State governments impact "whether children and mothers live or die."
Melissa Walker from The States Project on community giving
For a long time, I was under the illusion it was ok to describe myself as “not really political.” This was before I became a mother and became radicalized thanks to the seemingly endless laundry list of injustice and harm mothers and caregivers face in America.
Now, of course, I consider my work intrinsically political, but I still get very lost when it comes to political jargon and/or the nitty gritty of the American democratic process. To be embarrassingly honest, trying to understand politics sometimes feels akin to me trying to work out Algebra II equations with my dad under the glare of the overhead light at the kitchen table as a very mathematically confused adolescent.
So I’m grateful to Melissa Walker, head of Giving Circles at The States Project, for talking to me about how mothers and caregivers can become invested in collective financial donation to fight for maternal rights, child welfare, and a safer, more equitable world.
Admittedly, this type of conversation isn’t as fun as a WTF about silly baguette bags or as cathartic as a good momfluencer rant. But underneath all of my rants and fun/funny cultural commentary is the underlying truth that mothers are systematically unsupported and in constant danger of losing more and more fundamental human rights. Bitching about unrealistic standards perpetuated by picture-perfect momfluencers is meaningless unless we also come together as a collective and demand systemic change.
So! If part of your self-care routine includes coping with a constant state of rage vis á vis life in America, me too! If you (like me) also want to do something with that rage, read my interview with Melissa, and if you (like me) feel inspired and energized, join the In Pursuit of Clean Countertops Giving Circle. Together, we can have a huge impact.
How did you get into political activism, Melissa? And why do the states matter so much?
As background, I write young adult novels and middle grade novels. And I still think of that as my career even though I stopped doing it after Trump was elected. When that happened, I just felt like, I need to grab a hose for this fire.
In December of 2016, I went to a holiday party where my New York state senator was speaking. And it totally turned me around completely. Because I hadn’t known who went to Albany for me, even though I thought of myself as like, pretty well informed. And I started connecting the dots on a ton of things that you know, had happened under President Obama. The bathroom bill in North Carolina, the gun law that passed in Florida before passing in 25 other states. The Flint, Michigan water crisis, like, that's a Lansing problem, not a Washington DC problem. And like, all those things happened when Obama was President because he actually doesn't have any control over state issues and neither does Congress.
And so, in 2017, I watched as everyone worked on flipping the House, which was incredibly important. And yes, that work has to be done. I also watched as like, no one looked at state capitals, and the radical right continued to build major and foundational power there (and still are). So I think there's room for a real movement here on the left.
The States Project figures out where power can shift in any given year. We look at the flippable districts, and we try to get those districts to run fully funded campaigns, because candidates are incapable of winning without fully funded campaigns.
We focus on organizing by state legislative district because we need these purple districts. You know, Detroit's fine, we don't need to fund the state legislators running there. We need to find the state legislators running in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan to try to flip Lansing. We need these purple seats. So we target those seats.
I often say it is cheaper to change the balance of power in a state than it is to win a single competitive congressional seat because congressional races cost millions and millions of dollars and state legislative races just don't. And so, if we need three seats in Michigan, the total spend on that effort is going to be way less than like, you know, what Amy McGrath raised to fight Mitch McConnell. And it’s going to be arguably more impactful as well.
So what we've done with Giving Circles is put people together to do this very strategic political giving. We figure out which districts we need to be in, and which seats we need to target, which seats we need to protect, because of course, the right is working to flip seats back that we've just won.
How is contributing to a Giving Circle different from (for example) donating money as particular issues arise? I mean, I absolutely donated to Planned Parenthood once Roe was overturned and I absolutely donated to Sandy Hook Promise following the Texas school shooting.
What happens typically in terms of political giving is called “emotional giving.” It’s very reactive. And it's like, $25 here after this tragedy, or Beto made me cry, I'm gonna give $50 to his campaign, or this legislation is dangerous, here’s another $15, and that's totally understandable. With Giving Circles, there’s also an emotional part which is, I'm doing this with my friends, I'm doing this my community. I am one of many people who care. I’m not alone.
