Bluebonnet Data

Read about the great work our fellows including Jordan Hyatt worked on to support Advance Native Political Leadership! https://lnkd.in/gJznrra5

Isaac Tucker-Rasbury shares his transformative journey from data enthusiast to Senior Data Analyst at BlueLabs. His fellowship with Bluebonnet Data deepened his understanding of how data drives political impact and voter engagement. Learn how Isaac's experience at Bluebonnet Data helped shape his career and enhance his contributions to political tech. https://lnkd.in/dRsV6Q4Y

Last week, I was honored to attend my first Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Tens of thousands of people who care about the future of our country came together to paint a powerful, positive vision of America, and the energy inside the convention hall was palpable and inspiring. How did Democrats turn things around from barely a month ago, when the consensus view was that we were sleepwalking into a second Trump term before Joe Biden stepped aside and endorsed Kamala Harris? I wrote a DNC Dispatch for Bluebonnet Data to answer that question, and these were my main takeaways. ??? Democrats are behaving like a real political party: The decisions the party has made recently, starting with Joe Biden declining the nomination, demonstrate a serious, newfound commitment to winning AND to getting things done. As Tim Walz says, "You don’t win elections to bank political capital—you win elections to burn political capital and improve lives." ???? Democrats are reclaiming the most esteemed American values: Donald Trump and JD Vance claim they want small government while also seeking to control the most intimate aspects of our lives; they claim to love our country but are running a campaign on resentment, bitterness, and fearmongering; and they claim to respect the Constitution but are willing to subvert the democratic process when they don't like the results of an election. The Harris campaign has decided to go on offense and highlight this hypocrisy head-on by loudly and proudly reclaiming core American values such as freedom, patriotism, and putting country above self. ???? Democrats have the talent and tech needed to win in November: This election is still extremely close and will likely come down to a handful of votes in key swing states. The good news is that the political landscape has shifted drastically since 2016 as Democrats used the last two cycles to invest strategically in the people and technology that power our campaigns. Bluebonnet Data and our peer organizations in the progressive tech space like DigiDems, Generation Data, and re:power have significantly broadened the pipeline and deepened the pool of data and tech talent in Democratic politics. You can read my full dispatch from the DNC here: https://lnkd.in/gTAgUBFs And if you want to support Bluebonnet's mission of recruiting, training, and deploying the next generation of data and tech talent in the progressive movement, you can chip in $20.24 (or more!) here: https://lnkd.in/gB29QBcx

Last week, Bluebonnet Data co-founder & president Nathán Goldberg Crenier attended the DNC. In a blog post, he reflects on how Democrats successfully coalesced around the Harris-Walz ticket, how this reshapes the role of the Democratic Party, and how Democrats are taking back freedom and patriotism as core values ???? Read the blog post here: https://lnkd.in/e_Mkdiqe

Zana N. E. shares how her fellowship at Bluebonnet Data led her to her role as a Senior Research Associate at American Experiment Project, where she focuses on political communication and messaging strategies to figure out what resonates with different voters. https://lnkd.in/ev8hkgnY

I enjoyed speaking with Harvard Magazine about the work we do at Bluebonnet Data to make Democratic campaigns smarter and more efficient, as well as our ties to the Harvard community! I founded Bluebonnet out of my dorm room in college to help progressive campaigns by connecting them with top-tier data talent. Since those early days, we’ve recruited, trained, and deployed 1,500+ data and tech volunteers to support 750+ campaigns and causes in 45 states. If you want to make an impact in this year’s election, please consider supporting the work of organizations like Bluebonnet that focus their efforts on downballot races that often don’t get much funding—big wins are built on top of the efforts of thousands of local candidates! You can chip in to support Bluebonnet’s mission here: https://lnkd.in/gB29QBcx Thanks to my cofounders (Paul, Danielle, Ben, & Becca) and staff (Jacob, Mariam, Powell, & MC) for all their work this cycle!

One of our clients—Ashwin Ramaswami for State Senate—quit their job in election security to run for office. Ashwin is only 24 years old and has a vision for a more prosperous Georgia. Check out Fast Company's profile of him: https://lnkd.in/g4iesJvQ

We sat down with Asher Labovich to discuss his why and how he started 24cast.org with 13 other students from Brown University. Just a few weeks ago, they launched 24cast with an open-source, machine-learning powered election predictive tool. https://lnkd.in/eQ96gN32

In our third installment of Bluebonnet Data: Bluebonnets in the (Progressive) Field we sat down with Bluebonnet Fellow Elijah Appelson. Elijah is the 1st data professional the ACLU of Louisiana hired. Elijah produced a groundbreaking project the visualizes police violence in Louisiana. This project is the first of its kind in Louisiana, and provides crucial insight to other advocacy groups and is even referred to in legislative sessions and legal proceedings. https://lnkd.in/eAq_S_zF

Congrats to Bluebonent alum Cody Braun who is starting a new role as Data Director with Movement Labs! After supporting Ashwin Ramaswami for State Senate in Georgia with very innovative data projects, Cody is taking his leap into political data full-time. Cody will be data director for Movment Labs' incubator program building prototype pipelines, datasets, and dashboards for experimental projects to reach and persuade voters and otherwise enable progressive organizers. Cody will also help assess the performance of those projects and, if they're successful, productionize them for the 2024 election and beyond.