Way to Win

This @perrybaconjr.bsky.social interview with @vanhollen.senate.gov was one of the #Persuasion2025 highlights. Don't miss the framing of the first question; that single question set the bullshit-free tone for the entire day.

It was a day of tremendous content. Congratulations to James Slezak of Swayable and @jenancona.bsky.social and @torygavito.bsky.social for taking on risk and landing a big complicated plane in a hurry. And thanks to all of you for following this conversation, and for sharing your thinking.
🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🗽

“We need to go back to being a party that tells the truth. It’s the only way to rebuild the Democratic Party as the party of working people. In this race, the ground is fertile to build power locally and then build that into structural power.”
@grahamformaine.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

“Voters were struggling with an affordability crisis but had given up hope a mayor could do anything about it. Zohran wasn’t scared of naming villains and proposing solutions.” Morris Katz #Persuasion2025

“Why is it so hard to acknowledge clear atrocities? AIPAC should have the same connotation as the NRA in Democratic politics. I think this is the very purposeful ignoring of humanity. But when you have money coming in, you don’t want to jeopardize that.”
@katmabu.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

“There’s no polling [based stance to take] on genocide. Either you’re against it, or you’re one of the bad guys.” @bhavik.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

"There’s a concerted effort... to make sure that Democrats just focus on raising more corporate money, to engage in the failed strategy of then spending a ton of that money on mail and TV at the very last minute." Rep @gregcasar.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

"The thing Mamdani is doing, people think he cares about them. They’ll forgive him the other stuff. The reason they like Trump? They think Trump’s on their side... Democrats can say the right words but if they don't feel it, people don’t believe them.” @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

"You say to voters, fire, fire, the house is on fire, this is a fascist threat. But then you refuse to go into the building with an extinguisher and pull them out, they are left either thinking you’re lying… or you don’t give a shit about them." @anatosaurus.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

Sen. Van Hollen on Kilmar Abrego Garcia: “There were a lot of pollsters and pundits who said I shouldn’t go because we shouldn’t talk about immigration... It’s a false choice to say we have to only talk about the price of eggs and we can’t talk about the assaults on our freedoms.” #Persuasion2025

The core of the argument that ran through the whole day was the need move past defensive politics into a compelling vision that speaks to people’s real lives. Affordability. Security. Stability. As Graham Platner said during the event, “the big things.” And the opposite of what Trump is delivering.

YouTube video by Way to Win Action Fund Persuasion 2025 Wrap - Charting the Way Forward Ep 41

This week's Charting the Way Forward covers initial impressions of the event and reactions so far, and just went up this morning. (we were slightly delayed due to travel schedules - apologies!)

📺 youtu.be/KgW3ESpGsN4
🍎 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Our inaugural #Persuasion2025 DC event has drawn praise and stirred up opinions across DC. We partnered with the ad testing platform Swayable and invited a spectrum of voices to join us for a day of new thinking and finding a path forward. A 🧵, and stay tuned for clips and session video.

YouTube video by MSNBC ‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

Democracy's Big Tent Revival Persuasion 2025, a Democratic confab in the shadow of Michael Sandel

whoa @grahamformaine.bsky.social @repcasar.bsky.social @vanhollen.senate.gov @katmabu.bsky.social @patrioticmillionaires.org @waytowinus.bsky.social @jenancona.bsky.social @swayable.bsky.social @torygavito.bsky.social @bhavik.bsky.social so wow much civics

Democracy's Big Tent Revival Persuasion 2025, a Democratic confab in the shadow of Michael Sandel

Fantastic writeup of our Tuesday #Persuasion2025 meeting in DC from @climatebrad.hillheat.com.

They are stealing taxpayer dollars from blue states because Democrats in Congress refuse to give Trump a blank check for his authoritarianism.

Corruption. Coercion. Blackmail. Lawlessness. 

I won’t bend the knee to a wannabe dictator and his cronies. We will prevail.

I had the opportunity today to speak with @mehdirhasan.bsky.social about Gaza, AIPAC, and what Democrats need to do better.

An easy first step? No AIPAC money. Ever.

AIPAC is supporting my opponent but I’m on the right side of history.

“They ask me…“how do you talk to rural voters?’
I live in a town of a thousand people. I AM a fucking rural voter. I know how to talk to them?!” @grahamformaine.bsky.social in conversation with Tory Gavito, president at @waytowinus.bsky.social .bsky.social

At a conference about how we- the left- take more seriously our responsibility to broaden the tent and level up our approach to persuasion. Hosted by @waytowinus.bsky.social and @swayable.bsky.social and the brainchild of @jenancona.bsky.social
Sharing my takeaways live…

“The cavalry isn’t coming. It’s here in this room.”- @lateefahsimon.bsky.social @waytowinus.bsky.social

Progressive Democrats plot path forward with ‘Persuasion 2025’ event Left-leaning politicians and strategists host event to diagnose Democrats’ 2024 failings.

We’re looking at solutions and working to understand voters across the diverse pro-democracy coalition.

We can’t keep fighting battles and losing the war.

Thanks to @politico.com for this preliminary coverage of our meeting today.

16M Biden voters stayed home in 2024.
Democratic Party unfavorability is currently at 63%.
Democrats have been losing ground in voter reg for a decade+.

This is a much bigger problem than election results in a handful of districts.

Progressive Democrats plot path forward with ‘Persuasion 2025’ event Left-leaning politicians and strategists host event to diagnose Democrats’ 2024 failings.

We’re looking at solutions and working to understand voters across the diverse pro-democracy coalition.

We can’t keep fighting battles and losing the war.

Thanks to @politico.com for this preliminary coverage of our meeting today.

www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Latinos are souring on Trump. Can Democrats win them back? Democrats have an opening, yet calamity is staring them in the face

Latinos are souring on Trump. Can Democrats win them back? @torygavito.bsky.social lays out the opportunity and the peril for Democrats with these essential voters

chartingthewayforward.substack.com/p/latinos-ar...

Struck by the Beauty of America (Even With... Everything, feat. Heather Gardner) - Charting the Way Forward Satirist, creator of the Star Spangled Banter tour, and all around amazingly funny person Heather Gardner joins Maddie Medved for a discussion about living the creator life and the work in this moment...

Something weird maybe going on with the file, we're tracking it down. But it's right on the website now, you can listen here for the timebeing. Should be fixed everywhere soon if it isn't already:

chartingthewayforward.buzzsprout.com/2415376/epis...

YouTube video by Way to Win Action Fund Struck by the Beauty of America (Even With... Everything, feat. Heather Gardner) - Charting Ep 40

Fun new Charting ep today with @heathergtv.bsky.social. If you are not familiar with Heather's work you're in luck. She's hilarious and brilliant. Her and Maddie get into what's worth fighting for -

🔉 open.spotify.com/episode/7wkq...
📺 youtu.be/tWNRZRjyf9A
🍎 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Like the median response we got from voters was "I don't know, I keep voting for Dems and nothing changes, and then somebody asked Harris what she'd do differently from Biden and she said 'nothing.'" That's both a, reasonable and b, not the ACLU's fault.

If you don't think communications has effects on people's thinking/behavior why do you do comms for a housing org.

People didn't vote in 2024 for reasons. It's not infantilizing to try to figure out what those were. If you listen to the FGs their thinking is wrong, but it's definitely not stupid.

Opinion | The Economic Theory That Explains Why Americans Are So Mad (Published 2024)

p.s. this episode of Ezra's podcast is an excellent description of the affordability problem and the considerable impact the crisis is having on voters.

www.nytimes.com/2024/06/07/o...