Just days after 2019 elections concluded, former First Lady Michelle Obama has unveiled an ambitious new plan to drive voter turnout in the upcoming, high stakes 2020 presidential election. In a video shared on social media, she spoke alongside a list of high-profile celebrities who joined her in advocating for individual-level advocacy to get people to the polls. The video represented a new push to point people to resources available from When We All Vote, an organization that she helped unveil first in anticipation of the 2018 elections.
The organization has already seen some major success. In connection to the 2018 midterms, they share that they “organized over 2,500 local voter registration events across the country, engaged 200 million Americans online about the significance of voting, and texted nearly four million voters the resources to register and get out to vote.”
Now, in the new campaign video message, Obama says:
‘Last year, we went big. Millions of new voters made their voices heard for the first time. Now the stakes are even higher. That’s why I’ve been reaching out to some friends to expand my voting squad for the year ahead.’
Check it out:
With less than a year to the 2020 elections, it’s time to start thinking about your #VotingSquad.
I’ve got mine:
Shonda.
Liza.
Selena.
Tom.
Lin-Manuel.
Tracee.
Faith.
Kerry.
Chris.
Janelle.
Megan.
Rita.Join us at https://t.co/cBTTn9yuTH and learn how you can get involved. pic.twitter.com/e1QJPECWBL
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) November 7, 2019
Those friends — who constitute a “voting squad” like those that the organization hopes people around the country will form — include actor Tom Hanks, the multi-talented Lin-Manuel Miranda, television producer Shonda Rhimes, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and singers Faith Hill, Selena Gomez and Janelle Monáe. Also included are actresses Tracee Ellis Ross, Rita Wilson, and Kerry Washington alongside YouTube star Liza Koshy and NBA player Chris Paul.
In a message they all chime in on, they say in Michelle Obama’s new video:
‘It all starts with you. You’re the only person that can have that conversation with your family and your friends and your girlfriends and even with your community to get them registered and ready to vote.’
It’s not the first recent campaign the group has unveiled. They’ve also been targeting schools with an initiative they’re calling My School Votes.
‘Since the launch in July, thousands of teachers and students have responded by joining When We All Vote and starting voter registration programs at their schools.’
There have been recent signs of success of the burgeoning group of Democratic initiatives along these lines. In elections across the country this past Tuesday, Democrats scored big — they flipped the Kentucky governorship, and became the majority party in both chambers of the Virginia legislature, among other victories. Just the day before incumbent Republican Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin lost, President Donald Trump pronounced at a rally in the state that a Bevin defeat would be terrible for his personal public image.
Check out Twitter’s response to Obama…
