March 16, 2022

In This Issue

Crimson Goes Blueprint's 2022 Midterms Campaign

CGB Tackles Election Sabotage

On a Positive Note

CGB Is Hiring Interns Now

Vote Forward Letter-Writing Campaigns Are Here

Crimson Goes Blue Launches $1 Million Campaign for 2022 Midterm Elections

by John Ries, Blueprint Action Team Lead

During the March 9 Zoom session on strategic political giving attended by over sixty CGB members, friends and family, Crimson Goes Blue Political Director Janet Singer announced a goal to raise $1 million in 2022 through the Crimson Goes Blueprint Portfolio, a unique platform that channels political donations to underfunded candidates and grassroots organizations in swing states.

About Crimson Goes Blueprint Portfolio

Created in collaboration with Swing Left, the Crimson Goes Blueprint Portfolio enables donors to maximize their impact on elections while minimizing the frustrations we often encounter when giving to political campaigns and causes.

Activating Networks to Reach the 2022 Goal

To achieve this $1 million goal, Crimson Goes Blue has formed a Blueprint Action Team. We estimate that three out of four CGB members have given to political campaigns, but to date only a third have given through the Crimson Goes Blueprint Portfolio.

Beyond our members, we all have friends and family members who are concerned for the future of our democracy.

The Blueprint Action Team offers tools you can use to spread the word to your networks. In the weeks and months ahead, we will report progress and profile some of the candidates and groups that the Portfolio supports.

To learn more and DONATE NOW, see the Crimson Goes Blueprint Portfolio. If you're interested in joining the team, email lisa.ulrich@crimsongoesblue.org.

What is Crimson Goes Blue’s focus?

Until now, CGB has focused mostly on federal elections and voter protection to ensure that registered voters can vote. We’re expanding our focus to include the goal of preserving election integrity.

This is our analysis of priorities – those states where election integrity is under threat, and which are likely to be battlegrounds in 2024. The map above highlights those states and indicates the offices most critical in the 2022 elections for preserving election integrity in 2024.

The activist community needs to support pro-democracy candidates in these high-priority state-level races. Within our target states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, CGB is developing state-specific strategies to help preserve election integrity. Stay tuned for opportunities to get involved in these critical races.

Read the full analysis here.

On A Positive Note

by Felicia Madrigal

• The US House of Representatives passed a federal spending bill that includes aid for war-torn Ukraine and money to keep the government funded through September. The bill includes key achievements: the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, clear federal regulatory jurisdiction over vaping and synthetic tobacco, funds for school grants, Head Start program, Pell grants and programs to counter the opioid epidemic.
• Employers added a strong 678,000 jobs in February, the largest monthly total since July 2021. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%, from 4% in January, with joblessness at its lowest level since before the pandemic erupted two years ago.
• In February, USDOT and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced nearly $5 billion that will be made available over the next 5 years to strategically deploy EV charging infrastructure to create a connected national electric vehicle charging network. The DoE also plans to provide $3 billion to boost domestic production of the advanced batteries needed in rapidly growing clean energy industries of the future.
• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched the Affordable Connectivity Program providing broadband subsidies of up to $30/month for low-income households (up to $75/month for households on Tribal Lands) and up to $100 towards the purchase of a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer. Vice President Harris announced earlier this month the program has enrolled more than 10 million households in affordable, high speed internet plans.
  

Vote Forward’s 2022 Letter-writing Campaigns Are Here!

by Scott Forman, '04

As a member of Crimson Goes Blue and founder of Vote Forward, I want to announce that our first "Please vote!" letter-writing campaigns of 2022 are now live. Why now? Starting early gives us time to write more letters and reach more voters. You can see all the campaigns at https://votefwd.org/campaigns. We will add more campaigns and voters as congressional maps are finalized and we expand our targeting criteria.

Here’s what to expect in 2022:

• We will write “please vote” letters to voters all year, keeping them somewhere safe, and then mailing them on the same day in late October—just before the midterm elections, when research shows your letters have the greatest impact.
• New: For volunteers focusing their efforts on U.S. House races, we have campaigns targeting Democratic-leaning voters at the congressional district level, with new campaigns added as redistricting maps are finalized and after primaries are held.
• New: We will add high-priority voters to campaigns throughout the year, so you will see voter counts on the website go up and down as voters are added and “adopted” over time.
• New: We’ve updated our website with clearer labeling and a new way to filter campaigns by target state.
• Plus: New programs and experiments; we’ll email you when these are ready.

Thank you in advance for all your GOTV efforts this year.

Crimson Goes Blue

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