Press Coverage

When Lessig launched Mayday, the consultants he envisioned employing were the sort of high-priced Washington hands who cut issue ads for billionaires on behalf of their pet candidates. In the months since then, however, Mayday’s understanding of “bad-ass campaign shops” has evolved. Mayday has now essentially outsourced oversight of the $1 million it’s investing in South Dakota, as well as $3 million in other races, to a nonprofit grassroots outfit called the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), which styles itself in opposition to the professional consultant class.

The typical media consultant takes a 15 percent commission out of any media buy a campaign makes—potentially millions of dollars in a statewide race. Right off the bat, PCCC negotiated a zero-commission deal with the three ad consultants it retained. (They will receive a flat fee instead.) The typical consultant tends to favor slick, highly-produced ads. PCCC insists on ads featuring local voters—often Republicans—which it unearths from its list of nearly one million members, distributed across every congressional district in the country. The typical campaign uses some combination of paid staff, robots, and volunteers to encourage voters to turn up on Election Day, but it keeps their efforts separate, and the campaigns often lack a critical mass of volunteers needed to make calls efficiently. PCCC, using its “Call Out the Vote” program, can seamlessly supplement the campaigns’ own efforts with calls from the humans on its membership list, providing that critical mass continuously. And because the list is so extensive, it can make calls at enormous volume in a very short period of time. It recently placed 23,000 get-out-the-vote calls in a single night in Minnesota, a scale the typical statewide campaign often achieves in a week.

For six months, frustrated White House aides have been promising that President Obama would do more than just raise money for embattled Democratic candidates, that he would set out a message that could carry those candidates to the finish line Nov. 4th. On Thursday, he finally did that with a speech at Northwestern University that offered a stout defense of his record and tried to chart an economic course forward.

Coming only 33 days before Election Day and long after the dynamic has been set in most of the contested races, it may prove ineffective, particularly if the president does not follow through and repeat his message in the days ahead. Indeed, Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee warned Thursday that it is “possibly too little too late for Democrats on the ballot who would have benefited from a strong economic populist message all year long.” Green has long championed a more aggressive stance by Obama and calls economic populism “a political winner.”

A progressive group aligned with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has outlined a plan to build a “firewall” around Warren’s staunchest allies running for Senate in 2014. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has raised more than $163,000 to support Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), and Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), lawmakers the group contends are critical to preserving Warrens’ populist vision. PCCC will officially endorse Merkley today, and it’s already raised nearly $70,000 for him.

“Jeff Merkley is one of the boldest leaders in the Senate because he isn’t afraid to take on the big fights like breaking up the big banks, expanding Social Security benefits, defending our privacy, and fighting to ensure Senate rules represent the will of the people,” said the group’s cofounder, Stephanie Taylor, in a statement.

A group aligning itself with Elizabeth Warren is endorsing and raising money for U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, whose election in 2008 predates Warren’s to the Senate from Massachusetts in 2012.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee says it has 21,709 Oregon members and nearly 1 million nationally. It has launched a national fundraising appeal, and says it has collected $69,400 for Merkley from 7,260 mostly small donors in Oregon.

Like Warren, Merkley has taken on Wall Street, and championed the creation of a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau that Warren proposed as part of 2010 legislation overhauling the financial system.

Progressive groups such as the PCCC and 350 Action are pushing House GOP energy chair Fred Upton to contribute cash raised from energy interests to a fund for cleaning up a gas line rupture in Michigan. The challenge for liberals: To push big money’s influence on to the national agenda — see the attacks on the Kochs — at a time when action by Congress is hopeless and SCOTUS is dismantling protections.

Progressive groups, transparency advocates and the whistleblower behind the Pentagon Papers are coming out strongly against a Senate bill to reform the National Security Agency (NSA), arguing the reforms it contains are inadequate.

“Our fundamental civil rights — the human rights we hold dear — are not adequately protected by either the Senate or House versions of the USA Freedom Act,” wrote the groups and individuals, including the Sunlight Foundation, Credo Action, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Daniel Ellsberg and Thomas Drake.

