Activity by Progressive/Democratic-Aligned Groups
in North Carolina


• Blueprint North Carolina has a staff of 13.  Executive director is Serena Sebring.
https://blueprintnc.org/
Our Work
Blueprint North Carolina is a statewide partnership of 46 non-profit organizations working together to ensure all North Carolinians have a voice in our democracy and a full share of its benefits. Blueprint focuses on strengthening collective voter engagement, executing a shared messaging strategy that mobilizes the public for a responsive democracy and enhancing our partners’ abilities to work together.

Blueprint centers all of our work in race equity. Operating with an equity lens requires explicitly acknowledging the impact of structural racism and proactively developing strategies to dismantle it. We believe our partners must work effectively together and through this framework to understand the barriers that people of color face to fully participating in our democracy.

Blueprint’s core strategy is collective impact. Collective impact acknowledges that the challenges facing our state are beyond what any single organization can meaningfully affect. In traditional collaboration models, organizations bring different theories of change and goals to the table and matches organizations with different levels of capacity, which can result in a stifling power imbalance. Within North Carolina, Blueprint is the backbone support organization designed to address these pitfalls. We facilitate collaboration between partners by establishing a clear decision-making structure and building a common agenda with demonstrated buy-in.
Supporting this network is a robust system of resources including extensive training opportunities, work-groups, grants and support staff.

Partners
Action Institute North Carolina
Alliance for Climate Education
American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina
American Friends Services Committee (Siembra NC)
Appalachian Voices
Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, Inc.
Carolina Jews for Justice
Carolina Justice Policy Center
Center for Community Self Help
Common Cause Education Fund
Democracy North Carolina
Disability Rights North Carolina
Education Justice Alliance
El Pueblo, Inc.
Fair Elections Center
Friends of The Earth
Institute for Southern Studies
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law / Julius L. Chambers Center for Civil Rights
LEAD NC
League of Women Voters North Carolina
NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina Foundation
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund
National Black Worker Center Project
National Domestic Workers Alliance
NC Congress of Latino Organizations/Durham CAN
North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute, Inc.
North Carolina A.I.D.S. Action Network
North Carolina Asian Americans Together
North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations
North Carolina Black Alliance
North Carolina Conservation Network
North Carolina Council of Churches
North Carolina Justice Center
North Carolina League of Conservation Voters Foundation
North Carolina PIRG Education Fund
North Carolinians Against Gun Violence Education Fund, Inc.
People’s Alliance Fund
Progress North Carolina
Southeast Asian Coalition
Southern Coalition for Social Justice
Southern Vision Alliance
Toxic Free NC
Unifour ONE
WakeUp Wake County, Inc.
We Are Down Home
Women AdvaNCe
Working America Education Fund
Working Films

• America Votes has 12 core states.  North Carolina is the newest core state, operating out of Raleigh since 2011.  America Votes North Carolina is led by State Director Elizabeth Kazal.
https://americavotes.org/state-network/

• North Carolina is one of 12 states being targeted by SwingLeft. [PDF]

https://swingleft.org/p/north-carolina
 Our primary objectives in North Carolina are to: 1) flip the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Thom Tillis, 2) win the state’s 15 Electoral College votes, and 3) break Republican control of the state legislature by flipping one or both chambers.

In the state Senate, we are currently targeting eight districts—six GOP-held seats and two Democratic holds. With North Carolina’s newly drawn districts, 2020’s competitive seats are scattered across the state, spanning the suburbs of Raleigh, Fayetteville, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem.

In the state House, we are currently targeting 12 districts—seven GOP-held seats and five Democratic holds. State courts also ordered new districts in the state House in 2019. Our target districts for 2020 include parts of Fayetteville, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and other ex-urban or rural regions in western North Carolina.

 
BY THE NUMBERS
5 Seats needed to flip the state senate
6 Seats needed to flip the state house
1 United States Senate seat to flip
15 Electoral College votes

U.S. SENATE RACE
Cal Cunningham
Thom Tillis

STATE SENATE CANDIDATES
SD-7: Donna Lake
SD-9: Harper Peterson
SD-11: Allen Wellons
SD-18: Sarah Crawford
SD-19: Kirk DeViere
SD-24: J.D. Wooten
SD-31: Terri LeGrand
SD-39: DeAndrea Salvador

STATE HOUSE CANDIDATES
HD-1: Emily Nicholson
HD-9: Brian Farkas
HD-12: Virginia Cox-Daugherty
HD-20: Adam Ericson
HD-37: Sydney Batch
HD-43: Kimberly Hardy
HD-45: Frances Jackson
HD-63: Ricky Hurtado
HD-74: Dan Besse
HD-93: Ray Russell
HD-98: Christy Clark
HD-119: Joe Sam Queen


WHAT'S AT STAKE
72-hour waiting period required for an abortion: In addition to state-mandated anti-abortion counseling and a required ultrasound, people in North Carolina must wait three days before receiving an abortion, which means two separate trips to the clinic. In 2017, 91% of North Carolina counties had no abortion clinics, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

10 congressional seats went to Republicans out of 13 in 2018: The North Carolina GOP has used partisan gerrymandering, a racist voter ID law, and more voter suppression tactics to silence voters and give North Carolina Democrats fewer seats for their fair share of the vote. In the 2018 midterms, North Carolina Republicans won 77% of the state’s congressional seats with just 50% of the vote.

