The Tom Suozzi Campaign
A Model for Grassroots Collaboration
In late fall 2023, New York State Democrats tapped Tom Suozzi for their candidate in the February 13th Special Election to replace George Santos.
Shortly after the announcement, Susan Wagner, co-founder of Markers for Democracy, arranged a virtual meeting between Suozzi and leaders of activist groups. Wagner wanted the candidate to hear how groups beyond his district could support his campaign. Susan and Tom had worked together when Tom was Nassau County Executive and Susan was Deputy County Comptroller. Building on that relationship, the meeting went smoothly, fostering a sense of mutual respect, shared goals, and clarity about what volunteers might offer in the coming months.
“There’s often a gap between campaigns and external groups,” Wagner said. “It’s — ‘you go do your postcards and send us money but frankly, we are not interested in your opinions.’ But with the Suozzi campaign, we established two-way communication that led to synergistic collaboration between activists and campaign organizers.”
Melissa Carty, Chair of the Village Independent Democrats, agrees. “Tom is one of the few candidates who made it clear he welcomed our help. After that, mobilizing the troops was easy.” Carty has since coordinated busloads to canvass in suburban areas, even in frigid temperatures, an indicator of the enthusiasm for this campaign.
GETTING COLLABORATIONS OFF THE GROUND
Suozzi’s campaign staff soon heard from grassroots groups across the country, eager to help. To coordinate the influx, Wagner and co-founder of Markers for Democracy, Ellen Bender sorted through approximately 75 requests, helping campaign staff identify each group’s strengths.
The Suozzi campaign had each group clarify its capacities, then organized a point of entry into the campaign using clear directions. Notable features included:
ACTIVITIES UNDERWAY
Most Congressional campaigns slot volunteers into preprogrammed activities run by paid staff. In contrast, the Suozzi campaign welcomed grassroots groups’ initiatives. They treated volunteer-run phone banks with the same importance as their own. They enthusiastically embraced volunteer-led postcard and mail campaigns. This helped to build message consistency and amplification of the candidate’s voice.
In these final weeks of the campaign, Target Majority NYC is working under the direction of Swing Left to create a letter-writing program and sponsor weekly letter-writing parties. Swing Blue Alliance, recognizing that a strong turnout among youth could influence the election, is partnering with a local grassroots group to send letters to parents of voting age teens highlighting important deadlines. Students for Suozzi is writing hundreds of postcards in Chinese and Korean.
Another group, Sundays For Suozzi, is inviting volunteers to write postcards, receive campaign updates, and hear inspiring speakers. Sundays For Suozzi has drawn hundreds of participants from all over the country. The warmth and appreciation expressed by Tom and his campaign staff are palpable and motivate volunteers to do more.
WIN OR LOSE, Let’s Spread the Collaborative Approach
The Suozzi campaign shows the momentum a campaign gains when politicians and their staff value grassroots partnerships. The campaign took several steps we hope to see other candidates copy, including:
— Drafting a list of groups willing to collaborate, including their strengths and leadership, in order to divide labor and prevent duplicating efforts. (Note that once the Grassroots Collaboration Group publishes its directory of grassroots groups, this should be doable for every campaign.)
— Creating an easy-to-find handout on the campaign website offering clear instructions for group leaders looking to involve their volunteers.
— Hosting a meeting early in the campaign linking the candidate, campaign staff and grassroots leaders to set a tone of respect, to clarify roles, and to agree on short- and long-term desirable outcomes.
— Participating in grassroots group events.
— Encouraging grassroots to be creative (e.g., using multi-lingual postcards, hosting events, and coordinating across states)
Moving forward, the Grassroots Collaboration Project aims to promote similar relationships, linking groups with campaigns, inspiring politicians to collaborate, and helping them navigate this new political ecosystem. We cheer the creativity, enthusiasm, and professionalism grassroots volunteer leaders bring to their electoral work. Along with the candidate himself, much credit goes to Tom Suozzi’s campaign staff who embraced the possibilities of working with grassroots groups and valued what each has to offer.