Candidate for New York Governor Zephyr Teachout called the Albany results “extraordinary,” and said they were reflective of the strengths of unions, specifically the Public Employees Federation, the white-collar government employee union that endorsed Teachout.

Teachout also thanked the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the National Organization for Women and the Sierra Club, who all endorsed her.

This developing movement, now often referred to as “the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party” (a variation on the late Senator Paul Wellstone’s declaration, “I’m from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party”), is focused on many of the issues that Warren raised in her electrifying July speech at Netroots Nation, where she vowed to fight for wage hikes, fair trade, pay equity, affordable education, and ironclad protections for Social Security and Medicare. “This is a fight over economics, a fight over privilege, a fight over power,” the Massachusetts senator said. “But deep down, it is a fight over values. These…are progressive values. These are America’s values. And these are the values we are willing to fight for.

Many of these candidates identify as “bold progressives,” borrowing a phrase from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Along with groups like Democracy for America and Progressive Democrats of America, which have formed over the past decade to push the party to the left, the PCCC argues that Democrats can’t win by proposing to be kinder, gentler Republicans. While there’s a general acceptance that support for reproductive rights and marriage equality benefits Democratic candidates in much of the country, the PCCC argues that this appeal can be strengthened and expanded with economic-populist stances. The PCCC doesn’t just defend Social Security; it backs candidates like Coleman who propose to expand it. And when “Third Way” centrists grumble that Warren and her allies are engaging in a risky politics, the PCCC counters with polling numbers that show compromising on economic issues is the real risk, since it blurs the distinctions between the two parties.

The Senate advanced a constitutional amendment meant to reverse two recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign spending after Republicans opted to back proceeding to debate on the measure.

Democratic political groups, such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), pushed hard for a vote, saying the issue motivates Democrats to go out to the polls.

“Citizens United gives corporate special interests the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money in our elections,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who is up for reelection this November. “It’s wrong and I’ve been fighting it since the day the Supreme Court announced its egregious decision.”

Progressive Democrats had reason to celebrate Sen. Brian Schatz’s victory over Rep. Colleen Hanabusa late last week in Hawaii’s hurricane-delayed Democratic Senate primary: Schatz is one of a few prominent candidates nationally to call for a major expansion of Social Security benefits.

“This is a huge victory for the populist Elizabeth Warren wing of American politics, and a big blow to the corporate win,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a political advocacy group that strongly backed Schatz’s primary campaign. “Brian Schatz won by campaigning on a bold platform of expanding Social Security benefits.”

PCCC members contributed over $73,000 to Schatz’s campaign, and the organization ran online ads in the final days of the election that stressed the stakes for Social Security, according to a spokesperson.

Hawaii has lately not been much of a paradise for Democrats, who are divided against each other in a Senate primary that still isn’t decided almost a week after Election Day.

The race, between incumbent Sen. Brian Schatz and a sitting member of Congress, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, has split Democrats in Washington and Hawaii.

“There is a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party taking place between the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party and the corporate wing of the Party,” said Laura Friedenbach of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which endorsed Schatz and has run ads supporting him.

“The contrast is clear: Brian Schatz was one of the first U.S. Senators to support legislation to expand Social Security benefits, and his opponent Colleen Hanabusa voted for the Simpson-Bowles plan to cut Social Security benefits,” Friedenbach added.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched an “overtime” fundraising effort on Monday to help Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz defeat Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in the bitter Democratic primary, which is still too close to call.

Voters cast their ballots on Saturday, and as of Sunday afternoon Schatz was leading by less than 1,700 votes; over 230,000 were cast, according to the Washington Post. Due to a tropical storm, not all votes were counted, and the election was postponed in two districts in the Puna region which have about 8,000 voters, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat.

“The funds will go straight to the Schatz campaign to fund their grassroots efforts in those precincts,” said Laura Friedenbach, a PCCC spokeswoman.

The PCCC, which says it has already raised $67,000 for Schatz’s campaign, told supporters that ensuring Schatz’s victory was important for the “Elizabeth Warren wing” of the Democratic party.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) officially endorsed outsider New York gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout on Tuesday in her Democratic primary battle against incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo. PCCC is the first national fundraising organization to publicly back Teachout.

