As the 2020 presidential election grabs headlines with Democrats lining up to challenge President Donald Trump, the grassroots organization Indivisible on Thursday unveiled its new plan to fight the Republican's anti-democratic agenda in all 50 states over the next year and a half.
The Indivisible Initiative will be aimed at thwarting Trump's and the GOP's efforts to roll back voting rights and other key elements of democracy in state houses across the country, as well as building on the successes of progressives in the 2018 midterm elections.
"We're rolling out new strategies and support to remake our democracy and circumvent Trump's agenda, state by state--all 50 of them," said the Indivisible Team, headed by former congressional staffers Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, in a letter to supporters and in a video posted to Twitter.
In recent years, the group noted, the Republican Party has successfully rolled back voting rights and skewed elections in their favor through racial and partisan gerrymandering--working at the state level to ensure the party stayed in power even as its popularity plummeted.
Now--with Democrats holding seven new governorships and state legislatures, more than 350 new state legislative seats, and in full control of the governments of six states--progressives have a chance to expand civil rights in states all over the country, Indivisible says.
"Working group by group, state by state, is how we're going to reverse the Republicans' damage that eroded voting rights and entrenched their power. It's how we're going to build momentum for the bold, progressive policies we need. It's how we're going to remake our democracy and build power for years to come." --Indivisible
"With the state-level wins we scored in 2018, we have new leverage for states to stop Trump's agenda, turn back the Republicans' damage, and go on offense to advance bold progressive ideas and policies that'll shape the progressive landscape in 2019, 2020, and beyond," wrote Indivisible in their letter to members.
For example, Indivisible has worked to win Medicaid expansion in a number of states and is organizing to do battle against Republicans in Arizona who are now pushing a bill that would make it a crime to register voters.
"Working group by group, state by state, is how we're going to reverse the Republicans' damage that eroded voting rights and entrenched their power," wrote Indivisible, which has at least one chapter in every state. "It's how we're going to build momentum for the bold, progressive policies we need. It's how we're going to remake our democracy and build power for years to come."
