Should progressives speak to voters in terms of their race or social class? It’s a debate that’s raged on the left for years as American politics have developed fault lines separating the two.
In the Midwest this election cycle, a number of groups led by ISAIAH, Faith in Minnesota and the Race-Class Narrative Project tried something different—tying the two categories together in an effort to turn out the vote.
While the final numbers and voter files have yet to be released, leaders said in a December debrief that they believe the effort was a success and that the approach is the right one for the left going forward.
Working to bring people together
“It’s hard to bring people together across race, across place, across gender,” said Faith in Minnesota Executive Director Doran Schrantz. “But it is what we have to do to win change for our families.”
Schrantz detailed how her group and the Race-Class Narrative Project put that effort into action across multiple states, including: Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The groups activated 22,000 volunteers, staff, elected officials and political candidates, texting 722,000 likely voters and reaching a total of 2 million by a variety of outreach means, including a $3.6 million digital ad buy that netted 198 million impressions.
“We in Minnesota were able to advance a particular narrative that actually pushed back fully on this idea that you can’t have a race-forward, economic-forward, intricately tied-together message,” said Faith in Minnesota Communications Director Jenny Bates. “And we showed that by voting for Biden in Minnesota seven points over what Hillary Clinton won in the prior election.”
The role of the summer protests
Civil rights demonstrations that exploded around the country were a major factor in advancing the narrative, said Rebecca Lynch, political director of the Wisconsin Working Families Party. The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha on August 23 were pivotal moments, she said, because they forced progressives to confront a right-wing movement that was ready to fight.
“I remember President Trump actually came to Kenosha to host a rally and try to put forward his own message,” said Lynch.
The race-class narrative was developed by strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio, who said that the message wasn’t the issue—instead, getting it to voters was the hurdle for organizers.
“Our problem is not that people don’t believe in what we’re saying, it’s that they cannot overcome their cynicism,” said Shenker-Osorio. “And it becomes an issue of ‘why even bother?’”
To combat that voter apathy, the groups targeted “high potential voters”: people of color, young people, and other marginalized communities.
“It’s important to give them something to vote for, not merely something to repudiate, to give them a sense of identity and to give them a sense of collective purpose,” Shenker-Osorio said.
Foundation funding has played an important role in developing the race-class narrative. ISAIAH claimed a budget of $5,253,110 in 2019, boosted by a $1,637,500 grant from the Ford Foundation, which also gave the group $1,300,000 in 2018 and $400,000 in 2020. The Race-Class Narrative Project is an offshoot of progressive think tank Demos, which reported revenues of $10,574,975 in 2019-2020, much of it from foundations.
