As we waded through the immediate aftermath of the election, Convergence called in some special guests to help us orient. The Nov. 8 episode of Block & Build featured a conversation among Convergence Advisory Board member Bill Fletcher, Jr., Editorial Board member Toby Chow, Showing Up for Racial Justice Executive Director Erin Heaney and Grassroots Global Justice Director of Political and Civic Engagement Kermit Thomas Jr., moderated by Cayden Mak. Here are just a few points from their wide-ranging conversation, bits of food for thought as we begin the long process of digesting and learning from the experience. You can listen to the whole episode here.
On the need to deepen organizing to meet crises
Tobita Chow: I very much agree with the points that Erin and Kermit made about our deficits in base building. This feels pretty systemic across the movement. One part of that is returning to the long-term patient craft of base building and grassroots organizing, which I think has taken some hits.
But I also think about some of the key moments of crisis that were very widely and deeply felt among people in this country that I feel we didn’t properly capture or organize or consolidate or address. Going back to 2020, we did not have a clear organizing strategy or offering around COVID.
There’s this huge, massive pandemic. The left’s solution to that crisis felt muddled to me. The George Floyd protests were huge but then I feel like we failed to consolidate that enormous outpouring of power.
Bill Fletcher Jr.: The other thing that we’re not talking much about is that this country has gone through national PTSD as a result of the COVID pandemic. And so it’s not just the inflation, but the entire experience of losing more than a million people to death and millions more infected. I’m not sure the country has gotten over that. Or even knew how to process that. And I have the suspicion, although I’m not ready to theorize it, that it played a very significant role in the election.
Erin Heaney: The need to return to good old-fashioned base-building organizing, that’s the long slog. But also the need to be able to help people make meaning in real crisis moments. There were two hurricanes during this election as well.
And this is a dynamic that we’ve seen played out outside of this election cycle: the Right has been very skilled at swooping in when folk are in the aftermath of disasters to literally be with people, provide housing, clothing, food for people as an entry point into the political project that they’re up to.
I think we’ve got to be paying attention too, because that is not going to stop in the years to come. And so I think that’s also just really, really important that we’re continuing to contend in moments of crisis.
On mixed signals from down-ballot races
Cayden Mak: Have any of the four of you been paying attention to some specific down-ballot things that you think may be bellwethers, or places that we might learn something from?
Tobita Chow: Trends that’ll be important going forward? In a lot of states, significant numbers of people turned out to vote for Trump, but just ignored down ballot. This could be significant in the midterms, assuming we can make sure we have midterms, which we can’t necessarily take for granted, but I feel decent about our chances of actually continuing to have elections in ‘26.
Bill Fletcher Jr.: We saw contradictory impulses in people in the electorate, so that you’d have 57% on the Florida abortion ballot–they needed 60% to get over the threshold, but 57% in a state that Trump took, and you’ve seen that in other places as well, in some of the states where there have been other initiatives that have passed. [Editors’ note: Approximately 1.4 million Floridians voted Yes on Amendment 4, the abortion rights measure, while abstaining from voting for Harris or Debbie Mucarsel-Powell at the top of the ticket. This is roughly the same as the number who voted for President but left Amendment 4 blank, and voted on Amendment 4 but left the Senate vote blank.) In Missouri, approximately 500,000 people voted yes to pass Proposition A for a Minimum Wage increase and Paid Sick Leave–but Democrat Lucas Kunce lost his US Senate race against the notorious Josh Hawley by about the same margin.)
So we’re not looking at a consolidated fascist ideological hegemony.
Kermit Thomas: That’s the contradiction of the moment, right? I think there was a ton of reality here that folks tapped into self-determination, right?
They tapped into this idea that they don’t have to be as concerned or critical of who holds a spot in the executive office because they can be particularly determinant about what is happening at home or in the state where they live. And I think that was evident in how folks talked about voting for Trump after the fact, how the number showed out in terms of, women voting in line with reproductive rights in states, and then also voting for Donald Trump, on that same ballot.
What we’re able to take advantage of in this moment is this idea that you are responsible for yourself and we can give you the tools to continue to take care of yourself without needing to do it within a space of larger community.
And maybe for these things that are down-ballot, where we’re having these conversations, folks are not viewing those as Democratic issues as much as they’re viewing those as issues that they have the opportunity to control. and that’s where they’re putting their energy and time in.