We put our money into the same pot, we get a report from the States Project after elections that says like, Here's what we won. And here's what we lost. Here's our tactics moving forward. And here's what we learned. There’s real transparency on where the money went and what it did.
And this type of giving is also strategic because you’re doing it together. As a community, you create a path to action in a moment when action feels sort of impossible, right?
Think of the Supreme Court. Like, if we care about the Supreme Court, we should care about state legislatures because the Supreme Court doesn't write laws, they rule on laws that come out of state legislatures, right? It's a Mississippi law, for example, that took down Roe. And when we shift power in state legislatures, what rises up to the Supreme Court are things like gay marriage, and you know, things that we want to push forward. State legislatures are meant to be laboratories for democracy, not laboratories for all of these terrible things. So this is a way to not influence the Supreme Court (which is appointed) but to influence what they rule on, right?
Okay, so many questions. I'll zoom way out first. Do you guys basically support whichever progressive Democratic candidate is running?
The critical thing is to take the majority in the state because taking the majority will help with gun safety. Taking the majority will help abortion rights. Taking the majority will move all these issues forward. If we don't win those seats, and we don't take the majority, nothing moves on those issues.
And you strategically only look for places in which you can make a meaningful impact, right? You’re not working in obviously blue districts or obviously red districts, right?
I will say we we have different goals in different states and sometimes the goal is to defend against a Republican supermajority. So for example, Nebraska is one seat away from a Republican supermajority, North Carolina is two seats away from a Republican supermajority. We need to make sure they don't get that supermajority because it's the only way we can block the worst things from happening in those states.
Talk to me about the difference between a majority and a super majority.
It’s a different number in every state, but essentially, when you have a supermajority in a state, you have a lot more power to pass things and/or to overcome a governor's veto. So North Carolina is a good example. Like, now they have a Democratic Governor, and the Republicans do not have a supermajority. So even though Democrats are in the minority, when Republicans pass something, Governor Cooper can veto it, and it's dead. But if Republicans do get a supermajority, then they can override his veto anytime they want.
Which issues impacting mothers and caregivers (universal preschool, paid leave, equal compensation in the workplace, and abortion rights, for example) are impacted by state politics?
Every single one of them. Every domestic issue is decided and started in state legislatures. The Affordable Care Act is a good example. There are still 12 states that haven't expanded Medicaid because they have Republican legislatures and they don't want to. And when something passes at the state level, it changes instantly. It's so much faster than Congress. So in 2018, we were in Maine, and we helped flip the state senate. As soon as that happened, teacher pay increases were passed, paid leave was passed, automatic voter registration passed, expanded abortion access passed, environmental protections passed, bans to conversion therapy passed. It was incredible. And it happened in one session.
Wow.
That is the kind of change you can see right away when you change the majority in a state. And it's instant.
I always think about, like, voting rights. And it's like, Of course, I hope that there's a federal bill that we're able to get through on voting rights at some point. But the truth is that state legislatures who don't implement it will find ways to suppress the vote in other ways. And until we can change those majorities in state legislatures, it is not foundationally happening.
Are there other organizations doing this type of work? It’s just so infuriating to see how much organization and power consolidation is being done by the right, you know? What else is the left doing?
The truth is (and this is gonna sound like a scary cartoon) the right has, like, a cabal of billionaires and they don't even have to organize that many people. It's like, they can convene 10 people, the DeVos’, The Kochs, etc. And it’s like, Okay, we're going to take these states, we’ll pour money into your industry, and you’ll get all your money back. Don't worry about it. And everyone's like, Cool, I'm in for a billion. That really happens. And it doesn't happen on our side.
How do state politics work to make things better for mothers and kids in ways that the federal government doesn’t or simply can’t?
Just this morning, there was an article in the Times that outlined how states that have banned abortion have among the nation's weakest social services for children and have higher rates of death for mothers. So whoever is in charge of your state government directly impacts your life expectancy. And whether children and mothers live or die. It’s wild.
