Human Rights Campaign Launches Massive $26 Million Sustained National Effort Targeting 2018 Midterms

The Human Rights Campaign has launched “its largest, most sustained investment in politics” in an effort to become a progressive force and win seats back in the 2018 midterms, according to the Washington Post:

The nation’s most influential LGBT rights advocacy group announced Tuesday that it will spend $26 million and hire at least 20 additional political staffers to deploy across all 50 states ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. The goal: replicate what happened in North Carolina in Senate, House and governor’s races across the nation next year and make the LGBT vote one of the most forceful voting blocs in the progressive movement.

Politico adds that efforts will be focused in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada:

The new effort by the LGBTQ advocacy group will be called HRC Rising and will be backed by $26 million in allocated funds for political, field, grassroots organizing, volunteer engagement, communications and digital staffers.

“It’s not enough to resist the hateful policies and attacks coming from the Trump-Pence regime — we’ve got to accelerate the pace of progress toward full equality and secure protections for LGBTQ people in states and communities across the country,” HRC president Chad Griffin said.

The focus states were selected because of the concentration of HRC members and supporters, but they’re also home to what are likely to be some of the most competitive races for governor, Senate and House next year.

The difference in this campaign versus past campaigns? WaPo adds:

The group has been around since 1980 and has field and volunteer staff across the nation. But Griffin said until now, the group had the resources to drop into a political battle only for a couple of months, then leave when it was over.

Since Trump got elected, donations to the group are flooding in (most donations are under $10), LGBT people are stepping out alongside other progressive groups to protest and, for the first time, there will be a dedicated effort to keep this community politically activated.