The 2030 Project is celebrating its first half-birthday this winter, and we’ve already accomplished a lot! We’ve established a talented and diverse team dedicated to flipping the Georgia legislature blue, strengthened relationships with partner organizations and legislators, hosted multiple well-attended events, launched an online presence on multiple platforms, and more! Read below to hear more about what we’ve been doing and where we plan to go in 2024!
The Team
Starting with just three founding members, the 2030 Project team has:
Rapidly expanded to 15 core members!
Launched on our new Team Page on the 2030 Project website
Assembled a team of individuals that reflects the diversity and vibrancy of modern Georgia. One aspect we take pride in is the significant representation of Generation Z within our organization. As we approach 2030, we recognize their growing political influence and believe their input is key to our success.
Partner Organizations, Communities & Legislators
We’ve been busy the past few months building strong relationships with our fellow Georgians to ensure our movement can continue to grow and respond to their wishes. We’ve partnered with multiple organizations to get the word out that Democrats haven’t given up on state-level representation here in the Peach State.
We co-hosted a Sip n’ Save, a special event often put on by our friends and co-hosts at the For Which It Stance PAC. The FWIS PAC is a non-partisan organization dedicated to educating Georgians about gerrymandering and local control, and we were excited to partner with them. If you want to learn more, read our read-out of the Sip n’ Save here.
In addition to joining the Democratic Party of Georgia’s list of Partners and Allies, The 2030 Project has partnered with multiple county Democratic parties this year, resulting in successful launch events. We’re grateful to have had Democratic State Representatives, including Long Tran, Spencer Frye and Shea Roberts, speak at our events. These events have helped us connect with communities, fundraise for our first organizers, and generate excitement for flipping the state legislature!
Fundraising
The 2030 Project has made significant funding progress, and we are continuing to find more innovative ways to bring in donations to flip Georgia blue! We are incredibly thankful for all of our donors, whether recurring or one-time.
Here’s some information on our fundraising:
Well on our way towards funding our first organizers for the 2024 cycle, raised in just 6 months of an “off-cycle” year!
Almost 100 unique donors, with 44 monthly recurring donors
The majority of contributions per donation are $25 or less
Want to join our community of donors? Click here!
Newsletter & Socials
We have taken social media by storm in 2023, launching a presence on multiple platforms! We post daily on at least one of our accounts, ensuring that our community stays up-to-date with Georgia politics. We are now live on:
LinkedIn (launched just last week!)
Our newsletter is also booming! To date, we have covered topics like climate change, abortion rights and healthcare gaps, the rising political power of Gen Z, gerrymandering in Georgia, and State House Rep. Mesha Mainor’s party flip. We have over 3,800 newsletter subscribers, with over 15,000 reads during 2023. We have also produced content that informs our readers about Georgia’s political landscape and motivates them to engage in action items that contribute to positive change.
Looking to 2024
Now you’ve heard all about the amazing progress we’ve had in 2023. Here’s a few things you can look forward to hearing about from us in 2024:
Keep an eye out for our launch party in Madison County in early 2024!
Starting January 2024, we will host a monthly Zoom session for recurring donors. This will allow our strongest supporters to hear more about what we are doing as an organization, and to foster a stronger Democratic community. Click here to become a recurring donor and join our calls in the new year!
We are hiring an events coordinator, so get excited for some big events coming soon!
Once Judge Jones rules on Georgia’s maps, we will update our targeted districts list. Expect to see information on this in our first newsletter of 2024
What Went Down in Georgia in 2023
For the 19th straight year, Republicans controlled both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly. They wielded that power to target transgender youth, threaten prosecutors and District Attorneys, and hoard taxpayer money to the tune of nearly $11 billion, all while attempting to gut public education, failing to expand Medicaid, and doing nothing to address Georgia’s holy trinity of current crises: housing, climate, and gun violence.
Republicans also failed to raise the minimum wage for hard-working Georgians, which continues to be tied for lowest in the nation. With you in solidarity, Montana!
They also got caught drawing illegal maps.
And some were charged as fake electors.
Thankfully, Democrats stood tall to block what would be a catastrophic school-voucher program. Courts also stepped in this year to protect voting rights, District Attorneys from dangerous partisan oversight, and help transgender youth get the gender-affirming care they need.
However, the courts also upheld Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, disregarding a long-standing precedent that a law violating either the state or federal Constitution at the time of its enactment is void from the start under the Georgia Constitution.
If the case for flipping the Georgia State Legislature blue wasn’t strong enough already, the 2023 Legislative Session provided ample evidence Republicans are not fit to govern.
And as if to drive the point home to Georgians, they finished the year off here in December with a Special Session in which they redrew their illegal Legislature and Congressional maps…
… only their new maps still likely violate the Voting Rights Act, too.
In addition to purposefully depriving Georgians from minority communities of proper representation, Republicans also gerrymandered Congresswoman Lucy McBeth's district for the second time to lower her chances of reelection. The only way they can remove popular Democrats from power is by cheating or bending the rules.
Game. Set. Match.
(And we didn’t even get to Gov. Kemp’s disastrous Pathways program.)
The decisions that lawmakers make during the legislative session affect all Georgians in some form or another. From public health and public education, to safe communities and fair elections, we are all part of the same Georgia. Our friends at the Georgia Policy and Budget Institute probably say it best:
“These decisions will dictate how welcoming we are as a state, what supports are offered to families with low incomes, whether and to what extent we continue to criminalize poverty, which health services are available in communities and how our public education system supports the future, our children and our workforce.”
Republicans can crow about being #1 for business all they want, but when you’re 37th for children, 49th for workers, and worst in healthcare, all while targeting our most vulnerable, there is no debate about who is better suited to build a better future for Georgians and their families.
And it’s not the folks who have been in charge for 19 years.
So as we thankfully turn out the lights on 2023, we welcome in 2024 with hope, because we are fighting the good fight, and Georgia Republicans can’t draw rigged maps forever.
But as they continue to try, we’ll continue to build coalitions that can beat even rigged maps.
Fund year-round organizing.
Flip the GA State Legislature.
We thank you for your support, and we’ll see you in 2024!
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