Scorecards from 189th Legislative Session, House and Senate are finalized. Compare legislators’ last session records with your values and the district’s. See where there’s room for improvement or need for a thank you! 

Engaged democracy doesn’t end at the doorknock!

To win on our big issues--such as single-payer health care, a living wage, a stable climate, a robust public infrastructure, a healthy democracy, among many others--we know we must elect politicians who align with our values.

To get progressive champions elected, we’ve learned the mechanics of grassroots campaigning -- to knock on doors, host house parties, make phone calls, enter data from sign in sheets, cut lists, recruit volunteers, GOTV.

It feels like victory when our progressive candidates win -- but our work must not end there.

We also have to hold them accountable to the principles and goals we share.

And if they aren’t fighting for our progressive goals, we need to organize and mobilize again. As presidents like FDR and Obama have said, we need to make our elected officials do the things that are difficult.

Words and Actions

Legislators’ votes are an obvious means to assess how hard they are working for our big, urgent long-term goals. But “How did my State Legislator vote on these issues I care about?” is, in Massachusetts, not easy to find out. If we don’t know, how can we hold them accountable?

The new Trump administration is rolling back progressive achievements and pushing a reactionary, racist agenda at a breakneck pace. The moral urgency of our goals has never been more acute.

_{Tl;dr: We have released our progressive legislative agenda (progressivemass.com/legislativeagenda). There is a short, short window to take significant action. Before Feb. 2 (how about now?), send an email asking legislators to co-sponsor the Progressive Priority bills. For ACTION STEPS and SAMPLE EMAIL, go here: progressivemass.com/takeaction.}

Massachusetts is blessed with the third largest Democratic legislative majorities in the country. But majorities only matter if they are put to work.

In the Age of Trump, it’s more important than ever for Massachusetts legislators to start stepping up their game.

Over the weeks since the election, we’ve been hard at work talking with coalition partners, conversing with legislators, and hearing from our chapters and members about how we can best advance our Progressive Platform in the new legislative session.

We want Massachusetts to be the progressive beacon to other states that we know it can be.

Legislators often say that they can only take up a handful of issues in one 2-year session (with the biggest priorities often hashed out behind closed doors).

But given the crises we face now (and were facing already, frankly), it’s time to think big. And it’s past time to make grassroots priorities our electeds’ priorities.

And, so, at the end of all of those conversations and meetings--and a lot of research and reading--we have zeroed in on 17 Priorities for 2017. Click here to read about the bills and why they matter.

And, as a complement to our primary legislative agenda, we have identified an additional 20 Bills to Watch, which we will also follow this session.

LEGISLATORS ARE MAKING CHOICES RIGHT NOW

This past weekend gave a pretty clear visual of how much power we have when we organize together. And we all know that showing up to march was merely the first step of many.

The next is engaging with the political process -- via electoral, issue and legislative work -- as well as the work of community organizing-- building communities of trust, making outreach and strengthening our progressive infrastructure. We're committed to both. 

This week, we are releasing our 2017-18 Legislative Agenda, and we will be asking progressives to make some noise about how Massachusetts should become a leader again in bold progressive policy. 

The Opposite of Trump

We all want to DO something to stop the coming wave of Trump's -- and the traditional conservatives' -- cruel and incoherent policies on immigration, health care, women's bodies, education, and their accelerating privatization and corporate kleptocracy. 

While many emerging activist networks are urging outreach to Congress, we'd like to propose that, in Massachusetts, we'll get a lot more mileage fighting Trump -- and making real change, helping real people who are vulnerable -- BY focusing on Massachusetts: