OUR MISSION
In 1968, then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon saw an opportunity to capitalize on backlash to the civil rights movement. Nixon ran on issues of states’ rights and law and order, playing specifically to suburban voters and white voters. The realignment of Southern whites to the Republican Party and consolidation of Black voters to the Democratic Party was underway; Nixon’s dog-whistle politics merely sped up the impact on voting patterns.
Sound familiar? It should. President Trump is taking a page from Nixon’s playbook, explicitly citing law and order in the wake of uprisings after George Floyd’s murder and ceding the federal government’s responsibility for COVID-19 to Governor’s who cite states’ rights.
In this moment, with Black voters and candidates playing a pivotal role in the 2020 elections, it’s time to take back the Southern Strategy. It’s time for a NEW Southern Strategy.
What is The Southern Strategy?
The Southern Strategy is a SuperPAC dedicated to the engagement of new and unlikely Black, young, and suburban women voters — voters at the heart of the emerging Democratic coalition across the South and in states and districts where the greatest barrier to electoral success is sufficient and sustained financial investment.
As other groups take on the important work of changing minds of voters on the margins, The Southern Strategy’s work centers around our proven ability to affect the behavior of sporadic voters who are almost universally excluded from the paid media and GOTV programs of Democratic campaigns and infrastructure.
We are confident this additive approach to politics and expanding the map by “growing the pie” is the most effective and efficient strategy to influence the 2020 elections in targeted states and districts. Our work today will set the stage for Democratic successes in federal, state, and local races in 2021, 2022, and beyond.