Bay Rising (BR) is an electoral advocacy group and a fiscally sponsored project of the left-of-center Movement Strategy Center (MSC) that operates in the San Francisco Bay Area. BR coordinates voter mobilization, policy advocacy, and lobbying efforts for San Francisco Rising, Oakland Rising, and Silicon Valley Rising. ¹

BR uses get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns, candidate endorsements, and advocacy on ballot propositions to support the campaigns of Democratic Party-linked candidates. BR also organizes voter education campaigns and publishes voter guides to support left-of-center polices. ²

BR is affiliated or partnered with 30 left-of-center organizations in the Bay Area as of 2020, and it continues to actively recruit relationships with other groups. ³

Background

Bay Rising (BR) is an electoral advocacy group and a fiscally sponsored project of the Movement Strategy Center which promotes developing increased left-of-center electoral power through increased participation from lower-income, immigrant, and people of color in the San Francisco Bay Area. ⁴

BR is an umbrella organization that coordinates with, and provides support for local organizations including Oakland Rising, Silicon Valley Rising, and San Francisco Rising, each serving as local movements within the Bay Area.⁵

BR has advocated in favor of left-of-center policy proposals including ending the deportation of illegal immigrants, implementing environmentalist policies, increasing the minimum wage, providing government-controlled health care, relaxing voter identification requirements, and removing the status of independent contractors to subject businesses to increased regulation. ⁶

BR has supported local affiliates by providing lobbying services through its sister group Bay Rising Action (BRA). Services at the state and city level include developing strategic campaigns and candidate endorsements, creating voter guides, conducting voter engagement experiments, training campaign staff, and building the BR network of affiliates and partners. ^{7 7}

Campaigns

During the 2020 election cycle, Bay Rising (BR) endorsed U.S Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary ⁸ and later supported his presidential campaign before dropping out of the race.  ^{9 10}

In 2020, BR also worked to increase census participation in California, by working with several left-of-center organizations including Filipino Advocates for Justice, the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, and Lift Up Contra Costa. BR also engaged in ballot proposition campaigns, such as advocating for the passage of California Proposition 15, which would have imposed new property taxes on businesses, and opposing California Proposition 20, which would have converted select crimes considered misdemeanors to felonies. ^{1 6 11}

BR previously worked with Black Lives Matter in 2020 to support the Black New Deal, a program proposed by the left-of-center Anti-Police Terror Project, which would demand reparations for African American communities in the Bay Areas as well as defunding local police departments. ¹² During the 2020 general election, BR endorsed Carroll Fife during her campaign for Oakland City Council representative for District 3. Fife was also a signatory of the Black New Deal. ¹³

BR has also advocated for left-of-center policies on its social media accounts including expanding rent control, reinstating voting rights for all felons, legalizing affirmative action, lowering the voting age to seventeen in primary elections, and ending Oakland, California’s cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Force. ^{14 15}

Leadership

Kimi Lee is the executive director of Bay Rising (BR). Prior to this, Lee was a senior fellow at the Movement Strategy Center (MSC), a field director for the left-of-center ACLU Southern California, and the executive director of the Garment Worker Center. Lee also worked as an organizer of the United Workers Congress. She was also listed as a member of the board of directors at the left-of-center Chinese Progressive Association. ¹⁶

Irene Rojas-Carroll is the communications manager of BR. Rojas-Carroll was formerly a communications associate at the left-of center ACLU of Northern California. Rojas-Carroll previously worked for the left-of-center Greenlining Institute and the Brown Boi Project, ¹⁶

Finances

As of 2020, Bay Rising (BR) and Bay Rising Action (BRA) are fiscally sponsored by the Movement Strategy Center (MSC) and make no public disclosure of their financial information. BR has also received at least one grant from the Piper Fund through the left-of-center “pass through” funder Proteus Fund. ¹⁷

Member Organizations

As of 2025, Bay Rising (BR) manages a coalition of left-of-center member organizations, mostly found in the San Francisco Bay area. These include the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the Filipino Community Center, People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights (PODER), Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA), and South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN). BR is also partnered with left-wing organizations, including the Chinese Progressive Association, Causa Justa Just Cause, and Working Partnerships USA. ¹

Aside from its member organizations, BR has several advocacy partners, including Urban Habitat, the Bay Area Equity Atlas, the Bay Area Political Equality Collaborative (BayPEC), California Calls, and the Million Voters Project. ¹

1. “Our Members and Partners.” Bay Rising, November 2, 2020. https://bayrising.org/about/our-members/. 
2. “2020 Endorsements Summary.” Bay Rising, October 21, 2020. https://bayrising.org/2020summary/. 
3. “Bay Rising.” Facebook. Accessed November 2, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/BayRising/about. 
4. guidestar.org. Accessed October 30, 2020. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/20-1037643. 
5. “Bay Rising (BR).” Idealist. Accessed October 30, 2020. https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit/3503e161a69a4f07ae098d3c1beb8a01-bay-rising-br-oakland. 
6. “Our Story.” Bay Rising, June 5, 2018. https://bayrising.org/about/our-story/. 
7. “About.” Bay Rising Action, October 7, 2020. https://bayrisingaction.org/about/. 
8. “Bay Rising Action.” Bernie Sanders Official Website. Accessed October 30, 2020.https://berniesanders.com/get-involved/bay-rising-action/.
9. Rojas-Carroll, Irene. “Bay Rising Action Endorses Senator Bernie Sanders for President.” Bayrisingaction.Org. Bay Rising Action, April 26, 2021. Last modified April 26, 2021. Accessed July 11, 2025. https://bayrisingaction.org/2019/12/13/bernie2020/.
10. “Phonebank for Bernie in Oakland with Bay Rising Action (1/28).” Actionnetwork.Org. The Action Network , January 28, 2020. Last modified January 28, 2020. Accessed July 11, 2025. https://actionnetwork.org/events/phonebank-for-bernie-in-oakland-with-bay-rising-action-128.
11. Woiwode, Peter. “Voting for Black & Brown Lives: Critical Races Across the Bay to Defund Policing & Reinforce Community Solutions.” Bay Rising Action, October 7, 2020.   https://bayrisingaction.org/2020/10/02/defund-policing-2020/. 
12. Media, APTP. “The Black New Deal.” APTP. APTP, April 22, 2020. https://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/blog-entire/2020/4/22/black-oakland-demands-in-light-of-covid-19-and-rates-of-black-death.
13. “Carroll Fife.” Bay Rising Action, October 1, 2020. https://bayrisingaction.org/candidate/carroll-fife/. 
14. Twitter. Twitter. Accessed October 30, 2020. https://twitter.com/_BayRising. 
15. “Bay Rising.” Facebook. Accessed October 30, 2020.  https://www.facebook.com/pg/BayRising/posts/?ref=page_internal. 
16. “Who We Are.” Bay Rising, July 11, 2025. https://bayrising.org/about/who-we-are/
17. “Piper Fund: Money in Politics Movement Strategy Center.” Proteusfund.Org. Proteus Fund, n.d. Accessed July 11, 2025. https://www.proteusfund.org/grant/movementstrategycenter-5/.