Stand Up America

Stand Up America is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization based in New York City focused on using grassroots advocacy to stand up to corruption and voter suppression and build a more representative democracy.[1]

Stand Up America
Formation2016 (2016)
FoundersSean Eldridge
Type501c4
FocusResisting Donald Trump's agenda
Location
  • New York, NY
WebsiteStandUpAmerica.com

The organization was founded by Sean Eldridge in the weeks after the 2016 U.S. presidential election as a Facebook community, but has since evolved into one of the country's largest grassroots organizations with a community of over two million progressives.[2]

History and organization

Stand Up America was founded after the 2016 election to provide progressives a platform to take action to oppose Donald Trump's agenda. Within weeks of launching, the community quickly grew to over one million members, and has since grown to include over two million progressives[3] from every congressional district in the country.

Since its founding the group has registered 100,000 voters, driven over 1.4 million constituent calls to federal and state lawmakers, mobilized tens of thousands of protestors, and recruited 8,000 remote volunteers.[4]

The group works to pass "bold reforms at the state and federal level that will make [American] government more responsive to the will of the people and enable a progressive agenda to pass—including automatic voter registration, public financing of our elections, unrigging our courts, combating gerrymandering and voter suppression, and enacting a National Popular Vote."[5]

Federal advocacy

Democracy reform and voting rights

In early 2021, the group announced[6] that it was shifting its focus to supporting a number of bills that would end voter suppression, add millions of voters to the rolls, combat corruption at the highest levels of American government, and reduce the influence of money in elections, including:

  1. The For the People Act
  2. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act
  3. Statehood for the District of Columbia
  4. The Protecting Our Democracy Act[7]

The group has long championed efforts to end the legislative filibuster, both to pass voting rights reforms and to stop efforts by Republican senators to block progressive legislation from passing the Senate.

Election security funding

In response to Russia's attack on the 2016 presidential election, Stand Up America launched a campaign in August 2019 pressuring Congress to approve election security funding to help states to update outdated voting machines.[8] The group reports that their members made more than 120,000 calls to the Senate demanding the funding, leading to a bipartisan group of lawmakers allocating $425 million in funding in the 2020 appropriations bill.[9]

In March 2020, the group shifted focus to support efforts in Congress to provide states with election assistance funding amid the COVID-19 pandemic to protect Americans' right to vote.[10] The group helped secure $400 million in federal funds for mail-in voting and expanded early voting in states.[11]

Impeaching Trump

In May 2017, the group launched a national campaign demanding an independent investigation into Trump's ties to Russia and foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election. Following the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the group worked to educate the public about the investigation's result.

In May 2019, after the conclusion of the investigation the release of its redacted report, Stand Up launched a nationwide campaign[12] seeking to pressure Congress to immediately begin a formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. The campaign, which relied heavily on digital organizing tactics, drove 360,000 constituent calls to Congress and included organizing in-district actions during what the group called ‘Impeachment August.’[13]

The group also helped mobilize hundreds of thousands of Americans at the “Nobody Is Above The Law” rallies[14] the eve before Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives. As Trump's impeachment trial unfolded in the Senate, Stand Up continued to work with a bipartisan coalition to pressure Republican senators to convict Trump,[15] and joined Public Citizen, Common Cause, and others in planning over 300 "Reject The Cover-Up" rallies to protest Trump's acquittal.[16]

In January 2021, the group joined dozens of peer organizations in calling for the impeachment, removal, and disqualification of Donald Trump a second time following the events of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump's tax returns

The group helped organize the national Tax March on April 15, 2017, which called for the release of Trump's tax returns. Since 2017, Stand Up America has been one of the leading groups pushing federal lawmakers to obtain and release Trump's tax returns.[17] In 2019, Stand Up also led a coalition of activists and advocates in New York seeking to pass legislation that would provide Congress the ability to request Trump's state income taxes.[18]

State-based advocacy

In 2020, Stand Up America began organizing in Colorado in support of Proposition 113 and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a nationwide effort to ensure that the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in the nation as a whole becomes president.[19] Colorado voters passed the ballot measure by a 52-to-48 margin.[20]

The group has also worked with organizations like All Voting Is Local, Common Cause, and the Center for Secure and Modern Elections to protect ballot access and combat voter suppression in multiple states, including Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.[21]

Supporting progressive candidates

During the 2020 presidential election, Stand Up reached more than 25 million Americans[22] to help get out the vote in a dozen presidential and Senate battleground states, registering 100,000 voters and helping 100,000 others vote by mail or find their polling place.

References
  1. "Stand Up America". Stand Up America. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
  2. "Stand Up America: About Us". Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  3. EDT, Ramsey Touchberry On 5/28/19 at 10:27 AM (2019-05-28). "Liberal activist group seeks to pressure House Democrats into impeaching Trump". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  4. "About". Stand Up America. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  5. "Stand Up America's Year In Review". Stand Up America. 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  6. "Stand Up America Announces Priorities For President Biden's First 100 Days, Urges Congress To Act On Accountability and Democracy Reform". Stand Up America. 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  7. "SUA Endorses The Protecting Our Democracy Act, Applauds House Democrats For Fighting Corruption". Stand Up America. 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  8. Connolly, Griffin (2019-09-04). "Progressive group spending $100,000 to pressure McConnell, vulnerable GOP senators on election security". Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  9. Collier, Kevin. "Congress to approve $425 million for election security upgrades". CNN. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  10. UTC, Alex Seitz-Wald79d ago / 8:13 PM. "As pandemic throws elections into chaos, advocates call for national vote-by-mail". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  11. Miller, Maggie (2020-03-25). "Senate includes $400M for mail-in voting in coronavirus spending deal". TheHill. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  12. "New activist campaign puts impeachment pressure on House Democrats". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  13. "Progressive Groups Plan To Make House Democrats' Summer Vacation All About Impeachment". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  14. Karanth, Sanjana (2019-12-17). "Protesters Nationwide Demand Trump's Ouster Ahead Of House Impeachment Vote". HuffPost. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  15. Brodey, Sam (2019-12-24). "Democratic Groups Plot to Make Impeachment Trial Painful for GOP". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  16. Bote, Joshua. "Anti-Trump protesters rally across the nation after impeachment acquittal". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  17. Connolly, Griffin; Connolly, Griffin (2019-01-24). "Progressive groups push Democrats to full-court press for Trump's taxes". Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  18. Jagoda, Naomi (2019-05-07). "Liberal group urges passage of New York bill allowing Congress access to Trump's state tax returns". TheHill. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  19. "Stand Up America's Year In Review". Stand Up America. 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  20. Millhiser, Ian (2020-11-04). "Colorado voters approve compact seeking to neutralize the Electoral College". Vox. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  21. "Stand Up America's Year In Review". Stand Up America. 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  22. Touchberry, Ramsey (2020-08-19). "Amid Trump attacks, $1.5 million campaign targets mail-in and early voting in swing states". Newsweek. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
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