing will begin in May. PTP’s program is built around multiple in-depth conversations with voters between May and Election Day, following up with those infrequent Democratic voters until they commit to vote.
“We don’t waste money on TV ads, direct mail, or anything else that’s just white noise to most voters,” said Morgan. “We focus our efforts on what works best — multiple in-depth conversations with voters who are disillusioned with politics as usual. Democrats haven’t been doing a good job of speaking to them on an intrinsic level beyond broad party platitudes, and Progressive Turnout Project is aiming to change that.”
Progressive Turnout Project will be targeting over 2.6 million voters who live in former Democratic strongholds in the industrial Midwest, and over 4 million voters in the South, where changing demographics have turned Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina into potential swing states.
PTP uses predictive analytics to identify high concentrations of infrequent Democratic voters — weighing vote history, demographic information, and consumer data to identify a voter’s likelihood to turnout and vote for Democrats. 51.4% of PTP’s targeted voters nationwide identify as people of color, 47.1% are under the age of 35, and 54.4% are women (see below for more data).
“Democrats win when we show up,” said Morgan. “Demographics have been shifting in Democrats’ favor for a while, but 2016 showed that we can’t count on a rising electorate to take us over the finish line unless we put in the work. We’ll be focusing on young voters and people of color to close the gap in key swing states.”
In 2018, PTP worked in 108 competitive races across the country, with field representatives on the ground in 18 battleground congressional districts. PTP’s work boosted turnout among infrequent Democratic voters by 10.4% and won 15 competitive seats.
Progressive Turnout Project’s Initial 2020 Targets:
| State | Targeted Race | Field Office Locations |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Senate | Birmingham |
| Arizona | President, Senate, AZ-1, AZ-6 | Phoenix, Tucson |
| Colorado | President, Senate, CO-6 | Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs |
| Florida | President, FL-15, FL-16, FL-18, FL-26 | Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Port St Lucie, Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota |
| Georgia | President, Senate (x2), GA-6, GA-7 | Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah |
| Iowa | President, Senate, IA-1, IA-2, IA-3, IA-4 | Des Moines, Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City |
| Kansas | Senate, KS-3 | Kansas City |
| Kentucky | Senate, KY-6 | Lexington |
| Maine | President, Senate, ME-2 | Portland, Augusta |
| Michigan | President, Senate, MI-3, MI-6, MI-8, MI-11 | Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Flint, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids |
| Nebraska | President, NE-2 | Omaha |
| New Hampshire | President, Senate, NH-1 | Manchester |
| North Carolina | President, Senate, Governor | Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh, Durham |
| Pennsylvania | President, PA-1, PA-7, PA-8, PA-10, PA-16, PA-17 | Philadelphia, Allentown, Harrisburg, Scranton, Pittsburgh |
| South Carolina | Senate, SC-1 | Charleston |
| Wisconsin | President | Milwaukee, Racine, Madison, La Crosse, Appleton |
More On Progressive Turnout Project’s Field Program & Background:
- Progressive Turnout Project’s turnout efforts will target 3.9M young voters and 4.3M people of color (including 1M Latinos and 3M African-Americans) this cycle.
- Progressive Turnout Project bases its successful model on experiments which have shown that canvassing is a great cost-effective way to boost turnout — producing one additional vote for every 14 people reached at the cost of only $7 to $19 a vote. If Democrats had reached out to every eligible non-voter in 2016, there could have been 6.2 million more votes cast.
- In January, Progressive Turnout Project will be announcing our largest slate of endorsement candidates ever, including challengers in critical Senate races, vulnerable House frontliners, and House candidates in red-to-blue districts.
- Since its inception in 2015, Progressive Turnout Project has raised $43.9 million with a supporter base of over 3.4 million and invested in voter-turnout programs in 130 House and Senate races. Our average donation is $14.69.
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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 elections across the country.
