Project Goals
- Identifying best practices to elevate the needs and priorities of community voices during and following state executive and legislative leadership transitions
- Documenting current state and national resources available to support progressive state transition and governance outcomes
- Identifying infrastructure gaps for which solutions and investment are needed
Much of our nation’s electoral organizing infrastructure is oriented around mobilizing people to vote. But elections are only a means to an end. It’s what happens after and in between elections that determines whether the elections themselves were actually meaningful.
The sector has lost sight of what is most important: improving the wellbeing of our communities (rather than installing representative oppressors). If we elect new leaders but don’t change how they govern, we do not build power. And so, because power wielding is at least as important as power building, shifting governance is the ultimate goal of electoral organizing.
Recognizing this challenge, Ktisis led research into the opportunities for progressive state governance in collaboration with the Committee on States and a steering committee of national and state partners. Together, we explored how to capitalize on leftward shifts in state leadership via the development of progressive state governance plans and identified funding opportunities to spur this work forward. With recent electoral victories in Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Arizona that have secured or moved these states towards Democratic trifectas, we have an opportunity to maximize the impact of these wins and advance a more ambitious progressive agenda in the states if we attend to governance well.
During this project, Ktisis interviewed organizers, consultants, advisors, and current and former elected leaders to document the lessons learned from governance transitions and planning processes. These insights provided a better understanding of what it takes to ensure that progressive electoral victories translate into more progressive outcomes for voters. This inquiry resulted in a published report that documents findings and lessons learned and provides a roadmap for future action.
Moving forward, this information can help to drive a more comprehensive definition of democracy beyond voting, promote investment opportunities, build long-term steady support for grantees to plan beyond election cycles, and guide discussions of governance and power-wielding with peers and grantees.
