Michigan
Rising Voices seeks to organize and develop the leadership of Asian American women and young people for power around progressive values and policy in the state of Michigan. They promote the civic participation of Asian American women and families in Michigan, with particular emphasis on underrepresented communities, through educational materials and videos. Rising Voices provides opportunities for youth leadership by activating and uplifting Asian American women and youth voices such as through advocacy for recent legislative efforts to “Teach MI History,” a package of bills currently being considered by the state legislature to ensure K-12 schools include curriculum and content about all of Michigan’s diverse communities.
Recent Achievements
Rising Voices activated thousands of voters who contributed to important wins in Michigan in 2024.
Democrat Elissa Slotkin was elected to the U.S. Senate over her Republican opponent by fewer than 20,000 votes
The Democratic nominees for justice of the Michigan Supreme Court won their races, moving the court from a 4-3 Democratic-backed majority to a 5-2 majority
Kept the Democratic margin of loss in the presidential election well below the national average (1.9% shift from 2020 compared to 6% nationally)
Held six of seven Democratic U.S. House seats despite the rightward shift in the state
Rising Voices also expanded outreach efforts across the state, including in the western portion of the state, for the first time in its history. They knocked on over 125,000 doors and executed a robust phone program and their largest digital program to date, in addition to producing over half a million mail pieces providing in-language or community-specific messaging such as defending against far-right targeting in Muslim-majority areas.
Rising Voices is also very proud of their DIY Power Civic Education series focused on countering mis- and disinformation and building faith in the electoral process that will pay dividends beyond any single electoral cycle. See some of their in-language civic education and engagement videos here.
What makes Michigan crucial this cycle
Three competitive districts in Michigan could be pivotal to Democratic efforts to flip the US House of Representatives
Statewide races for governor, attorney general and secretary of state will determine control over electoral processes in this important battleground state
Democrats will also defend their slim majority in the state senate and work to flip the state house in order to pursue new legislative reforms
Two Michigan Supreme Court races will be on the ballot in 2026 and a negative result could reverse the Democratic-backed majority on the current court
What Flip the Vote’s support means for 2025 and 2026
In 2025, Rising Voices has been building out internally, making critical key hires to provide ample time for on-ramping and skills training, as well as strengthening core issue campaigns and coalitions in preparation for 2026. Key strategies include signature gathering and deep organizing in support of potential statewide ballot measures that will resonate with the AAPI community, such as a progressive tax measure. With Flip the Vote’s support, Rising Voices will be able to hire additional organizers and provide stipends for volunteer signature-gatherers and core leaders in order to build relationships early to more effectively spread the message and turn out values-aligned voters for the 2026 election. This early investment will make the work accessible to a broader range of voting communities and sustainable for volunteers and organizers.
Early money from Flip the Vote will also support Rising Voices’ critical but time-intensive and expensive services to provide in-language content to many communities, with languages including Bangla, Chinese (Mandarin/Traditional), Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Hindi. They will use additional resources to provide in-language communication pieces and mailers in the 2025 Detroit municipal elections, filling language and narrative gaps in the outreach landscape.