Annie's List - Changing the Face of Power

formula for success

Map out opportunities years in advance
Texas is bubbling with demographic shifts and activities. And you never know when a local issue is going to reach a boiling point or an embattled incumbent will resign and create a special election situation. We make it our business to know when the changing political landscape creates an opportunity to elect a pro-choice Democratic woman.

Recruit women to run in winnable districts
Women by and large don’t run for office unless they are asked. So we build relationships in the communities within targeted districts and find great women candidates willing to commit to do what it takes to win. Then we ask them as many times as it takes to put their name on the ballot.

Train candidates & campaign staff
Every year we conduct dozens of campaign trainings. We want to make sure our women candidates have the skill set to do what it takes to win and a pool of campaign staffers that can guide them to a win on Election Day. Click Here for the training schedule or contact us about hosting one in your area.

Empower the next generation of progressives
The Annie’s List Campaign School program recruits recent college graduates for an intensive and comprehensive nine-day training. They are then placed as full-time staffers on the campaigns of our endorsed campaigns for the final three months of the election. Click Here for more information on this innovative program.

Financially support viable candidates
Campaigns are expensive and the ability to raise money is used as the number one indicator of viability by opinion leaders. We make early financial contributions, and encourage our donors to do the same, to our candidates so that they are considered viable contenders.

Engage & Activate women voters
The phrase “when women vote, women win” says it all.
Research shows women voters disproportionately support
women candidates. In some elections, we may reach out
to women voters and highlight our endorsed candidates as
an extra motivator to go to the polls on Election Day.

What We Do

Annie's List is changing the face of power in Texas politics by changing the playing field for women candidates. We understand the extra obstacles women face in running for office and use our expertise and resources to deal with it head on.

First of all, we are monitoring the political landscape two and three election cycles in advance to identify opportunities for Democrats to win back seats. Whether from demographic shifts, a local issue boiling over, an embattled incumbent resigning, etc. – we make it our business to know where a Democratic woman candidate can jump in and win.

Research shows women often do not run for office unless they are directly asked to do so. Accordingly, we do not sit around and wait for great women candidates to appear from thin air. Within these targeted districts we build relationships on the ground and recruit women candidates willing to do what it takes to win a tough campaign.

However, our work does not stop there. Running a modern and professional campaign requires a specialized skill set. We conduct dozens of trainings per year with potential candidates and campaign staff as well as one-on-one work with our endorsed candidates to write fundraising plans, develop voter contact strategies, communications plans and more. We make sure every campaign has the tools it needs to succeed.

To combat the talent shortage of professional campaign staffers in Texas – who are constantly drawn away to swing states on the electoral map – we have developed an innovative program that recruits, trains and then pays young people to serve as full-time staffers on our endorsed campaigns from August through November. In other words, we are empowering the next generation of progressive activists and helping our endorsed candidates win at the same time.

As the election cycle advances we constantly monitor the progress of our endorsed candidates. Provided that they are doing everything on their end to win, we make substantial financial contributions to their campaigns. We also, encourage our donors to send us checks payable to the individual campaigns so that we may track them and then distribute them to our candidates.

Finally, research also shows that women voters are more likely to vote for women candidates – especially if they share their values. In targeted districts where this dynamic can change the outcome of the election, we may engage women voters with the use of direct mail and phone calls to introduce them to our endorsed candidates and provide useful voting information such Early Voting dates and polling place locations. This extra layering of outreach, especially to infrequent women voters, can serve as a powerful motivator to participate in the election.