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Political Party/527

Everyday People PAC

Website:

www.seedthevote.org
Location:

Berkeley, CA
Status:

527
Type:

Political Action Committee
Founded:

2019
Director:

Le Tim Ly

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Everyday People PAC is a left-of-center political action committee based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded with the purpose of defeating then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election and has continued with the goal of defeating the right and building the left.

Seed the Vote is the focal project of Everyday People PAC. Seed the Vote partners with progressive organizations in select states to provide volunteers to participate in phone banks, knock on doors, and fundraise with the purpose of strengthening the progressive vote.

Background

Everyday People PAC is a left-progressive political action committee focused on defeating “Trumpism.” 1 Seed the Vote is the focal project developed under the auspices of the Everyday People PAC. It was founded by Bay Area left-progressive movement leaders who helped to build San Francisco Rising and Bay Rising to ensure that President Trump was defeated in 2020. The intent of Seed the Vote is to “fight the right, build the left.” 2 Started by California activists, Seed the Vote focused its efforts on swing states, beginning with Nevada and Arizona. 3

The 2019 FEC Form 1 shows the PAC web site as “https://www.everydaypeoplepac.org.” This URL redirects to “https://www.seedthevote.org/” as of August 2022. 4

The PAC is continuing its efforts in the 2022 mid-terms to build a left-progressive congressional majority. Volunteers participate in phone banks, knock on doors, and fundraise. 5

Programs and Partnerships

Seed the Vote is supported by Action Network, 6 an online tool for organizing and fundraising the progressive movement. 7

In the 2020 election cycle socialist organization LeftRoots worked with Seed the Vote to campaign for Joe Biden even though Biden was not their candidate of choice. LeftRoots supported more left-wing candidates but moved to support Joe Biden rather than risk having then-President Trump remain in office. 8

National collaborators during the 2020 election cycle included Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) Action Fund, People’s Action, Mijente, and United Against Trump Table. 9

State partners during the 2020 election cycle included Care in Action in Georgia, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) and Unite Here Local 11 in Arizona, Dream Defenders and New Florida Majority in Florida, New Georgia Project and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) in Georgia, and Working Families Party (WFP) in Pennsylvania. 10

Generation Rising is a partnership between the Center for Empowered Politics and Everyday People PAC to organize young people of color to support a left-progressive agenda. 11 It is a national program focused on  supporting progressive issues including racial and climate activism and open immigration. 12 Generation Rising provides training to young people to impact elections in the swing states and defeat the right. 13

In 2022, Seed the Vote is focused on the mid-term elections in the battleground states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, partnering with left-of center organizations Unite Here, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), Asian American Action Fund, and Working Families Party (WFP) to knock on doors and make calls to “defeat the right.” 14

Financials and Donors

For the 2020 election cycle, the PAC raised $1,822,875. 15 For the 2022 election cycle, the PAC has raised $847,551. 16

The largest individual donor for the 2020 election cycle was Elsbeth Gilmore, 17 director of development at Bend the Arc, a Jewish left-wing activist group. 18

Donor organizations for the 2020 election cycle included Movement Voter Project, 19 a left-of-center direct funding organization focused on building “progressive power,” 20 and Asian American Advocacy Fund PAC, 21 a left-progressive advocacy organization for Asian Americans. 22

Leadership

Emily Ja-Ming Lee was a co-founder of Seed the Vote. 23 Lee is director of San Francisco Rising and previously political director of the San Francisco Chinese Progressive Association. 24 Lee was a co-founder of San Francisco Rising and helped start Bay Resistance, a left-wing organization focused on fighting the right. 25

Le Tim Ly is the director of Everyday People PAC. 26 Ly is CEO of Resilient Strategies LLC, 27 which provides infrastructure for progressive political and activist organizations. 28 He is COO for Center for Empowered Politics 29 and CFO of Chinese Progressive Association.

Rose Mendelsohn is organizing director of Seed the Vote. 30 Previously she was an organizer for Bay Resistance and digital organizing manager for Bay Rising.