In terms of activism and political donation, I feel like people (like me!) get so burned out from donating and feeling as though our money is doing nothing meaningful. Every day we wake up and another terrible thing is happening, and it’s like, wow my $5 is pointless. Can you talk about this at all?
One of our big goals is to help people see where there money is going and what it’s doing. So you can always go to your Giving Circle and see how much money has been collectively raised (which is encouraging - to see what coming together can do!) and also get an impact report.
Here’s a personal story. My mom is such an emotional political giver. In the past, she would get mad or sad about the news, and give however much to this cause, and however much to that cause, right? Now, I have her sit with a notebook by her computer, and whenever she gets mad and wants to reactively give, I ask her to please just write down what she wants to give in that particular moment. And at the end of the month, she gives that sum to her Giving Circle. And it really adds up throughout the year, you know?
Otherwise, it can feel like you’re throwing your money into so many black holes. It doesn’t feel good. You can also share updates in Giving Circles, like, We just endorsed 10 candidates in Arizona, we sent them $10,000 each.
Talk to me about Roe and state power specifically.
I think sometimes people are like, Well, my state's okay in terms of abortion access. But until we get more states, none of us are okay. We're working in Minnesota this year. And like, Minnesota is the only state in that whole area that is now protecting abortion, but if the Republicans flip back the state house, it’s gone. Abortion rights are gone in Minnesota and that directly impacts six other states. It’s like dominoes.
How do you personally cope with just, like, the existential fatigue of living in America as a woman and mother today?
When I first started doing this work in 2017 and 2018, we broke the supermajority in North Carolina, flipped four state house seats in Arizona, flipped six seats in Michigan, flipped Maine seats. And I was like, Oh, my god, this works! And it's amazing. And we're just gonna put everything back. And then in 2020, we hit a wall. It was really hard. It felt like such a loss. And our political director called me after a meeting we had post-election. I had been crying during the meeting, and he was like, Hey, I noticed you were upset. And I was like, Yes I'm upset! We lost! The Giving Circles had worked so hard, and we all wanted to win, you know? And he was like, I know, but you're kind of new to working in politics, right? And in politics, you fight and you lose, you fight and you lose, you fight and you lose, you fight and you win, you fight and you lose. The only consistent part is the fight.
And I share that story because I live a very comfortable life in Brooklyn. And I have two daughters - sorry, I’m getting a little emotional - I have two daughters who will have access to abortion and reproductive rights, right? But other people’s children will not have that access. So I will be in the arena with dirt on my face because there's no option not to fight. And believe me, I don't have any, like, Pollyannish hopes about what's happening. It’s really scary. But there’s no chance I’m gonna just sit down. Even if we lose.
Thank you so much Melissa.
Both Melissa and I cried towards the end of the interview when she brought up her daughters. I too have a daughter, and like Melissa, because of where I live (and my socioeconomic status and the color of my skin) I will probably never have to experience the hell of witnessing my daughter need healthcare and be unable to access it. But so many mothers (and daughters) in America are denied this basic right.
So yes, it’s fucking bleak out there, but I am continuously inspired and energized and pulled out of my tendency towards hopelessness by people like Melissa. I’m also so grateful that none of us have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to political donation and progressive activism! There are already so many more-informed-than-me people working in tandem with well organized, highly effective organizations fighting the fight. All we have to do is get on board.
Here’s a button for the In Pursuit of Clean Countertops Giving Circle (join me!)
And if you want to start a Giving Circle of your own to reach your own community, here’s a link to do that. Or just share this newsletter widely! I appreciate it!
Additional resources
Here's a podcast about the States Project Giving Circles
This quick video highlights the Maine story Melissa shared -- two big Giving Circles raised $175K to help flip the state senate, and policies changed instantly.
Here is an impact report from 2021.
And here is information on the states that are in play this cycle
Here are a few examples of policies that impact women and children so much, all of which are moving (or not) at the state level: