Dems: Millions for Voter Registration  01/14 06:09

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic National Committee will spend millions of 
dollars to cement control of voter registration efforts that have traditionally 
been entrusted to nonprofit advocacy groups and individual political campaigns, 
a shift that party leaders hope will increase their chances in this year's 
midterm elections.

   The initiative, being announced on Tuesday, will begin in Arizona and Nevada 
with at least $2 million for training organizers. It's the first step in what 
could become the DNC's largest-ever push to sign up new voters, with a 
particular focus on young people, voters of color and people without college 
educations. All of those demographics drifted away from Democrats in the last 
presidential race, which returned Republican Donald Trump to the White House.

   "It's a crisis. And for our party to actually win elections, we have to 
actually create more Democrats," DNC Chair Ken Martin said in an interview with 
The Associated Press.

   Martin added that "we need all hands on deck, not just the outside groups," 
as the party tries to win back control of Congress and break Republicans' 
unified control in Washington.

   Democrats have spent decades relying on advocacy organizations and civic 
groups to register voters, but those efforts are generally required by law to 
be nonpartisan. Party leaders want a more explicitly partisan approach like the 
one used by Republicans, who have relied less on outside groups to register and 
mobilize their voter base.

   Martin said allied nonprofits are "really important partners" that have 
"done amazing work to actually get people engaging in their democracy."

   "But in this moment right now, given the significant disadvantage that we 
have and the advantage the Republicans have, we actually have to do more," he 
said.

   The DNC initiative aims to reach non-college-educated young voters by 
recruiting organizers from a wide array of backgrounds, like gig economy 
workers and young parents, who have often been overlooked in the party's 
grassroots efforts. Democrats hope that organizers' own perspectives and 
experiences will help party strategists learn how to connect with Americans in 
blue-collar roles who are disaffected with politics, whom the party fears it 
has lost touch with in recent elections.

   "I think it's incredible that Democrats are actually investing in reaching 
Democratic voters who have been left behind," said Santiago Mayer, founder of 
Voters for Tomorrow, a progressive political youth group that is collaborating 
with the DNC. "We got killed on persuasion in 2024, and I think this is a 
really important step, fixing it and ensuring that we do not have a repeat of 
that in 2026."

   The program will kick off with dozens of videos from lawmakers, activists 
and party leaders across the country. Democrats hope to boost enthusiasm for 
the program through interstate party competitions throughout the year.

   The White House dismissed the fellowship as a facade for the party's 
political troubles.

   "This is fake. They are broke. In debt. Been losing voter registration in 
every state in the union since 2024. We call this 'PR,'" James Blair, a deputy 
White House chief of staff and the former political director for Trump's 2024 
presidential campaign, wrote about the program on X.

   If successful, the investments will provide a foundation that Democrats can 
rely upon beyond the fall midterm elections.

   "This is a critical piece of the infrastructure that we're building to 
actually not only win the moment in '26 but to win the future," Martin said. 
"For us to put ourselves in a position to win in '28 and '30 and '32, we 
actually have to keep doing this work and do it consistently."