Political Strategy

Backed by many of the largest corporations in the country and networked into conservative think tanks and allied political operations, rightwing organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) help draft and promote legislation that has crippled social service budgets, deregulated industries, slashed medical care for the poor and undermined consumer and worker protections in state after state—a threat we documented in our 2006 Governing the Nation from the Statehouses:  The Rightwing Agenda in the States and How Progressives Can Fight Back report.  

However, as we outline in  Building a Progressive Majority in the States: Progressive States Policy Options, on issue after issue of concern to working families, there are solid majorities for enacting progressive policies.  What we need is a coordinated strategy across states to highlight those issues that can broaden the coalition of progressive voters and reframe the debate across the nation about why it matters to working families that progressives hold office in our statehouses.  Our report emphasizes the political opportunity for progressives and the  HYPERLINK "a" Strategic Agenda that we are supporting to take advantage of that political opening. 

We regularly highlight the political context of state developments and how progressives should take advantage of these developments in a range of  Dispatch Strategy Items, just as our  Eye on the Right feature helps progressives track the methods and wedge issues used by the rightwing.   We highlight resources from around the web that put a  Spotlight on Rightwing Organizing, while highlighting Progressive Infrastucture links about efforts to build a stronger progressive movement.  We also highlight  Other Strategy Resources produced by allies that can assist in messaging and organizing work in the states.