By Terrie Martin
This piece is adapted from the Oregon District 2 Indivisible newsletter. A positive midterm result — for representatives that vary throughout the state — is an important call to action for all of our Oregon groups.
Martin Luther King said, “Voting is the foundation stone of political action.”
We cast our ballots last Tuesday.
Now the real work begins.
Congrats to All the Runners
That’s right – not just the “winners.” We want to thank everyone who ran for office in last week’s Oregon State Primary. It takes a lot to put yourself out there and add hours of campaigning into your life. We salute you and hope that if you didn’t win, you’ll build on your experience and run again in the future. We need you.
Here’s to the Winners
Congratulations to the local candidates who will need our support going into November’s election. (To find out how you can help, keep reading.)
What’s Next?
We have just five months to get these people elected. They can’t do it on their own. Here’s how you can help:
Campaign Work
- Find a race that you feel strongly about and adopt it.
- Contact the campaign and figure out how you fit in.
- Let them know if you have professional or special skills or experience – like graphics, photography, social media, fundraising, volunteer management, house party hosting, phone-banking or door-knocking.
- Note: One-on-one engagement is the most important and effective tool in a campaign’s tool box. But if you aren’t comfortable calling or knocking on doors, there are a thousand other ways to help. You might find the candidate needs help running errands or finding childcare or writing thank-you notes.
- So, be sure to ask them what they need.
- And remember to donate what you can. Campaigns are expensive.
Indivisible Work
- We can’t “coordinate” with campaigns. (That means sharing lists of voters or planning campaign work in any way that is not completely public.)
- But we can support campaigns in other ways.
- Our strength is “relational organizing” – using our grassroots movement of people who are already connected and already motivated to work together to make change – and affect voter behavior.
- We can organize postcard- and letter-writing campaigns and support candidates or highlight their messaging at our meetings, rallies and even in the banners we hold over the freeway. We can also organize social media pods that work together to like, comment and share candidate messages to elevate the algorithm so more people will see them.
- We are also good at talking to our friends, family and neighbors about issues and candidates – even if we have different political beliefs.
- To win in rural communities, progressive candidates often have to tone down their criticisms or play to the middle to reach voters. We can take the role of criticizing opposing candidates and holding them accountable.
Does your Indivisible group need help figuring out what to do next? COIN is here to help share best practices and offer input. Please Contact Us. We will connect you with teams. We want to win in November and we need you to do it!
Terrie Martin is a retired journalist, Pulitzer Prize nominee, and member of the Oregon District 2 Indivisible and COIN leadership teams.