Tobita Chow: One I did pay closer attention to is the Senate race in Nebraska. Dan Osborn, who was a total outsider, came out of nowhere within Nebraska politics, a labor leader who led a historic strike, ran as an independent, and last I checked, he outperformed Harris by 13.5%. Still lost, but I think that that race and the level of his performance is worth looking at.
On what comes next
Cayden Mak: I’m curious to hear from each of you about how you’re orienting to this strategic shift in this moment and preparing for January, knowing that we also need to be in motion immediately.
Erin Heaney: Yeah, we switched gears real quick. So Tuesday we were talking to voters all day. And Wednesday night we had a mass absorption call and had 12, 000 people register for it; 5, 000 people got on and 1,000 of those people committed to holding house parties or mass meetings in their communities.
People are definitely in their feelings. And I think part of our work right now is to help as many people make meaning of the moment and feel connected to us.
And we’re part of a much broader coalition that was anchored by the Working Families Party. Last night 140,000 people came together; 200 organizations sponsored it [the call] and it was, left-leaning organizations and more progressive organizations–one part of the big united front that we’re going to need to hang together over these next four years. Out of that came another 6,000 commitments for people to hold house parties. A lot of us have done a good job shifting gears very quickly to be able to absorb some of the energy and feelings that people are in right now.
And this is a real question for us as organizers to think about: what is it going to take to have people feel the connection and sense of agency to be able to show up and do what’s going to be required of us in the next four years? So I think it’s a real thing that we’ve got to contend with, and the other thing we’ve got to contend with is continuing to build those muscles about being in a united front.
How are we going to continue to do what we need to do to show up in such a wide range of ideological positions and orientations and continue to be working alongside people that we vehemently disagree with on a lot of things, but we know we’re going to need to be able to fight back fascism in this moment?
We do need to get people doing things and feeling a sense of agency, and we need to take a breath and get as organized and clear and connected as possible before Trump takes office. This is also an opportunity to continue to build independent political power. We’re members of the Working Families Party, and I think there’s an opportunity to really build the party and continue to build independent power within and outside the party.
Bill Fletcher Jr.: Building on some things that have been raised, there’s going to be two levels to a united front. There’ll be what I call an objective united front in the sense that there’ll be a large number of people who will be aligned against our opponents, but aren’t necessarily working in tandem. And that’s okay. That’s the way it often is, but there needs to be something comparable to the French New Popular Front.
There needs to be an organization that actually pulls people together. In the last several weeks, there have been these different “tables” meeting, talking about what to do if this happens, what to do if that happens. I called a friend of mine last week. I said, ‘Man, I can’t figure out what the F is going on. Which of these should I go to? What’s happening? Who’s making decisions?’
So, we have to have a better way of coordinating joint work. Some of that may end up being electoral, like beginning to plan for the midterm elections, but also thinking about local elections. The grassroots organizing that Erin was talking about is going to remain central. So, for my little outfit, Standing for Democracy, we want to build organizing committees around the country to take on the Right and help to build local united fronts. So that work is, is essential.
Now here’s the scary stuff: We need to start developing self-defense and legal defense. We need to be prepared to deal with the possible reality of death squads and deportations. And I’m not saying that to scare everybody, but I’m actually saying it to scare everybody. When I’m reading some of the stuff coming out of the Far Right, which I’ve been following since the election, they are implying death squads.
Kermit Thomas: To Bill’s point, there’s a whole lot of tables and a whole lot of conversations happening. I think what I can do is point folks to the table that I’m a part of the Time To Act table, where we’re talking about what we need to be doing in this moment in three different capacities.
We’re talking about mobilizations, we’re talking about the narrative building that we need to do. And then we’re also talking about how we can really focus on keeping our folks safe and putting energy into that space.
Erin Heaney: People can and should get involved with their local unions. And then I do think there’s other good groups that are doing base-building work. The CPD, Center for Popular Democracy, has a network of organizations that’s doing base building, People’s Action organizations across the country are doing good organizing.
And then I think where some of the best organizing is happening, it’s not on the radar nationally. There’s a lot of really good groups that are doing local base-building work that may not be connected to national infrastructure yet. There’s not enough of it happening but there are definitely pockets and places where people are doing good work.