October 18, 2021
PHILADELPHIA — Today, 314 Action, which works to elect scientists to office, launched a $10 million nonpartisan advocacy campaign for the 2021-2022 cycle focused on issues critical to the science community, including climate change, COVID-19 response and future pandemic research, reproductive justice, gun violence prevention, and voting rights.
The 2020 cycle was a game-changing one for 314 Action, which helped recruit and elect the two new STEM members of the U.S. Senate, Sens. Mark Kelly and John Hickenlooper, as well as dozens of scientists up and down the ballot. Looking to 2022, the group will build on its previous successes with this $10 million investment. They will continue to help pro-science candidates win, while working to ensure every voter knows just how dangerous anti-science candidates and policies are for their families and their communities.
The $10 million campaign will use creative ad tactics to reach voters, campaign donors, and elected officials where they live and work. Programs will include targeted campaigns against dozens of anti-science politicians, voter education and persuasion programs in suburban districts, and ads that highlight the danger of anti-science rhetoric in our school boards. Additionally, 314 Action will engage its six million grassroots member base to push for pro-science legislation at the federal level and across the states.
“314 Action spent the last five years organizing the STEM community to elect pro-science leaders who stand up for our shared values.” said Joshua Morrow, executive director of 314 Action. “Now, our six million grassroots members are taking accountability into their own hands and to the doorsteps of those who deny facts, science and reason.”
The next campaign will focus on six governors or gubernatorial candidates, whose support for anti-science policies have led to violence and abusive rhetoric at school board meetings in their states and across the country:
– Gov. Greg Abbott (Texas)
– Gov. Ron DeSantis (Florida)
– Gov. Doug Ducey (Arizona)
– Gov. Brian Kemp (Georgia)
– Gov. Kim Reynolds (Iowa)
– Glenn Youngkin (Virginia)
314 Action is already successfully targeting donors in their neighborhoods and communities as part of a pilot program before launch of the $10M advocacy campaign, including donors to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, for his brazen mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, for his irresponsible attacks on the rights of Texans to make their own health care decisions. They also ran ads asking Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to support funding for future pandemics, and ads praising Rep. Sean Casten (IL-06) for his tireless efforts on behalf of Illinoisans during the pandemic.
In 2022, 314 Action will aim to spend $50 million to elect scientists across all levels of government, with initial targets of seven U.S. Senate races, forty U.S. House races, and twenty-one statewide races.
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314 Action is powered by a grassroots community of over six million people working to elect scientists, doctors, and STEM professionals who will use science and facts to address our most pressing issues like climate change and health care. In 2018 and 2020, we played a pivotal role in flipping the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, electing eleven Democratic scientists to federal office, as well as over 100 to state and local offices. In 2021 and 2022, 314 Action will continue working to elect science leaders and defeat climate deniers in Congress and legislatures across the country, as well as advocate for issues critical to the science community, from environmental justice, to voting rights, to reproductive justice, and beyond.