Over our 37-year history, Western States Strategies and Western States Center have worked at the intersection of people, policy, and political power—in fact, that was the motto of our ten-year, six-state VOTE Project (Voter Organizing Training & Empowerment Project from 2003-2013). VOTE evolved from the Western Progressive Leadership Network (WPLN), one of our early flagship programs focused on state policy development, legislative and ballot measure advocacy, and building electoral skills in both organizations and progressive individuals considering running for office. Through WPLN and VOTE, we honed an electoral skills-building curriculum and over four electoral cycles, we engaged 4,500 volunteers who registered 172,500 new voters and made 867,200 personal voter contacts with organizations based in communities that have traditionally been shut out of power.

Now, nearly four decades later, our work to mobilize the leadership of statewide coalitions, grassroots partners, and elected officials to deepen analysis of threats to democracy and develop effective regional responses to national issues is still highly relevant. Since 2017, we’ve been steadily organizing on the ground and convening field coalitions to hold officials accountable for engaging with white nationalist and paramilitary movements, to equip local government and civil society to manage the growth of anti-democracy groups, and to align community institutions, business and elected leaders to counter hate and political violence.