Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is a very large, diverse, and critical battleground state, with consequential races in 2026 that will also lay the groundwork for the 2028 presidential election.
For these reasons, Flip the Vote is supporting two Pennsylvania groups in our 2026 portfolio. Together, these organizations work throughout the state, with considerable depth in key locations. They reach Black, Latinx, and working class voters from all demographics who will be key to electoral victories in this highly competitive state.
Make the Road Action Pennsylvania (MRA PA) builds power in Latinx, Black, immigrant, and working-class communities of color in Reading, Philadelphia, Allentown, and Hazleton. MRA PA is member-led and driven, strengthening the movement for justice through electoral and grassroots organizing to advance progressive political and policy change. Deeply committed to addressing the concerns of their communities, MRA PA pursues large-scale voter contact and education, focusing on local priorities in order to sustain a long-term movement.
One Pennsylvania (OnePA) is a multiracial, intergenerational, and multi-issue statewide membership organization, with a focus on Black working families. Its members are workers, students, parents, seniors, people with disabilities, and retirees, who learn, collaborate, and build power together. One PA tackles the fundamental problems of economic justice and political participation, building power through face-to-face conversations and a wide variety of outreach programs to win elections and ensure accountability of their elected leaders.
Recent Achievements
In 2024 and 2025, Pennsylvania was ground zero for highly competitive elections, with immense amounts of money, media efforts, and campaigning throughout the state. Flip the Vote partners were able to cut through the noise and achieve success by engaging in deep, honest conversations with members in their communities.
One PA and MTR PA were instrumental in staunching a national rightward shift and winning key elections.
In 2024, they helped to:
Keep the Democratic margin of loss well below the national average (2.9% shift from 2020 compared to 6% nationally in the presidential race, and less than 1% in key congressional races)
Despite lower Democratic turnout overall, minimize this reduction to 1.1% compared to 7.7% nationally
Narrowly hold a Democratic US House seat (CD-17)
Maintain a one-seat majority in the state house, while expanding the progressive coalition within the delegation
Flip a state senate seat blue (SD-15)
Their successful approaches included large and robust field, media, and organizing programs, tailored to the concerns of people in their communities.
By way of example, One PA’s contact rate from in-person door-knocking in 2024 was 18%, compared to the industry average of 12%; this is likely due to their year-round deep canvassing, making them a trustworthy source of information. With Flip the Vote’s significant and steady support, One PA doubled its Guardians of Democracy (local, trained precinct leaders) program by expanding into Pittsburgh. Overall, the program grew to 45 Guardians, with great results – their contact rate was 34%!
MTR PA ran robust voter engagement programs in Latinx communities in eight counties, reaching hundreds of thousands of English and Spanish-speaking voters through in-person canvassing, phone calls, and digital outreach. MTR PA was able to expand into Hazleton, a city that is 63% Latinx, as well as into two additional counties, Lancaster and Schuylkill. With help from Flip the Vote, they were able to increase staff pay, and keep on several staff in Hazleton and Philadelphia post-election, positioning them well for the important work of 2025 and 2026 and beyond.
In 2025, One PA and MTR PA were instrumental in helping three Democratic state supreme court justices retain their seats, despite a huge influx of right-wing money and campaigning. One PA reports that their efforts to recruit and train local Election Captains boosted turnout by 8 percentage points more in precincts with Election Captains than without them! Maintaining the Democratic majority on the high court is critical for protecting voting rights, fair redistricting in 2030, and free and fair elections for a generation.
What makes Pennsylvania crucial this cycle
In 2026, three MAGA Congresspeople who won their seats by less than 1% will be up for re-election. These are prime pickup opportunities for retaking the US House.
Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor is also up for re-election and the popular incumbent, Josh Shapiro, has not announced if he plans to run. In addition, Democrats control the state house by only a one-vote margin, so expanding the house majority and making inroads in the state senate, where Republicans control by only four seats, will be important for preserving rights and ensuring that the 2028 election is free and fair.
What Flip the Vote’s support means for 2026
With Flip the Vote’s support, One PA and Make the Road Action PA are actively combating authoritarianism in their communities, fighting against extreme immigrant and economic policies, and advocating to protect access to essentials such as affordable housing. They are prioritizing expanding their membership, as well as registering and engaging voters for the 2026 elections and ensuring that their votes count. With our help, both organizations will be able to make gains towards their goals of combatting mis- and disinformation and also shifting the narrative about who is to blame for the difficulties, economic and otherwise, people in their communities face. They will do this by deepening partnerships with allies including other grassroots organizations as well as corporations, and engaging in innovative communications strategies.
In the state’s most competitive US House races, One PA has prioritized flipping CD-10 (Perry) and has hired an organizer for an office in this district. MTR PA is focusing on CD-7 (Mackenzie) and CD-8 (Bresnahan), which are likely prospects to flip in 2026. Both groups will be active in multiple state legislative races in 2026 to try to expand the slim Democratic majority in the state house and flip or at least make inroads in the state senate.
Both organizations plan to expand their Guardians of Democracy/Election Captains programs, whereby local, precinct-level leaders receive training and become responsible for ongoing, deep engagement with people in their immediate community. Building leadership within their communities depends on continued support, and Flip the Vote’s partnership is enabling these groups to keep staff on year-round, while promoting some from part-time canvassers to field organizers.
One PA is engaging in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of their programming in the 2025 state supreme court election, and to inform future efforts; Flip the Vote is also working with One PA to help identify the impact of their work in the 2024 election.
“This organization has been in the forefront of using deep relationship building and connecting that to electoral organizing to get the wins we want, but more importantly to show our people what is possible when they have a government that is functioning and a government that works for them. That is the work we are doing and continuing to do.”