The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, will spend $26 million to
fight President Donald Trump's agenda ahead of next year's midterm
elections.
The group's nationwide effort will
focus on six key states expected to have competitive Senate races in
2018: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada.
HRC President Chad Griffin told the AP
that the campaign, titled HRC Rising, will focus on pushing back
against anti-LGBT legislation and backing “pro-equality candidates
and initiatives.”
“Resistance is really important –
all of the marches and the rallies, that's all important,” Griffin
said. “But it's also important to not only sustain that, but to
take that to the next level.”
JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president
for policy and political affairs at HRC, called HRC Rising “the
largest expansion and investment in grassroots organizing in our
organization's 37-year history.”
“We’ll be building strength in key
states across the country to resist the politics of hate, fight
anti-LGBTQ legislation, and fuel pro-equality candidates and
initiatives. We’ll be hiring new staff, working in close
partnership with other state and local organizations, and further
expanding our army of volunteers, advocates, and members to open
hearts and change minds,” Winterhof
said.
Winterhof said that the effort was a
response to how Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have governed in
their first six months in office, which she described as “hostile”
to the “ideals of equality, opportunity and diversity.”