The group’s co-founder Stephanie Taylor sent an email to her membership Tuesday that referenced a growing scandal over Gov. Cuomo’s alleged interference with an anti-corruption commission. Taylor also characterized Cuomo as a “corporate Democrat serving big-money donors.”

“New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, one of the worst corporate Democrats in America, is caught up in an ethics scandal — and now, a cover-up,” Taylor wrote.

The email memo referred to Zephyr Teachout as “one of the most wonderful progressive thinkers, organizers, and advocates in America.”

At a high-profile gathering of progressives this week, Hillary Clinton was tolerated, Barack Obama was pitied, and Elizabeth Warren was treated like a hero.

The annual liberal confab known as Netroots Nation brought together around 3,000 activists converged for several days of campaign training, a protest or two, and speeches from Warren, Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats.

Elizabeth Warren stole the show this week with her tough messages to Wall Street and Republicans. The Massachusetts senator insists she’s not running in 2016, but the conference made clear that progressives will hold midterm and presidential candidates to the populist standard she has set.

A case in point: the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, an activist group that touts itself as being from the “Warren wing of the Democratic Party,” is seeking to organize in New Hampshire and Iowa,”to make sure every presidential candidate is asked whether they agree with Warren on key economic populist issues like expanding Social Security benefits, taking on Wall Street, and eliminating student loan debt,” spokeswoman Laura Friedenbach said.

At Netroots Nation, the country’s largest gathering of liberal activists, people like to say they belong to the “Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party.”

The Massachusetts senator received a rock-star reception here Friday, a sign of her power to rally the party’s left flank at a time when Democrats are starting to look toward the post- Obama era.

While Ms. Warren says she isn’t running for president, many who are energized by her populist message on financial regulation, entitlement programs and other issues believe she can help push whomever is the party’s nominee—presumed right now to be Hillary Clinton —to the left.

Many at Netroots Nation criticize Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state, for being too close to Wall Street and too distant from the Democrats’ liberal base. Adam Green, the founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has raised $1 million for liberal candidates in 2014, said his group will be pressuring Democrats running for president to adopt Ms. Warren’s agenda.

A leading grassroots group announced a big fundraising haul to help Democratic candidates ahead of the midterm elections.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee said Wednesday that it raised over $1 million this campaign cycle. The report comes a day before the kickoff of Netroots Nation, the largest annual gathering of progressives in the country.

The group bills itself as the Elizabeth Warren side of the Democratic Party, and will have a significant presence at the four-day liberal gathering surrounding the Massachusetts senator and liberal icon’s keynote address.

A liberal grassroots group that represents “the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party” announced Wednesday that it has raised $1 million for Warren’s allies and other progressive candidates in the 2014 midterms.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee announced its fundraising milestone on the opening day of the Netroots Nation conference, an annual gathering of liberal activists being held this year in Detroit, where Warren will deliver a keynote address on Friday.

The group plans to use its war chest, most of it was raised in small-dollar donations, to help an array of Senate and House candidates who espouse the economic populism championed by Warren.

Victories like these have led the Progressive Change Campaign Committee to declare vindication for its view that Democrats win when they campaign on a platform of muscular liberalism. ai???A message of economic populism is what actually excites voters and drives them to the polls,ai??? Adam Green, PCCCai??i??s co-founder, told me. ai???Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot if they donai??i??t embrace it.ai???

PCCC supported the winning candidates in these races and funneled donations to them. The group also supported an incumbent California congressman, Mike Honda, who faced a challenge from a former Obama administration appointee, Ro Khanna; Honda finished 22 points ahead of Khanna, but the two will face off again in November thanks to California’s nonpartisan primary system. And in a fourth primary, the free-for-all battle for the California seat vacated by retiring Representative Henry Waxman, the group didnai??i??t endorse a candidate but urged its members to vote against former Los Angeles Controller Wendy Greuel, a former Republican whom they painted as supported by corporate interests. Greuel lost to Ted Lieu, whose message of raising wages and easing student debt progressives applauded.

The increasingly powerful Progressive Change Campaign Committee is pushing Democratic candidates closely aligned with Ms. Warrenai??i??s views while hawking T-shirts with the message: ai???Iai??i??m from the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party.ai???

