SIX Action

Background

Also see State Innovation Exchange (Non-profit)

SiX Action was originally created in 2006 as Progressive States Action by the Progressive States Network, which was one of the left-wing state policy groups that merged to form the State Innovation Exchange in 2014. ^{2  1}

SiX Action shares staff and offices with SiX, and SiX Action’s executives are largely compensated by its parent organization.  ^{3  4} According to the two organizations’ annual filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the charitable nonprofit SiX funds 95 percent of shared staff’s compensation and SiX Action pays the remaining 5 percent. ^{3  4}

In 2017, SiX Action was identified by a contingent of Democratic Party operatives and funders led by former right-of-center journalist turned Democratic operative David Brock as a vehicle for pushing left-of-center policies and opposing Republican initiatives in state legislatures across the country. ¹  This was supported by left-of-center groups, including the Sierra Club, the Center for American Progress, Priorities USA, MoveOn.org, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), all of which became members of SiX Action’s advisory board; as well as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the American Federation of Teachers.  ²

People

SiX Action’s founding executive director in 2014 was Nick Rathod, a former Obama administration official and longtime Democratic operative who had served in political roles for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (D), and helped lead former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (I) efforts to expand gun control at Everytown for Gun Safety.  ⁵ After leaving SiX in 2018, Rathod served as campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s unsuccessful 2022 campaign to become the Governor of Texas and a senior political adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris’s (D) 2024 presidential campaign. ⁵

As of 2026, SiX Action’s executive director is EJ Juarez, a left-wing activist who had most recently served as director of Equity, Environmental Justice, and Civil Rights at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. ⁶ Juarez had previously worked at the Inatai Foundation, Solid Ground Washington, Amplify/ColorPAC, and other left-of-center organizations.  ⁶

SiX Action’s board of directors includes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) political director Brian Weeks; former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) national field director, America Votes national campaign director, and Sierra Club national political director Cathy Duvall; Environmental Grantmakers Association president and CEO Tamara Toles O’Laughlin; Minnesota Senator Erin Maye Quade (D-Apple Valley); former Colorado state legislator Joseph Salazar (D-Thornton); and board chair Liz Dupee, the director of strategic partnerships for Mothering Justice. ³

Dupee took over as board chair in September 2024 from Tameika Atkins, the executive director of nominally non-partisan voter advocacy group ProGeorgia, which has been credited for encouraging racial minority voter turnout in Georgia’s 2020 elections that contributed to Democratic Party victories, including that of Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden. ⁷

Previous SiX Action board members include former right-of-center journalist turned Democratic political operative and Media Matters for America founder David Brock; former state legislator and unsuccessful Texas gubernatorial and congressional candidate Wendy Davis; Biden administration Energy Secretary and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D); President Joe Biden’s Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; and Students for a Democratic Society co-founder and long-time AFSCME executive Paul Booth. ⁸

Activities

SiX Action promotes left-of-center policies in state governments and campaigns for legislation introduced by Democratic Party state lawmakers. ⁹

Its “Southern Freedom to Vote Alliance” initiative promotes state legislation in Southern states that would reduce election security measures by instituting policies such as same-day voter registration, allowing voters to vote at any precinct within their county, automatic absentee ballot distribution, and expanding early voting. ¹⁰

Its “Fund our Future Campaign” promotes increased income taxes on high-income individuals and the imposition of wealth taxes on high-net-worth individual taxpayers. ^{11  12}

In 2020, SiX Action generated state legislative opposition to confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. ¹³ In the early days of the Trump administration, the organization opposed the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. ¹⁴

It supported the left-wing “No Kings” rallies against the second Trump administration. ¹⁵

Its abortion advocacy supports the work of the State Innovation Exchange’s Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council, which was created to drive state-level pro-abortion policy in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization that returned most authority over abortion policy to state governments.  ^{16  17} In 2021, in alliance with the Black Mamas Matter Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights, SiX Action organized legislators in support of adding postpartum coverage to Medicaid for “women and birthing people” as part of the “Build Back Better” plan.  ¹⁸

Funding

SiX Action receives funding from its parent State Innovation Exchange, as well as left-of-center funders including Democracy Fund Voice, Groundswell Action Fund, and North Fund.  ¹⁹

It receives regular funding from labor unions and union-aligned organizations including the AFL-CIO; the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); and the National Education Association (NEA). ¹⁹