Published on April 29, 2025
Bask In The Success
"The Multiplier Project aims to build capacity," project director Marguerite Young told me. "How can we erect some speed bumps? How can we press vulnerable Republicans to tell Trump that this or that won't work." The effort is built on local activism, which included some 5,000 people gathering on March 31 in Delano to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day and 4,000 attending a local event on the Bernie Sanders-AOC tour, and thousands more participating in local April 5 actions in Bakersfield, Hanford, and Porterville. Instead of the good energy of these separate efforts just dissipating, they feed into an ongoing focused campaign. A charming thing about this strategy is that MAGA forces will think twice about threatening incumbents in swing districts with primary challenges, since harder-line pro-Trump candidates would be even easier for Democrats to defeat in the general election. The organizers of the Multiplier Project hope to extend the strategy to 18 swing districts. The progress in CA-22 is pretty good proof of concept. Next on the list is AZ-01, part of Maricopa County, where incumbent Republican David Schweikert won the seat in 2024 by less than four
points. As in CA-22, organizers will work intensely with local groups. "It can't be just about flipping the House," Young says. "It has to be about changing the power dynamics by building sustained political power locally."
Pressuring Republican Reps to Pressure Trump: The strategy has been effective against one GOP legislator, David Valadao in CA-22, and it is going national.