Everytown Announces Record $7.5 Million in Efforts to Train and Elect Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Volunteers

Nearly 600 Volunteers and “Demand a Seat” Training Program Graduates Running for Office Across 46 States During 23-24 Cycle 

WASHINGTON — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund, Everytown Demand a Seat PAC and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund announced a record $7.5 million in training and supporting Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers, including many running in key races across the country.

“These volunteers—who already know how to mobilize gun safety voters, elect candidates, and push through legislation—are ready to make the leap from influencing laws to writing them,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “With Demand a Seat, we’re training a new generation of leaders who have long track records of fighting hard to keep our families safe.”

In 2021, Everytown Victory Fund launched the Demand a Seat educational program to train grassroots volunteers and gun violence survivors to take the next step in their advocacy efforts by running for office and working on campaigns. Since then, the program has trained nearly 950 volunteers. This cycle, nearly 600 Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers — many of whom graduated through the Demand a Seat program — are on the ballot across 46 states.  47% of volunteers are running for their state legislature, 26% for city council or county commission, and 21% running for other local offices, including mayor, school board, and sheriff. 

In the 2022 cycle, 275 volunteers ran for office and 158 were elected, with Moms Demand Action candidates helping to flip chambers and build gun sense majorities in the Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois legislatures. Once in office, our volunteers led efforts to pass life-saving gun safety legislation:

• Michigan:
  • Requiring background checks on all gun sales
  • Requiring secure storage of firearms
  • Creating an Extreme Risk law
    
• Minnesota:
  • Requiring background checks on all gun sales
  • Creating an Extreme Risk law
  • Promoting community-based interventions that break the cycle of violence

• Illinois:
  • Making it easier to sue bad actors in the gun industry

In the 2023 elections, Everytown took this majority-building playbook to Virginia, where our volunteers helped flip the Virginia House and maintain a gun sense majority in the Senate. Moms Demand Action volunteers currently make up 20% of the Virginia House Democratic caucus. 

Earlier this year, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Victory Fund announced a $45 million electoral program and the launch of a new grassroots voter contact program to help elect gun sense candidates and defeat gun extremists up and down the ballot in key swing districts and states. Everytown’s efforts will focus on young voters on college campuses, voters of color, and suburban women in Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.