Silver Spring Progressive Action

Who We Are

Silver Spring Progressive Action exists to move country’s political power framework away from hatred and fear, and towards justice, equity, and compassion. We work to strengthen Democratic representation and disempower the remaining Trumpism that enabled the Trump presidency and weakens our democracy. We work in partnership with local and other groups focused on the same goals. We are focused solely on elections and related issues. Our own area is reliably blue, so we help folks around the country flip and keep districts and states blue.

Our Goals

Our overall goals are to:

• Achieve and keep Democratic control of the House, Senate, & Presidency
• Flip and keep selected state legislatures blue, especially those meaningful in national elections
• Build a robust, diverse, and progressive Democratic bench
• Achieve and maintain fair elections, districts, and voting rights & access
• Reinforce emerging Democrats in Western MD and the Eastern Shore
• Get to know our neighbors and other like-minded people

Our goals for 2023 are to:

• Put plans and actions in place to keep the Presidency, strengthen the US Senate majority, regain the House majority
• Expand/regain majorities in the Virginia statehouse
• Build the Democratic bench and protect our democracy by:
• - Building strength in State legislatures to protect and expand Dem majorities and super-majorities, and break R super-majorities
• - Electing progressive governors, mayors, and future progressive champs
• - Electing Democratic attorneys general and secretaries of state
• - Promoting fair elections, redistricting, and voting rights and access

 More About These Goals…

We target our work so that our time is spent on things with the greatest chance of moving the needle.

• We engage in general elections only, not primaries, because the local people know their local politics best – who’s best on the issues and who has the best chance of winning.
• We target candidates in elections that are toss-ups and near toss-ups – candidates who need a boost (not a miracle) to get over the top. We don’t focus on sure bets or hopeless causes, no matter how much we personally love or are inspired by a particular candidate.
• For fundraising, we focus on contests where additional money can make a significant difference. We don’t raise funds for candidates who are the most or least likely to win, or who already have, or are likely to get, sufficient funding from others.

 What We Do

We are 100% guilt-free! We’re all busy, and we all may gravitate to things we like to do and avoid those we don’t – but we can all do something!

We engage in a range of actions, depending on what candidates need and where our energies and abilities lie, including:

• Voter registration – on-location and remote
• Postcard and letter campaigns to encourage voting
• Texting for candidates and for GOTV
• Phonebanking for candidates and for GOTV
• Canvassing
• Fundraising
• Social media in support of all of the above
• All of the above for voting rights and against voter suppression

 Our onsite activities are often within a day’s drive of Silver Spring, MD (generally PA & VA). But we also take longer overnight trips, such as to North Carolina and further. We also work remotely on more distant campaigns.