Mitch McConnell

With surging Obamacare enrollments, dismal polling numbers for the Senate’s top Republican, and now, an attorney general who won’t fight to keep a key part of Kentucky’s same-sex marriage ban, it’s worth asking the question: Is the Bluegrass State bluer than we all thought?…

Taken together, progressives are confident these signs point to a potential political shift on the horizon.

“From social issues like marriage equality to economic populism issues like increasing Social Security benefits, a populist agenda is popular even in a perceived red state like Kentucky,” said Laura Friedenbach, spokesperson for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, in an email to msnbc. “That’s great news for Democrats, and means we should stay on offense instead of worrying about defense.”

Check out the Top Ten Highlights of 2013 from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee!

It’s been a great year. Thanks to all of our bold progressive members for being part of it!

1. “Expand Social Security”

In July, we announced a big strategic shift: Instead of playing defense, we would rally around bills to EXPAND Social Security benefits.

Along with our allies, PCCC members deliveredAi??petitionsAi??to congressional offices around the nation. We releasedAi??pollsAi??showing this idea was popular by 2 to 1 in Kentucky and 3 to 1 in Texas!

After the Washington Post op-ed pageAi??attackedAi??”bold progressives” for leading the way on this issue, Elizabeth Warren made national news that day by endorsing Social Security expansion on the Senate floor (and in an email to PCCC members).

Nobel economist Paul Krugman writes, “a funny thing has happened in the past year or so. Suddenly, weai??i??re hearing open discussion of the idea that Social Security should be expanded, not cut.ai???

2. PCCC membersAi??Ai??Elizabeth Warren

When Elizabeth Warren called for students to get the same low interest rates as big banks, over 1000 professors (who are also PCCC members) endorsed the idea.

When Elizabeth Warren demanded bank regulators crack down on Wall Street crimes, PCCC members pressured the SEC to listen!

When Elizabeth Warren was attacked, PCCC members attacked back!

Warren’s hometown Boston GlobeAi??profiledAi??us recently. They wrote, “A group called Progressive Change Campaign Committee is waging the most visible of these pro-Warren crusades.”

The NationAi??writes, “Warrenai??i??s voice is amplified by groups like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which have identified her as their ‘north star’ in the fight to renew the Democratic Party. That scares corporate interests.”

Last night, Congress voted to end the government shutdown following two weeks of protests held around the country byAi??PCCC members and local activists to hold their Republican representatives responsible for the shutdown.

Our events took place in front of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) Louisville office, Rep. Sean Duffy’s (R-WI) Hudson office, Rep. Andy Barr’s (R-KY) Lexington office, Rep. Pat Meehan’s (R-PA) Springfield office, Rep. Lee Terry’s (R-NE) Omaha office, Rep. Jackie Walorski’s (R-IN) Mishawaka office, Rep. Daniel Webster’s (R-FL) Winter Garden office, and Rep. Mike Coffman’s (R-CO) Aurora office.

5 of these 8 Republicans changed their vote and supported yesterday’s deal to end the shutdown.

Senate and House Democratic leaders united their colleagues and stood firm against the Tea Party during the shutdown. Click here to thank your representative for standing firm!

Check out some of the media coverage and photos from our events pressuring Republicans below.

The events were coordinated with the help of our allies at Democracy for America, AFGE, AFL-CIO, Kentucky Jobs with Justice, Louisville Young Democrats, Progressives United, MoveOn.org, CREDO Action, USAction, and Center for Community Change.

Pressuring Rep. Pat Meehan (PA-7)Ai??”Protesters stood in the pouring rain outside Rep. Pat Meehan’s Springfield officeAi??Friday…Their message to the Republican congressman from Delaware County: You’re vulnerable, and don’t forget it.Ai??Only 28 percent of voters in Meehan’s moderate district think he’s doing a good job.” — Philly.com

Pressuring Rep. Daniel Webster (FL-10)Ai??”Angry constituents gathered outside Rep. Daniel Websterai??i??s (R-FL) Winter Garden officeAi??on Friday, to demand that he votes to end the government shutdown” — West OrlandoAi??News

Rep. Sean Duffy (WI-07)Ai??”30 constituents protested outside Duffy’s Hudson officeThursdayAi??to demand that he vote to end the government shutdown…The event …

Government workers and union members rallied Friday outside U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office to call for an end to the 11-day-old government shutdown that has idled hundreds of thousands of government workers across the nation.

About 50 people attended the rally that was organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has been critical of McConnell.

Karissa Gerhke, director of member engagement for the PCCC, laid the blame directly at the feet of McConnell, the minority leader in the Senate.

A protest occurred today in Louisville outside Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s office.

Local members of the Progressive change committee, the AFL-CIO, the Kentucky Jobs with Justice and several other groups gathered to call out McConnell and send him the message to “earn his paycheck and put our people back to work.”

Protesters said they wanted him to help re-open the government and give furloughed citizens the opportunity to continue to work. Furloughed workers also spoke at the event.

There’s been a lot of coverage about what members are hearing from their constituents about immigration during this recess, and rightly so. But there’s another huge decision Congress must make this fall: funding the government and avoiding the debt ceiling. These negotiations have always produced talk, from both Democrats and Republicans, about cutting safety net—and members of Congress are hearing from their constituents on that, too.

Meanwhile, a coalition of progressive groups—including the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America, Credo Action, MoveOn.org, Progressives United and Social Security Works—have mobilized to back a plan from Senators Harkin and Mark Begich to actually boost Social Security benefits.

This campaign reared its head in Kentucky this week, where the PCCC released an ad calling on Mitch McConnell to support an expansion of benefits.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) is the latest to pile on Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is facing a contentious re-election, with a new ad launching Thursday hitting the Kentucky Republican over Social Security benefits.

