From early in his presidency, Trump signaled to the American people and the world that he did not intend to leave office without a fight – even if he lost. From the first days of the Trump Administration, the progressive ecosystem and the vast majority of individuals who care about the future of our country have considered what that reality might look like and how we might respond. SVF prioritized funding this work as part of its 2020 imperative to remove Trump and we now, unfortunately, know that this work will be absolutely critical to securing and validating a transition of power in January of 2021. 

Democracy Defense Coalition 

Democracy Defense Coalition 

Democracy Defense Coalition 

Democracy Defense Coalition 

Democracy Defense Coalition 

Democracy Defense Coalition 

Democracy Defense Coalition

The Democracy Defense Coalition is an ongoing effort led by the Fight Back Table, in close collaboration with the Social and Economic Justice Leaders Project, the Strategic Victory Fund, and The Hub Project. A variety of contributors comprised the Democracy Defense Coalition Nerve Center including anchor organizations in every key state; Protect the Results, an infrastructure for national distributed mobilizations; Frontline, a massive organizing effort to engage energized Black Lives Matters protestors and enlist them in the fight for a fair election; and the disinformation defense project which tracks mis/disinformation and provides message guidance, as well as several other groups working to protect voting access in states and striving for fair and free elections.

State Mobilization

In nearly every foreseeable election outcome there was a need for a coordinated, state-based, cross-movement response to push for a legitimate result. To prepare this response, the Democracy Defense Coalition (DDC) put together teams in states to coordinate proactive and rapid response actions to defend voters’ rights, uphold the legitimacy of elections, and ensure that the people’s voice was heard in 2020. Each team was composed of (at least) a state lead, a full-time organizer, and communications capacity.

  • State Leads built and managed a coalition of organizations ready to respond and conduct outreach to election officials and prominent people in the state. 
  • Organizers were responsible for supporting and driving planning for mass mobilization efforts across coalition groups.
  • Communications capacity built relationships with press in-state, working to place stories to drive DDC’s narrative, and recruited and prepared surrogates to serve as spokespeople during mobilizations. This was frequently led by the state communications hubs.

This kind of in-depth planning took place in: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

DDC’s national operatives supported in-state actions by:

  • Informing and coordinating the preparation for mobilization and communications in 12 key battleground states through calls, plan sharing, and regular updates.
  • Working to shape the narrative through clear and coordinated communications and messaging and dedicated rapid response capacity.
  • Providing a container for cross-movement strategy, coordination, and communication through the DDC nerve center.

DDC Nerve Center

The Democracy Defense Coalition Nerve Center’s purpose was to gather information from state and national leaders from the legal, labor, and grassroots organizing sectors of the movement and to ensure sharing of research and polling, strategy, and alignment on messaging and action. 

 

Campaign Narrative & Communications Strategy

 

After assessing communications capacity in each state, the Democracy Defense Coalition Nerve Center ramped up its operation to provide support for:

  • Message training and alignment, building on research-based messaging making the case for getting every vote counted.
  • Ongoing strategic communications counsel, in collaboration with in-state organizers, state anchors, and Democratic operatives.
  • Deployment of comprehensive earned media tactics, including proactive media outreach, op-eds, press and ed-board briefings, and rapid-response pitching.
  • Production and promotion of state-specific digital content targeting key audiences.

This state operation was complemented by national and crisis communications support spanning earned and digital media, pulling from state developments to advance the DDC Nerve Center’s messages with mainstream media and partners while funneling back critical counsel to the states.

Count Every Vote

In addition to the DDC, the Strategic Victory Fund supported the “Count Every Vote” campaign to defend the legitimacy of our elections, encourage patience in the electorate, and ensure that the winner would not be declared in the presidential contest until every vote was counted. Count Every Vote (CEV) promoted the ability of every state and locality to hold safe and secure elections, pushed back on baseless claims about mail ballots, and created broad public support for taking the time to count every vote cast in accordance with state law in order to advance the cause of democracy, inspire confidence in our institutions and remind Americans of the nearly 250 year tradition of the peaceful transition or retention of power that is so unique to American democracy.

Coordinating closely with the VoteSafe coalition, the campaign promoted the message that every American had the ability to cast their ballot safely and securely using the method of their choice, and that every person’s ballot must be counted. Central to the CEV campaign was the need for the American people to be patient so that election officials can get this right, building trust in our system of elections, in our ability to adjust to the realities of voting during a pandemic, and in our shared duty to trust the outcome.

In the days immediately following November 3, CEV garnered all of the grassroots and grasstops power they built to reaffirm the need for patience during vote counting and that the election wasn’t over until every vote was counted, as is our shared patriotic duty.

State Communications Hubs Voter Education Strategy

The state communications hubs SVF built in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were a critical part of the work to protect democracy. They led an extensive communications program to educate voters about their right to vote, how to exercise that right and why doing so early is important. These key battleground states experienced changes to their voting laws in 2020 that needed to be explained to voters, had faced an incredible amount of voter suppression techniques in the past, or both. The importance of communicating effectively and clearly to low propensity and minority voters in these communities was heightened thanks to the pandemic and the state communications hubs were uniquely positioned to meet these challenges head-on.

Through their cutting-edge digital programs and interconnected work with partner groups, the hubs amplified messaging around defending democracy and counting every vote to reach critical constituencies with incredible effectiveness. Communications were grounded in the local movements and enabled state teams to use language and imagery that moved people to action, utilizing a number of tactics to reach potential voters in a multi-modal fashion, including: digital, radio, mail, SMS, and phones.