Democratic National Committee
November 1, 2021 from a DNC spokesperson

The DNC invested nearly $6 million in cash and direct contributions towards this year’s Virginia elections, the Committee’s largest-ever investment in the commonwealth in history. This is before accounting for the millions in in-kind donations of staff time, paid media, and other investments.
The DNC’s investment paid for the vast majority of the Democratic Party of Virginia’s coordinated campaign including:
  • Funding for Coordinated Campaign Staffing: The DNC funded rapid scaling of coordinated campaign staff to organize in all corners of the commonwealth.
  • Coordinated Campaign Staff Mentorship Program: The DNC developed a 1:1 coaching program for all coordinated campaign managers to prepare them for future cycles by leveraging DNC staff resources, experience, and expertise.
  • Distributed Organizing Capacity: The DNC mobilized thousands of the national volunteers who took part in the 2020 election to also support the Virginia coordinated campaign through volunteer recruitment, voter education, and early vote/get out the vote efforts. To-date the DNC distributed organizing program mobilized volunteers who’ve completed 11,221 shifts, made 890,000 phone calls, and sent 3.5 million text messages. Additionally, the DNC has managed rallies and campaign events in the commonwealth featuring President Biden, three events with Vice President Harris, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
  • Training Program for Diverse Organizing Talent: The DNC supported the coordinated campaign in identifying local and diverse organizing talent through a DNC-led summer training program, with an emphasis on a distributed organizing curriculum.
  • IWillVote Assets for Voter Protection: The investment also included expanded assets for its “I Will Vote” voter protection program as part of the DNC’s $25 million expansion of the initiative, including polling place lookup tools, access to a national hotline and voter protection team database for monitoring and incident tracking.
  • Last month, the DNC expanded its initial investments in Virginia with a six-figure “Get Out The Vote” constituency advertisement campaign in Black and Spanish-language radio as well as AAPI print outlets.
  • In addition to its advertising and financial investments, the DNC has engaged in several additional efforts to mobilize Black voters and other voters of color, including:
  • The DNC led multiple events to activate Black voters across Virginia in the last two weeks of the campaign alone, including deploying staff to lead Souls to the Polls and other Black engagement events all over the state and securing surrogate participation from leaders like Whip Jim Clyburn.
  • The DNC conducted outreach and coordinated event activities across the commonwealth to mobilize Black AAPI, Latinx, and Women voters and distributed I Will Vote materials for voter education and mobilization
  • Following President Biden’s endorsement of 21 House of Delegates candidates, the DNC ran digital ads to amplify their campaigns and drive additional support in the final weeks. The DNC also provided direct contributions to 8 of these candidates to further support their race. In the final weeks of this campaign, the DNC committed an additional $500,000 investment to make every effort to turn out voters supporting Gov. McAuliffe and the Democratic ticket. This GOTV investment further scaled the already impressive canvass operations in both Fairfax and Hampton Roads, as well as providing for a statewide vote-by-mail chase call program
NextGen America
November 1, 2021

NextGen America Reaches Hundreds of Thousands of Young Voters Ahead of Elections in Virginia, Pennsylvania

The country’s largest young-voter organization emphasizes importance of local and off-year elections to mobilizing 18-35 year olds

Austin, TX — Leading up to the Nov. 2 election, NextGen America organizers and volunteers are mobilizing young voters in key states and localities across the country, including for marquee contests in Virginia and important but under-the-radar elections in Pennsylvania.

In Virginia, NextGen is texting and emailing more than 350,000 young people with get-out-the-vote messages ensuring they know when, how and exactly what they need to cast a ballot and make their voices heard. Such mobilization is essential in Virginia, where races for governor, other statewide offices and the House of Delegates are held in odd years, out of step with the typical electoral calendar.

In Pennsylvania, NextGen’s effort includes texting and calling approximately 300,000 18-to-35-year-olds with personalized information on when and how to vote. With a statewide contest for a seat on the Supreme Court and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s race on the ballot, NextGen’s GOTV efforts have been focused on ensuring young people have a voice in building a state that represents them.

“Young people in Virginia and Pennsylvania turned out in record numbers in the last election to flex their power, and we’re seeing that their motivation to participate in our democracy is just beginning,” NextGen America President Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez said. “There are no off years for young voters when it comes to choosing who will make decisions about their futures. We’re working not just to mobilize young people for these races, but also make voting a lifelong habit.”

Along with its efforts in Virginia and Pennsylvania, NextGen is also reaching young people in Michigan and North Carolina ahead of important local elections. That outreach includes calls, texts and online voter guides providing nonpartisan information on how to get registered and cast a ballot in important but often-overlooked community-level elections.

NextGen’s 2021 GOTV efforts come as it recently renewed its commitment to running the largest mobilization of young voters in the country. Earlier this month, NextGen launched its program for the 2022 election cycle and beyond by announcing its plans to register and mobilize thousands of young voters in Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.

During the 2020 election cycle, NextGen Pennsylvania made over 1.8 million calls, sent more than 5.2 million texts, registered 23,500 voters, and pledged over 68,000 young people to vote.

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About NextGen America

NextGen America is the leading national organization for engaging young people through voter education, registration and mobilization. We invite 18-to-35 year olds — the largest and most diverse generation in American history — into our democracy to ensure our government works for them and to find new solutions to the dire challenges facing our society and the world. Since 2013, NextGen America has registered more than 1.4 million young voters and educated many millions more, delivering more than the margin of victory for progressives in key races and building an electorate that will lead American politics for decades to come.