Thank you for your work in Virginia in 2021.
We couldn’t be prouder of the work this community did in Virginia. Our work matters the most on the margins. The majority of the races we focused on in the commonwealth were decided by just a few hundred votes, or a couple percentage points.
We were honored to work alongside so many candidates and partners, and are proud to see Delegates Wendy Gooditis, Elizabeth Guzman, and Rodney Willett returning to the House of Delegates.
Thousands of Swing Left volunteers and donors mobilized to support Terry McAuliffe and 11 House of Delegates candidates in the closest races—taking action at a four-times higher rate than in 2019’s Virginia elections. Your phone calls, door knocks, and letters helped keep these races as close as they were. You helped turn out a historic number of voters and build valuable Democratic infrastructure for future elections in Virginia. The Swing Left community left it all on the field, and we saw what kind of fight the GOP is going to put up in battleground states in 2022.
Letters Written
1.1 million
Phone Calls Made
165,000
Funds Raised
$750,000
Doors Knocked
52,000
Here's what we know now, and what happens next:
We knew this would be a tough fight. Historically, the party in power has a difficult time sustaining power in odd-year and midterm elections. Since 1977, Virginia has only once elected a governor who was of the same party as the president, regardless of who they voted for in the previous contest. Both state and national headwinds were challenging, but we were fighting to defend, and expand, the policy progress we’ve seen in Virginia under Democratic leadership, from Medicaid expansion to the passage of the first voting rights bill in the South. This was a worthwhile fight.
We know the GOP playbook. The one useful thing about the national Republican Party is that their strategy is strikingly transparent: Confusion. Chaos. Fear. Donald Trump may not be on the ballot, but this is still his political party and they will continue to run on this anti-democratic, right-wing agenda fueled by overt racism and culture wars.
We know what to do next. We have time to learn the lessons from 2021 and chart a strategic course to November 2022. President Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law in November, and Democrats still have time to continue delivering on the promises made in the 2020 elections. We have the time to communicate and educate the public on what tangible impacts these policies will have on their lives. We’ve already identified many of the closest races up and down the ballot we’ll be working on next year, and we’re monitoring even more as states draw new maps this year. Our work this year was always a key first key step in our 10-year plan to build a stronger democracy, and that work continues.
Even when we don’t get the outcome we hope for, to paraphrase Senator Elizabeth Warren, the righteous fights are always worth it, and we must always fight them. The Swing Left community should feel nothing but pride for what we contributed in this very righteous fight.
Stay in this fight:
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Our team is designing and building tools and programs to raise millions of dollars and turn out voters in key battleground states. This is year-round work, and we need your help to keep up the momentum.