In the ad, auto worker Kirk Gillenwaters talks about the financial challenges he’s faced, and why he’s relying on the entitlement program as part of his retirement planning.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is launching a new television ad pushing embattled Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The ad features Kirk Gillenwaters, a Louisville, Ky., worker who has been employed at a Ford plant for decades.

“We work hard for these companies and we’re promised a secure retirement in return,” Gillenwaters says. “But our pensions are being cut and we need Social Security.”

“When Sen. Mitch McConnell supports cutting Social Security, he’s breaking a promise – and he’s hurting our families,” he continues.

A progressive group targeting Mitch McConnell of Kentucky released a television ad Thursday, calling on the Senate minority leader to expand Social Security as the powerful Republican fights to hold on to his seat next year.

The 30-second spot features Kirk Gillenwaters, who says he started working at the Ford plant in Louisville when he was 18.

The ad from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee will run into next week on Louisville broadcast. The group says it spent $21,000 on the initial buy, adding to the $100,000 it has already spent against McConnell in Kentucky.

Retired Kentuckian autoworker Kirk Gillenwaters of Louisville is counting on Social Security being there for him when he retires. He’s been working since age eighteen and will soon need the benefits he’s earned.

Kirk’s senator, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell (who calls himself the “proud guardian of gridlock”) wants to cut Social Security.

We’ve teamed up with Kirk to make a hard-hitting TV ad that shames McConnell for hurting the families he’s supposed to represent. Take 30 seconds to watch the add — and donate $3 to air it on Kentucky TV.

read more…

On Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gave the commencement speech at Kentucky’s Murray State University. A group of students is opposed to McConnell’s address, pointing to his record voting against support for higher education. Recall that McConnell, for example, opposed a student loan overhaul that removed big banks as a middleman in federal student lending.

TheyAi??started a petition that has 913 signatures and held demonstrations on campus against the pick. I talked to Murray State senior andAi??politicalAi??science major Devin Griggs, one of the organizers against McConnell who is starting a new progressive student group called CORE — Campus Organization for Racer Empowerment (the Racer is the mascot of the school).

“McConnell’sAi??voting record is completely anti higher education, anti education in general,” explained Griggs in his opposition to McConnell’s commencement address. CORE not only campaigned against McConnell’s address, but will also work to change the Board of Regents policy in the future regarding speakers.

CORE will be asking every Board of Regents member to in the future make sure that no public official Democrat or Republican can be featured as a commencement speaker to ensure that the event is not politicized.

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About 30 people attended a rally held by Moms Demand Action and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has aired ads attacking McConnell prior to the 2014 elections, when he will run for a sixth term. They stood in a light rain outside the Gene Snyder U.S. Courthouse and Customhouse, where McConnell’s office is located, carrying signs that said things like “Background Checks Save Lives” and “82% of Kentuckians Demand Common Sense Gun Laws.”

Protesters in Louisville are criticizing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for voting against a bill that would have expanded background checks for gun sales. A group of about 30 people, mostly women, held signs in front of McConnell’s Louisville offices on Monday afternoon. They dropped off a petition with 1,200 signatures that demanded the senator support “sensible gun reform.” McConnell voted against the bill last month, and it eventually failed to get a 60-vote majority needed to advance. The group included members from Moms Demand Action and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Video available here: http://on.aol.com/video/pccc-assault-weapons-ad-targets-mitch-mcconnell-517683712

Ahead of a Senate hearing this week on the proposed assault weapons ban, a liberal group is attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell with a new TV ad featuring a Kentucky gun owner. The ad is the second by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which now has pumped $100,000 on TV and online to criticize the Senate’s top Republican in his home state — well ahead of his 2014 re-election campaign.

A liberal group is launching its second ad attacking the Senate’s top Republican over gun control in the past month. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee’s spot features a Kentucky gun owner criticizing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for opposing an assault weapons ban.

A liberal group is again challenging U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s position on gun control in a commercial that began running Monday in Kentucky and Washington in advance of the Senate’s next hearing on guns.

The group Progressive Change Campaign Committee is spending $100,000 to run the ad for at least a week. It began airing Monday in Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green and Paducah markets plus Washington, D.C., as the Senate’s Judiciary Committee prepares for a hearing Wednesday on the “Assault Weapons Ban of 2013.”

It features Edmonson County resident Gary Nutt telling viewers that, as a hunter, he doesn’t see the point of owning semi-automatic assault weapons that can fire dozens of rounds quickly without needing a reload.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is on the wrong side of an assault weapons ban, a progressive group argues Monday in a new attack ad released in the congressman’s home state of Kentucky… The ad hits out at McConnell, up for re-election in 2014, for taking money from the gun industry. The ad debuts ahead of a Senate hearing this week on an assault weapons ban—something President Barack Obama’s administration wants after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The committee believes McConnell’s opposition to a ban could lead to loss of votes for him this year… The ad is set to run on broadcast and cable in Lexington, Louisville, Bowling Green and rural Paducah markets and has an initial buy of $25,000, according to the committee. Monday’s ad brings the total spent by the PCCC on McConnell to $100,000.

A progressive group attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on gun control is expanding its ad buy through Tuesday after receiving thousands of donations following the initial airing of the ad. The ad, launched by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, began airing earlier this week. Within the first 24 hours of its airing, PCCC raised over $25,000 from more than 1,500 small-dollar donations, and it has raised overall $50,000 from more than 3,000 donations since it began.

That money raised will go towards airing the ad during the upcoming Cardinals basketball game, the Sunday morning political talk shows in Lexington and Louisville, Ky., and to bracket the State of the Union in both Kentucky and Washington, D.C.