By Robbin Warner, Ph.D. co-founder of Postcards4VA and the Virginia Women’s Summit
Yesterday Virginia won its redistricting referendum. Not because of paid strategists or celebrity surrogates, but because grassroots activists didn’t just support this fight. They were the fight.
“These are the real heroes of this campaign and frankly, every campaign,” said Finale Norton, former candidate and co-host of the Friday Power Lunch. “But they’re always the ones left out of the news stories.”
The road to victory began the moment the Virginia General Assembly passed the redistricting amendment paving the way for a special election. Organizers immediately reached out to their national grassroots network, first connecting with California activists who played a central role in the landmark Prop 50 victory. The lesson from California was clear: unified, coordinated organizing and messaging that was responsive to the changes as the campaign went along was the secret to winning.
“We were able to begin where the California organizers left off,” said Katherine White, co-host of the Friday Power Lunch podcast and co-founder of Network NOVA. “The California organizers were generous with their time, their resources, and what they’d learned. They even offered volunteer support, because they understood that our vote was a vote for the whole nation.”
Virginia organizers also consulted with the Indiana activists whose grassroots pressure was instrumental in blocking a redistricting push in their own General Assembly, building a national knowledge base that proved critical.
The resulting campaign was anything but conventional. With Virginia’s elected officials occupied during a short General Assembly session focused on passing legislation, there was no high-profile political spokesperson. Instead, the collaborative campaign built power by combining a web of efforts:
- Virginians for Fair Elections, the campaign’s C4 organization, ran a relentless television advertising operation
- Senator Louise Lucas, President Pro Tempore kept Republican operatives off-balance with targeted, timely outreach
- Delegates and Senators launched town halls and canvassing operations as soon as the legislative session ended
- Grassroots volunteers across the country wrote postcards and made phone calls, freeing Virginia ground teams to reach voters
Virginia grassroots activists took the reins and did the heavy lifting. They made the campaign visible, high energy, and a ‘do or die’ vote. They were on bridges, street corners, and near metros with signs you couldn’t miss. They gave voter outreach a festive environment with costumes and joy. Through Postcards4VA, they wrote over one million postcards which were among the first pieces of voter contact to go out statewide, encouraging early voting and framing the campaign plainly: a fight to level the playing field and stop the rigging of midterm elections.
Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all message, communications were targeted and pivoted to meet the moment. Rural GroundGame reached out to rural voters. The National Women’s Political Caucus of Virginia reached out to women.
Center for Common Ground made sure the black community was contacted through postcards and phone calls, which was more essential than ever as the Republican disinformation campaign ramped up. According to Andrea Miller, Executive Director of Center for Common Ground, “There are nearly 1 million Black voters in Virginia and Republicans waged a relentless campaign targeting them using mailers first, then television ads saying the majority minority Black districts would disappear and finally on the phones. Black voters were confused because their trusted messengers appeared to be saying Vote No. Our outreach to 500,000 Black voters by postcard, phone, canvassing and texting campaign helped voters understand what they were seeing and hearing were lies. Black communities would be empowered and their voices made stronger than ever. Our messaging provided detailed early voting information as well as what Black voters were working to protect.”
Grassroots activists published a steady stream of articles on platforms from Substack to Facebook about the Vote Yes campaign and kept the topic front and center on podcasts. Instead of complaining about what they didn’t have, they made it. They made yard signs focusing the messaging on Fighting Back. They shared artwork and ideas with local Democratic committees who were then able to make their own large signs and billboards. When word spread of the lack of social media videos, especially in different languages, Bridge2Blue took on this challenge and made social media campaign videos in 6 languages in addition to English.
Rural GroundGame was unstoppable in reaching communities that traditional campaigns routinely overlooked. They also spearheaded a 2-week phone banking blitz of voters throughout the entire state with partners Virginians for Fair Elections and Network NOVA that made over 1.2 million calls through a coordinated effort with volunteers from around the country.
Grassroots leaders say the model offers a clear lesson heading into the midterms: organic, homegrown collaboration — led by people who already know their communities — outperforms the parachute-in consulting model every time.
“The activists on the ground were the coordinating body,” said Lynlee Thorne, Political Director of Rural GroundGame. “The collaboration worked because it was real. It came from people who had a shared objective, knew each other, and had just come off a major November victory together. That’s what wins elections.”
“The collective focus on this campaign forged new and dynamic relationships among grassroots organizers, Democratic Committees, and other organizations doing the day-in, day-out heavy lifting in their communities. It is truly an effective organizing model for the midterms” observed Michelle Moore, Bridge2Blue lead.
