the 2024 election
To our beloved community,
Together, we are grieving the losses and experiencing a range of emotions. Many of us gathered in Portland a few days after the election to lean on each other. (Special thanks to Indivisible Oregon’s Chair, Jeff Kidder, who shared these words.) We encourage you to continue to find ways to come together, to find strength in one another, whether with us or your other communities. We are not alone.
As many of you know, Indivisible Oregon was founded in the weeks following the 2016 election, when a few of us “regular people” came together to take action. We discovered “The Indivisible Guide to Resisting the Trump Agenda” and put these ideas into practice. As we did so, we were adding our contributions to those of countless activists who were already working toward a more just society, and we were following in the footsteps of those who have been doing this work for generations.
We are proud of the work we’ve done since then — including in this election cycle. For eight years, we’ve been activating volunteers, advocating to our Members of Congress, and working to elect our chosen leaders by knocking doors, phonebanking, and writing letters. Together, we flipped the House in 2018. We defeated Trump and won a federal trifecta in 2020. We beat back the much-vaunted “red wave” of 2022.
This year’s election didn’t yield the results that we needed nationwide.
But here in Oregon, our hard work and persistence delivered. We shone a bright light amid the darkness.
In 2024, our volunteers:
Wrote over 65,000 letters to swing voters – and around 165,000 when combined with our partner organizations
Contacted well over 10,000 swing voters at the doors and over the phones during events led by Indivisible Oregon — and far more when combined with campaign-led events
Organized 50 events to engage volunteers and mobilize voters, including letter parties, canvasses, phonebanks, and community meetings
Our work paid off.
We defeated a MAGA Republican and elected a pro-democracy champion who is also Oregon’s first Black U.S. Representative: Janelle Bynum (OR5)
This victory belongs to us, the volunteers. As of this writing, Janelle won by roughly 2.8% or 10,500 votes – a “field margin,” delivered by knocking doors and calling voters. (For scale: in the last 2 weeks, volunteers knocked 75,000 doors for Janelle.)
Oregon volunteers turned out for Janelle in greater numbers than most every other swing Congressional district in the U.S., week after week, according to the Bynum campaign
We defended Oregon's other competitive congressional race (OR6), re-electing Representative Andrea Salinas
We defended the competitive congressional race across the river (WA3), where our volunteers first teamed up with locals to run canvasses and knock doors in 2018
We called swing voters in Arizona, where our State Legislative candidates are poised to win and our Congressional candidate came within a handful of votes
We have so much to proud of.
Over the past 8 years, together, we have grown our political organizing skills, our capacity, and our relationships with other grassroots partners. We have helped Oregon grow into a powerful hub of anti-MAGA, pro-democracy activism.
As we look ahead, we encourage you to do what’s right for you. You may need to take a break from activism to catch your breath. Or you may be ready to take action right now.
If you’re ready to act:
In the words of Kamala Harris:
“On the campaign, I would often say when we fight, we win. But here's the thing. Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn't mean we won't win. The important thing is don't ever give up. Don't ever stop trying to make the world a better place. You have power. And don't you ever listen when anyone tells you something is impossible because it has never been done before.”
When we join together, a better future is possible. We look forward to writing the next chapter with you.
Onward.
The Indivisible Oregon Organizing Team