27 states without LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination laws for housing and employment: In 2016, North Carolina was home to the anti-trans “bathroom bill.” In 2019, North Carolina became the first Southern state to take legislative action against youth conversion therapy with an executive order from Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. Still, the General Assembly needs to go further to protect LGBTQ+ rights by passing nondiscrimination laws.

What's at stake facts updated June 2020
• June 24, 2020 - Everytown to Invest at Least $5 Million in “Gun Sense Majority: North Carolina” Electoral Initiative, Mobilize Grassroots Army to Elect Gun Sense Candidates Up and Down the Ballot

Everytown
June 24, 2020

EVERYTOWN TO INVEST AT LEAST $5 MILLION IN “GUN SENSE MAJORITY: NORTH CAROLINA” ELECTORAL INITIATIVE, MOBILIZE GRASSROOTS ARMY TO ELECT GUN SENSE CANDIDATES UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT

North Carolina Voters Support Strengthening Gun Laws by a 6:1 Margin

Everytown Plans to Spend $60 Million on the 2020 Elections — Double What They Spent During the 2018 Elections; In November 2019, Everytown Invested $2.5 Million to Flip the Virginia General Assembly to a Gun Sense Majority

NEW YORK – Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund (together “Everytown”)  announced a new political initiative, “Gun Sense Majority: North Carolina” — a significant financial and grassroots effort dedicated to ensure Vice President Biden wins North Carolina, to defeat Senator Thom Tillis and elect Cal Cunningham in one of the country’s marquee U.S. Senate races, to re-elect Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein, to defeat gun extremist Mark Robinson and elect Yvonne Lewis Holley as Lt. Governor, and to elect gun sense majorities in both chambers of the state legislature, which has ignored North Carolina’s gun violence crisis for years. 

Everytown also released a memo outlining their electoral plans for North Carolina, focusing on voters in the rapidly-growing and diverse Charlotte and Research Triangle regions.

VIEW A MEMO OUTLINING “GUN SENSE MAJORITY: NORTH CAROLINA” HERE.

Everytown will invest at least $5 million in Gun Sense Majority: North Carolina, part of Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s $60 million electoral program for the 2020 elections. The initiative will bring to bear substantial resources and will harness the power of tens of thousands of Everytown, Moms Demand Action, and Students Demand Action supporters in North Carolina.

“Make no mistake – North Carolina could decide the Presidency and the balance of the Senate,” said Charlie Kelly, senior political advisor for Everytown for Gun Safety. “We’re going all-in to show Donald Trump and Thom Tillis the door and to elect gun sense champions up and down the ballot.”

“We’ve had it with lawmakers who’ve sat on their heels instead of standing up for gun safety,” said Jack Sinclair, a volunteer with the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We’ll knock every door – virtually or not – to elect candidates who’ll pass common-sense laws that will save lives.”

Polling of North Carolina voters affirms that gun safety is a winning issue for voters across the state. North Carolinians overwhelmingly support stronger gun violence prevention laws and rate gun safety as a top priority for the 2020 elections. In fact, opposing background checks on all gun sales is the most toxic position a candidate can take among independent voters.

    * Voters support stronger gun laws by a 6:1 margin;

    * Voters broadly agree that it is possible to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them while also protecting the rights of gun owners by a near 2:1 margin (65% possible/35% not possible).

    * 91% of voters support background checks on all gun sales, including 95% of suburban women, while 84% overall support red flags laws, including 91% of suburban women.

    * 64% of voters say they would never vote for a candidate who doesn’t support background checks on all gun sales, and it was the TOP issue among independents by a two-point margin.

This year, Everytown will spend $60 million on the 2020 elections, doubling what they spent during the 2020 elections. In Virginia’s 2019 elections, Everytown was the largest outside investor, spending $2.5 million to flip the state’s General Assembly to a gun sense majority.



About Everytown for Gun Safety
Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund (“Everytown for Gun Safety”) is the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with nearly six million supporters and more than 375,000 donors including moms, mayors, survivors, students, and everyday Americans who are fighting for common-sense gun safety measures that can help save lives. Learn more at www.everytown.org
and follow us @Everytown.

About Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund
Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund (“Everytown Victory Fund”) is a 527 political organization
and a federal independent expenditure committee under the federal election code. Everytown Victory Fund is the political arm of Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund (“Everytown for Gun Safety”), the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with nearly six million supporters including moms, mayors, survivors, students, and everyday Americans who are fighting for common-sense gun safety measures that can help save lives. Learn more at www.everytown.org and follow us @Everytown.

About Moms Demand Action
Moms Demand Action is the nation’s largest grassroots volunteer network working to end gun violence. Moms Demand Action is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization with nearly six million supporters and more than 375,000 donors. Moms Demand Action campaigns for new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the safety of our families. There is a Moms Demand Action chapter in every state of the country and more than 700 local groups across the country. For more information or to get involved visit www.momsdemandaction.org.
Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MomsDemandAction or on Twitter at @MomsDemand

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