The campaign committee and other progressive groups have made clear that Democrats running for president in 2016 ai??i?? including the partyai??i??s presumed front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton ai??i?? will be judged against Ms. Warren.

ai???The Elizabeth Warren wing of American politics is on the rise. From the moment Elizabeth Warren set foot in Washington, she changed the national conversation by fearlessly standing up to powerful interests on behalf of everyday people ai??i?? fighting to make college affordable, expand Social Security benefits, and reform Wall Street,ai??? said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. ai???President Obama and Democratic candidates nationwide are embracing Warrenai??i??s economic populist message because it is popular with Americans and is what our nation needs.ai???

A furious Elizabeth Warren is heading to Kentucky to take Mitch McConnell to task for leading Senate Republicans in blocking her bill allowing refinancing on student loans.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has coordinated with Warren on a series of events supporting the student loan bill, gathered nearly 85,000 signatures to deliver to Congress in support of the legislation.

“Any Republican who voted against this bill voted against students and voted against our economy,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of PCCC. “They just handed Democrats a huge opportunity. Progressive candidates are already campaigning all over the country on this issue.”

On Tuesday, in competitive primaries from New Jersey to Iowa to California, voters chose bold progressive Democrats over more conservative and corporate Democrats, handing big victories to the ai???Elizabeth Warren wingai??? of the Democratic Party.

Indeed, it was Progressive Super Tuesday. And it is the latest chapter in a larger story weai??i??ve seen play out in American politics since the Wall Street economic wreck.

Thereai??i??s a rising economic populist tide in America, sweeping into office leaders like Senator Warren, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, and a growing bloc of progressives in Congress.

In the New Jersey Democratic primary, state Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman defeated state Sen. Linda Greenstein in the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D), taking 42 percent of the vote to Greenstein’s 28 percent. Watson Coleman won by yoking Greenstein to Gov. Chris Christie (R).

In California’s open primary, state Sen. Ted Lieu knocked out fellow Democrat and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel in the run for the seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D). Lieu came in second with 19 percent of the vote; Greuel was third with 16.8 percent. (Lieu will face the top vote-getter, a Republican, in the general election.) He has campaigned on issues like raising the minimum wage, protecting the social safety net and keeping student loan interest rates low.

U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D), also of California, defeated fellow Democrat Ro Khanna, a favorite of the tech industry, in the state’s open primary. Honda took 49 percent of the vote to Khanna’s 27 percent. Because they were the two top vote-getters, they’ll face off again in the general election. Honda was endorsed by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC).

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has released a new video comparing the Federal Communications Commissionai??i??s new plans for Internet “fast lanes” to “the laggiest game youai??i??ve ever played.” The video, made by animation firm Pixel Valley Studio, delivers the liberal group’s call for members (and the Internet community at large) to sign a petition urging the FCC to reclassify the Internet as a public utility like telephone service.

Doing so would allow the agency to use Title II of the Telecommunications Act to regulate the sector. Without that reclassification, the agency has no authority over broadband providers – according to the Appeal Court ruling in Verizon v. FCC. In that case Verizon won because a panel of judges determined that the FCC has no authority under the law.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has been protesting FCC Chairman Tom Wheelerai??i??s current plans for net neutrality rules through the website www.NoSlowLane.com, which debuted earlier this month. They highlight the promise President Obama made during his 2008 campaign that he would only support FCC commissioners who believed in the concept, which calls for all traffic to be treated equally online.

A NEW TARGET FOR THE LEFT: Itai??i??s Senator Claire McCaskill, who claims the problem is not that billionaires are buying elections, but that so much of the money is secret. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee today will email 12,000 members in Missouri and urge them to pressure McCaskill to reaffirm her support for public campaign finance reform.

If the only problem is that the money is secret, that would appear to mean there is no problem with unlimited donations, if they are accompanied with full disclosure ai??i?? a position held by many Republicans.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is endorsing three House Democratic candidates on the grounds that they support expanding Social Security and are taking on Dems who would cut it, a sign of the leftai??i??s determination to make the idea of a Social Security expansion into a key intraparty issue.