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Photos from our 5th Anniversary party
Force Multiplier began as a group of a dozen people in the Boston area shortly after the election of 2016. We wanted to find a way that citizens in a Blue state could have an impact on national politics.We decided our best opportunity was to focus on the 2018 Midterms + flip the House of Representatives, so that there would be a check on Republican power. We decided we could have the most impact by raising funds for candidates trying to unseat vulnerable Republican incumbents. We identified the key races, began to hold events with the candidates + invited everyone we knew...and some we didn't.
Win or lose we believe that our investments in
these candidates + groups will pay dividends in future elections.
Here are the results of our work:
2017-2018:
Flipping the House
In our first cycle we focused exclusively on House candidates challenging incumbent Republicans.13 of the 15 of the ones we supported won their races + helped Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives. More importantly, all our candidates were in close races. The $700,000 we raised helped ensure they had the resources to compete with established incumbents. Our community grew to 1,200.
2019-2020:
We expanded our work to include candidates for the Senate + voter empowerment groups working in Presidential + Senatorial battleground states. In total we raised $6.3 million this cycle + our community grew to include 10,000 contributors.
Holding the House
We raised $1.2m for our House candidates. In a year in which the Democrats lost 11 seats, we helped defend 11 + flip one, helping to preserve the majority. We also supported many candidates in competitive races who were unable to retain their seats in the face of heavy Republican turnout with Trump on the ballot..
Flipping the Senate:
We raised $2.8m for nine Senate candidates, seven of them in states Trump won in 2018. In a hyper-partisan election in which ticket splitting was uncommon, we nonetheless helped flip three seats (CO + two in GA) to gain narrow control of the Senate.
Ensuring that People Can + Do Vote:
We raised $2.2m to mobilize voters + protect the vote. We helped fund voter empowerment efforts through the Movement Voter Project, supporting more than 60 locally led grassroots groups in seven key states: Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina + Georgia. The five states that flipped in the Presidential election were in this group, as were the two of the seats that flipped to give us control of the Senate + the only House seat that flipped to help us Hold the House.
Our voter protection work with Fair Fight + the DSCC Legal Fund also helped make sure there was strong turnout in the face of the pandemic + aggressive voter suppression.
In addition, we worked directly with groups on local initiatives to erect 20 Safe Haven Voter Protection tents in North Carolina, raise 28 voter information billboards in rural southern states, pay the fines + fees of 112 Florida returning citizens and restore their voting rights .
2021-2022
Our goals were to challenge historical Midterm trends by holding the House and expanding the Democratic majority in the Senate. In total we raised $8,000,000 this cycle.
Hold the House:
We supported 29 candidates for the House over the course of the cycle. 18 of them were elected. Though Democrats did not hold the House, they bucked historical midterm trends by losing just 10 seats. 21 of the races had margins of victory of less than 5%.
Expand the Senate Majority
We supported 8 candidates, 5 of whom won, increasing the Democratic majority to 51.
6 of the races had margins of victory of less than 5%.
Voter Empowerment Priorities:
Increase Democratic Turnout in the Midterms:
We’ve partnered with America Votes to create the Blue Surge Turnout Fund which supports 35 grassroots groups in 7 Senatorial battleground states. The groups were focused on mobilizing the millions of voters who turned out to repudiate Trumpism in 2018 and 2020 but who had not voted in 2016. Collectively these groups knocked on over 3 million doors in battleground states.
Reaching Out to Rural Voters:
Because many of our priority states had significant rural populations, we partnered with the Rural Democracy Initiative to support 7 groups through the Rural Victory Fund.
Register, Educate + Mobilize Voters:
Our tax-exempt Democracy in Action fund supported 5 locally-led groups in AZ, NV, GA, NC, PA and WI.
Fighting Gerrymandering:
We also supported The National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
We're proud of how we’ve come together at a critical moment in our history
+ found a way to make a difference.
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
"Wow! Whoever chose the races to focus on might have been spot-on, but it’s only because of all the work everyone did! What a demonstration of the concentrated energy a group can do." BAMBI G, BROOKLINE, MA
"Thank you for your extraordinary efforts. The country is better and safer for those efforts…I gave to candidates I wouldn't have known about as a result, and advocated for them with friends and family. Your efforts are one of the best examples of democracy and patriotism I can think of." A BOSTON CONTRIBUTOR