Press Releases

Stand Up America’s Year In Review

In 2020, progressive advocacy organization Stand Up America mobilized its two million grassroots members to take action in every congressional district in the country to oppose Donald Trump’s corruption, protect our democracy, and get out the vote.

Since launching in 2016, we have reached incredible milestones: registering 100,000 voters; driving over 1.4 million constituent calls to federal and state lawmakers; recruiting 8,000 remote volunteers; leading a volunteer organizing program that has sent 45.6 million text messages to voters; and mobilizing tens of thousands of protestors.

In 2020, Stand Up America’s community members helped to:

  • Contact 25 million Americans to GOTV, defeat Donald Trump, and flip the Senate;
  • Impeach Donald Trump;
  • Mobilize tens of thousands of protestors;
  • Secure $400 million in federal election assistance funding;
  • Pass National Popular Vote in Colorado; and
  • Pass Automatic Voter Registration in New York State.

Here’s how we did it:

Turned Out Progressives In 14 States, Registering 100K Voters:

In 2020, Stand Up America launched a $1.5 million, multi-state GOTV campaign to protect our democracy by sending Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House. The digital-first campaign targeted voters in 14 presidential and Senate battleground states: AK, AZ, CO, FL, GA, IA, KS, MI, MN, NC, OH, PA, TX, and WI. 

Ultimately, we registered 100,000 voters and helped 100,000 more vote by mail or find their polling place by:

  • Reaching over 25 million Americans through an innovative peer-to-peer SMS texting program powered by over 8,000 remote volunteers.

  • Spending over $500,000 running dozens of digital ads on Facebook and Google to register voters, help them request their absentee ballots, and find their polling place (example below).

  • Helping thousands of community members write and send more than 200,000 hand-written letters to unlikely voters.

  • Hosting dozens of remote phone banks with activists across the country using ThruTalk to encourage people to register to vote.

Impeached Donald Trump:

After launching a campaign pressuring lawmakers to impeach Donald Trump in 2019, Stand Up America launched a second national campaign last year demanding that Congress remove him from office.

In January and February, Stand Up America:

  • Took a leading role in the more than 300 “Reject The Cover-Up” rallies across the country in protest of Trump’s sham Senate impeachment trial, helping tens of thousands of protestors take action.

  • Drove over 140,000 constituent calls to senators from every state in 2020, including thousands of calls to the offices of key senators like Alexander (R-TN), Collins (R-ME), Gardner (R-CO), Jones (D-AL), Manchin (D-WV), McSally (R-AZ), Murkowski (R-AK), Portman (R-OH), Romney (R-UT), and Sinema (D-AZ).

  • Ran thousands of digital ads driving calls to Congress and promoting Trump’s removal that targeted national and state-specific audiences.

  • Partnered with Defend the Republic to launch Impeachment HQ, a rapid response war room focused on providing resources to reporters and activists.

  • Worked with the Center for American Progress Action Fund to launch TrumpAndImpeachment.com, a website to educate the public about Trump’s impeachment.

Won $400 Million In Election Assistance Funding From Congress:

In 2020, as the pandemic worsened, Stand Up America launched a six-figure campaign pushing Congress to provide states with $4 billion in election assistance funding to implement vote-by-mail and other key reforms like online voter registration and expanded early voting.

Through our campaign we drove more than 238,000 constituent calls to the offices of every member of Congress, adding pressure on Democrats and Republicans to provide federal assistance. We also joined hundreds of partners in pushing for more federal funding, leading 50 voting rights organizations in sending a letter to congressional leadership urging them to include $4 billion in election assistance funding for states in this relief package.

Despite Republican stonewalling, Congress approved $400 million in election assistance.

Passed National Popular Vote In Colorado:

Last year, Stand Up America began organizing in Colorado in support of Proposition 113 and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a nationwide effort to ensure that the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in the nation as a whole becomes president.

Using an innovative peer-to-peer SMS texting program powered by over 8,000 remote volunteers, Stand Up America encouraged over a quarter of a million Coloradans to vote yes on the measure. Stand Up America also worked to educate its community of tens of thousands of Coloradans about Proposition 113, urging them to vote yes and send letters to the editors of local papers in support of the measure. 

Colorado voters passed the ballot measure by a 52-to-48 margin.

Passed Automatic Voter Registration In New York:

For the last two years, Stand Up America was one of the loudest voices in New York pushing the state to enact automatic voter registration. Since March 2019, members made more than 8,000 constituent calls to New York lawmakers pushing for the legislature to pass automatic registration. Stand Up America also ran a digital ad and social media campaign successfully urging the Governor to sign the bill.

These efforts were coordinated in partnership with Let NY Vote, a racially and geographically diverse coalition of activists and organizations without whose work this historic victory would not have been possible. The coordinated campaign included a digital ad campaign, constituent emails and calls, a social media campaign, lobbying efforts in Albany, and other grassroots actions.

By pressuring New York lawmakers to pass the bill and Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign it into law, Stand Up America helped ensure that one million additional New Yorkers will be empowered to participate in our democracy in years to come.

Last year, Stand Up America also…

  • Worked with organizations like the Center for Secure and Modern Elections and local Common Cause chapters to mobilize our community to make phone calls and send emails to protect ballot access and combat voter suppression in multiple states, including Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.

  • Organized in Missouri to oppose Republican lawmakers’ effort to overturn a citizen-backed redistricting commission.

  • Opposed Trump’s unacceptable and unfit Supreme Court nominee: Amy Coney Barrett.

  • Partnered with Demand Justice and other organizations in successfully demanding that the Democratic National Committee’s platform explicitly call for court reform.

  • Drove hundreds of calls to Virginia lawmakers in support of passing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in the commonwealth.

  • Drove thousands of calls to the U.S. House of Representatives encouraging the passage of D.C. statehood legislation.

  • As part of our campaign finance reform efforts, gathered 10,037 signatures for Color of Change’s petition to elected officials demanding they stop taking money from police unions.

  • Joined Indivisible in launching Protect the Results, a coalition of over 175 advocacy organizations, grassroots groups, labor unions, and government watchdogs committed to protecting the results of the 2020 election. 

Looking Ahead:

Donald Trump is a symptom of the corruption and dysfunction that exists in our political system, not the root cause. In 2021, Stand Up America looks forward to mobilizing our two million members to build our democracy back better. Stand Up America will be fighting for bold reforms at the state and federal level that will make our government more responsive to the will of the people and enable a progressive agenda to pass—reforms like automatic voter registration, public financing of our elections, unrigging our courts, combating gerrymandering and voter suppression, and enacting a National Popular Vote.

If you would like to speak with a Stand Up America spokesperson about our work, please contact Ryan Thomas at ryan@standupamerica.com.

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