As the year comes to a close, we hope you will join us in reflecting on and celebrating all that the Arena community has accomplished together in the 2024 campaign cycle.

The story of this year’s election is about so much more than what happened at the top of the ticket; it’s about thousands of individuals raising their hands, getting involved, and fighting for our communities and our country. 

This cycle, Arena-trained staff powered 600 campaigns and political organizations and delivered scores of victories across the country, up and down the ballot. In an extremely tough electoral environment, Arena-trained staff out-performed national trends and:

• Won in competitive battleground districts—from Pat Ryan’s commanding U.S. House victory in New York to Angie Craig’s definitive U.S. House victory in Minnesota;
• Made the difference on races with razor-thin margins—from Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin’s .3% victory in Michigan to Adam Gray’s 150 vote U.S. House victory in California; and
• Came out on top in states that Trump won—from Josh Stein’s gubernatorial victory in North Carolina to Tammy Baldwin’s Senate victory in Wisconsin.

These Democratic leaders will be more important than ever in a new Trump era, and these victories signal something important about our politics: The people who work on campaigns matter.

When races come down to the margin of effort, having diverse, professional, and well-trained teams translates into the difference between winning and losing.

This is why we have been working since 2016 to build the teams that will power Democratic victories and to ensure that they reflect the diversity of our country. Our effort is cumulative and ongoing, because we’re committed to building Democratic power for the long run.

Here are just a few of the milestones Arena hit in the 2024 campaign cycle:

• The community of Arena-trained staff and volunteers grew to 7,934 people—55% of them women, 52% BIPOC, and 37% members of the LGBTQ+ community;
• Arena Careers remained the go-to destination for people looking to work in politics, with 56,200 users of the Arena Jobs Board and 25,000 Daily Jobs Digest subscribers
• We topped 86,323 downloads from the Arena Toolbox while growing the suite of tools to 108 and enhancing 45 of the tools with new content from our training and careers work. 

These are more than just numbers. Behind each statistic is a person getting the training, career services, and on-the-job tools they need to run strategic campaigns and win. These are the people it will take to move past Trump and build enduring Democratic majorities.

Be sure to check out our Year in Review slideshow below to hear their stories and learn more.

Behind the scenes, our powerhouse team of nine worked to ensure that Arena is stronger than ever. Alongside our training, careers, and toolbox programming, we launched an internal CRM to streamline how we track and support the thousands of individuals we serve. We expanded our training content to address the most critical issues of our time — from how to combat mis and disinformation to how to harness the power and potential of artificial intelligence. We partnered with dozens of local, state, and national organizations to build organizing coalitions and embed our work in the places that matter. As we head into another Trump presidency, Arena is strong, confident, and poised to take on the biggest battles ahead.

We know that our community will be with us as we fight the big fights, because we have been there for them:

I learned so much from my time at Arena, gained some confidence in my transferable skills, and expanded my political vocabulary. I feel a sense of connection and belonging as an alum, which is no small thing.

Arena has been indispensable in every political job offer I have received.

Arena has provided some amazing training, particularly the management series. I felt prepared to manage the team and the project I’m working on now, in large part thanks to that training and the toolkit.

Arena has been an invaluable resource in my transition from campaign volunteer to a career in politics as a young woman of color.

As we look ahead to 2025, we are leading not with uncertainty and fear, but with faith and hope. We know—unequivocally–that the Arena community will be the backbone of the change we need, and that Team Arena will be here to support, strengthen, and grow that community for the fights ahead. There’s work to do; let’s keep building together.

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