GOTV Makes the Difference:

How Arena-trained GOTV Organizers are Powering Democratic Turnout

Election Day is fast approaching, and Get Out the Vote efforts are in full swing. But at Arena, we started preparing for GOTV months ago. 

Anticipating that this year’s elections would be historically close, Arena set out this summer to train hundreds of GOTV organizers, ensuring that they had evidence-based best practices to reach Democratic voters and get them to the polls. Through in-depth, hands-on workshops, we taught GOTV organizers how to draft GOTV plans and calendars, develop GOTV messaging and scripts, target voters, manage data, budget, and select a tech stack. 

Now, these folks are in the field, driving turnout up and down the ballot and around the country, from the Harris-Walz campaign, to House and Senate battlegrounds, to state legislative races and ballot amendments. Here’s a look at their impact.

By the Numbers

The Stories Behind the Numbers

The participants in Arena’s GOTV workshops came from 32 states and are working on races from the local level up to the Presidential campaign. Here’s a look at some of the participants who joined us and the causes they are fighting for. 

Defeating Trump: This cycle almost 70 Arena-trained staff are working on the Harris-Walz campaign, and several of them joined us for the GOTV Workshops. They dug into data targeting and how to have impactful conversations at the doors. With two weeks to go, they’re now on the ground, converting the enthusiasm for the Harris-Walz team into votes. 

Flipping the U.S. House: This cycle, Arena-trained staff are managing seven red-to-blue Congressional campaigns, and holding dozens of other roles in these key races. One such staffer is Danielle Scott, who is supporting Sue Altman’s must-win NJ-07 Congressional campaign. In 2020, Biden won NJ-07 by almost 4 points, and Altman is primed to flip this ultra-competitive congressional seat. Danielle worked with Arena to craft Altman’s GOTV plan, and is now ready to flip this district blue.

Protection Abortion Access: In Florida, abortion is on the ballot, with Amendment 4 giving voters the opportunity to codify reproductive freedoms in the state constitution. We trained Taylor Aguilera, the Organizing Director at Floridians Protecting Freedom, helping her develop a GOTV plan for Yes on 4. Her team is now primed to motivate voters to codify access to abortion.

Maintaining Democratic Power at the Local Level: David O’Keefe attended an Arena candidate training in 2021 and, with our support, won his election to the Leon County Commission in Florida. This year, he is running for re-election. He joined our training to learn how to run effective GOTV efforts on a tight budget so that he can defend local Democratic power in red Florida. 

Building Democratic Power in Red States: Ohio, once a presidential battleground state, was overtaken by right-wing extremism, but with newly drawn fair maps, regaining power is finally within reach. We trained a cohort of Ohio House Democratic Caucus staff working on state legislative races, so that they can begin to rebuild Democratic power from the bottom up.

Making Moves in Texas: Despite not being a presidential battleground, Texas has 4,553 races on the ballot this year – the second highest number of any state. Participants joined us from Battleground Texas, the Tarrant County Democratic Party, and several key state legislative races to learn how to plan and budget for GOTV. With two weeks to go, Ted Cruz’s seat may be in play because of their efforts.

We’re not done yet!

Our GOTV workshops may have wrapped, but we are still actively supporting our GOTV organizers in the field. To date, they’ve logged more than 3,300 downloads of Arena’s GOTV tools and are actively leveraging the support of our training team through Arena office hours. We know that every vote counts, and we are here to help our GOTV organizers deliver victory.