Jill Shenker is campaign director of Everday People PAC. 31 She is an anti-racism trainer and a consultant for progressive organizations Bay Rising, Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco), International Domestic Workers Federation, and San Francisco Rising. 32 Shenker founded National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and was North American coordinator for International Domestic Workers Federation. 33

References

  1. “Who We Are.” Seed the Vote – Learn More. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.seedthevote.org/learn-more/who-we-are/
  2. “Marcy Rein. “Seed the Vote: Don’t Just Vote, Organize!” Portside. October 12, 2020. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://portside.org/2020-10-12/seed-vote-dont-just-vote-organize
  3. “Seed the Vote: Political Assessent.” Convergence Magazine. December 5, 2019. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://convergencemag.com/articles/seed-the-vote-political-assessment/
  4. “Statement of Organization.” Federal Election Commission – Everyday People. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00720029/?tab=about-committee
  5. “Get involved in the 2022 midterms.” Seed the Vote – Volunteer. Accessed August 3, 2022. https://www.seedthevote.org/sign-up/
  6. “Everyday People PAC.” The Action Network – Groups. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://actionnetwork.org/groups/everyday-people-pac
  7. The Action Network website. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://actionnetwork.org/
  8. Nuala Bishari. “The Socialists and Progressives Working Outside of the Biden Campaign to Oust Trump.” In These Times. October 13, 2020. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://inthesetimes.com/article/seed-the-vote-frontline-leftroots-socialists-progressives-outside-biden-campaign-oust-trump
  9. “It took all of us. Organizing works. A Report on Seed the Vote’s 2020 Elections Experiment to Help Defeat Trump and Build Our Movements.” Seed the Vote – Learn More. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.seedthevote.org/read-our-report-on-the-work-we-did-in-2020/
  10. “It took all of us. Organizing works. A Report on Seed the Vote’s 2020 Elections Experiment to Help Defeat Trump and Build Our Movements.” Seed the Vote – Learn More. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.seedthevote.org/read-our-report-on-the-work-we-did-in-2020/
  11. “Learn More.” Generation Rising. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://generationrisingup.org/learn-more/
  12. Generation Rising website. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://generationrisingup.org/
  13. “Who We Are.” Seed the Vote – Learn More. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.seedthevote.org/learn-more/who-we-are/
  14. “The time has come: 2022 door knocking pledge!” Seed the Vote – Volunteer. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.seedthevote.org/the-time-has-come-2022-midterms-door-knocking-pledge/
  15. “Total Receipts.” Federal Election Commission – Campaign Finance Data – Everyday People. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00720029/?tab=raising&cycle=2020
  16. “Total Receipts.” Federal Election Commission – Campaign Finance Data – Everyday People. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00720029/?tab=raising
  17. “Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission – Campaign Finance Data – Everyday People. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?committee_id=C00720029&two_year_transaction_period=2020&min_amount=%242%2C000.00
  18. Bend the Arc website. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://www.bendthearc.us/
  19. “Top Organizations Disclosing Donations to Everyday People PAC, 2020.” OpenSecrets – Everyday People PAC. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib.php?cycle=2020&cmte=C00720029
  20. “About MVP.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://movement.vote/about
  21. “Top Organizations Disclosing Donations to Everyday People PAC, 2020.” OpenSecrets – Everyday People PAC. Accessed August 4, 2022.
  22. “About.” Asian American Advocacy Fund. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://www.asianamericanadvocacyfund.org/about
  23. Marcy Rein. “Seed the Vote: Don’t Just Vote, Organize!” Portside. October 12, 2020. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://portside.org/2020-10-12/seed-vote-dont-just-vote-organize
  24. LinkedIn – Emily Lee. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-lee-759b08174/
  25. San Francisco Rising – About. Archive from July 15, 2020. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20200715223158/https://www.sfrising.org/about/
  26. Seed the Vote Staff Team.” Seed the Vote – Who We Are. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.seedthevote.org/seed-the-vote-staff-team/
  27. LinkedIn – Le Tim Ly. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/letimly/
  28. “About Us.” Resilient Strategies LLC. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.resilientstrategiesllc.com/
  29. LinkedIn – Le Tim Ly. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/letimly/
  30. LinkedIn – Everyday People PAC – People. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?keywords=everyday%20people%20pac&origin=CLUSTER_EXPANSION&position=0&searchId=67b36d1f-5a5b-492c-b397-d5f7c743dc2d&sid=MyB
  31. LinkedIn – Everyday People PAC – People. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?keywords=everyday%20people%20pac&origin=CLUSTER_EXPANSION&position=0&searchId=67b36d1f-5a5b-492c-b397-d5f7c743dc2d&sid=MyB
  32. LinkedIn – Jill Shenker. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-shenker-8968a979/
  33. [1] San Francisco Rising – About. Archive from July 15, 2020. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20200715223158/https://www.sfrising.org/about/
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Everyday People PAC


Berkeley, CA