Gloria Steinem GOTV Events: Voter Campaign Strategy
Amendment 6 was a deceptive, anti-choice measure on the Florida ballot that would stop public funds from being used for any abortion. Grassroots organizers were working hard to educate voters about this deeply flawed amendment that would have altered the state constitution. Just before early voting began, we brought Gloria Steinem to Florida to host a series of community conversations as part of the “No on 6” campaign. We also planned to visit key congressional districts to discuss the specific ways crucial issues—from the economy and jobs to healthcare and women’s reproductive rights—affect our everyday lives.
Campaign challenges:
Florida is always an important place to discuss issues leading up to an election. Gloria first went to Florida in 1972 as a co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, and she was also in Palm Beach County the morning after the Gore-versus-Bush presidential election. Once we decided that returning to Florida was the right choice in 2012, the challenge came in determining exactly where to go because there was so much good work happening on the ground!
Campaign strategy:
We decided that the best use of the week on the ground would be to target a cross-section of locations—bigger cities like Orlando and Miami, and smaller areas like Stuart and Boca Raton—at events favored by grassroots organizers. We planned nine events in seven days across seven counties, ranging from a Mexican bingo night hosted by Mi Lola in Miami to a public conversation at the Lyric Theater in Stuart to morning coffee at a bagel shop in Port St. Lucie. One race we watched in particular was the 18th congressional district race, where Democrat Patrick Murphy was challenging Republican incumbent Allen West. Murphy said that he was so taken aback by some of the things West had been saying in Congress that he felt compelled to run against him.
Results:
Voters successfully defeated Amendment 6, and Patrick Murphy defeated Allen West. Groups organizing on the ground responsible for these wins included Pro-Choice Coalition of Broward County, Orlando Planned Parenthood, UCF student chapter NOW, League of Women Voters of Orange, Safespace, and MI-LOLA, among many others. On the last night of the presidential debates, we also arranged for Gloria to appear live on MSNBC in Boca Raton, Florida.
She knows there is no revolution without dancing.
“Claudette Silver has spent her life in cultural and political movements. Like Emma Goldman, she knows there is no revolution without dancing, and she is just the right person to organize both.”
—Gloria Steinem, Author & Feminist Icon