Activate America

Background

Activate America, which was formerly known as Flip the West, campaigns to voters to help get Democrat candidates elected to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. ²

Flip the West was founded in 2017 to focus on flipping Republican-held U.S. Senate and House seats to Democrats. ³ The organizers say they were inspired by the first Women’s March in 2017. ⁴

The organization engages primarily in phone banking, text banking, writing postcards, Instagram direct messaging, and canvassing. ²

Activate America coordinates with other political action committees in California and in other states for what it says will maximize reach, mobilize volunteers, and avoid duplication of voters. ^{5 6}

Election Activity

In 2020, Flip the West focused on winning Senate seats for Democrats in the states of Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Montana through phone-banking, text-banking and postcard-writing campaigns. ⁷

For the 2022 election cycle, Activate America focused on helping Democratic Party candidates in House and Senate races in Arizona, California, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. ⁸

The organization claims to have helped flipped seven Republican-held U.S. House seats to Democrats in the 2018 election. ⁴

Activate America works with 250 organization partners across the country, and says it made 13 million voter contacts in seven states. In this work, the organization helped to flip four U.S. Senate seats from Republican to Democrat in 2020. ⁴

#NoKings Protests

In June 2025, Activate America participated in organizing or supporting protests branded under the “#NoKings” banner, a national day of demonstrations positioned as a defense of democratic norms against Donald Trump. These events were part of a larger mobilization involving over 70 Democratic Party affiliates and allied organizations across at least 19 U.S. states and multiple international locations, according to publicly available event listings on Mobilize.us, a Democratic Party-aligned organizing platform. ^{9 10} 

Leadership

Ronnie Cohen is the executive director of Active America. She led the organization since its 2017 founding. From 1996 to 2009 she worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council as a senior policy analyst and later as a director of water efficiency. From 2012 to 2017, she was an independent consultant for organizations such as the Water Foundation, WaterSmart Software, and the Sacramento Water Forum. ¹¹

Doug Linney is the founder of Activate America. He founded Next Generation in 1996 to promote an environmental agenda. In 2002, Friends of the River recognized Linney with the Mark Dubois River Conservationist Award. He was previously the political director for the League of Conservation Voters. He later sat on the board of directors for the same organization, as well as ecoVenture, Green Capitol, Planning Conservation League, and the East Bay Municipal Utility District. ¹²

Andre Charles is the political and data director for Activate America. He was a political consultant for 20 years, working for candidates in California running for local offices in the counties of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Almeda, Contra Costa, Monterey, Napa, Orange, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma, and Ventura. ¹³