Five years of hard-fought progress

And we're just getting started

Welcome to a special Wednesday evening edition of Progress Report.

Like most of you, I spent much of 2017 trying to figure out how I could be most helpful in the urgent effort to confront the failure of our politics, combat the constant chaos engulfing the country, and begin the daunting reconstruction of the social and political infrastructure necessary to win power over the long haul.

It had become clear that things were in an unexpectedly dire state. State and local Democratic Parties had been left to rot and die. Corporate centrists had alienated the traditional constituencies that Trump then wooed to the GOP. And nobody outside of the fringes of her Queens district had ever heard about some long-shot candidate named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Things were bleak.

Still, I was convinced that the Democratic voters who donated ungodly sums to presidential campaigns and a few celebrity Senate candidates every election cycle would absolutely be willing to focus some of that support on various down-ballot candidates and grassroots activists if they were actually provided the relevant information and opportunity to do so. As a journalist who spent my time writing national stories for broad audiences, I figured I’d take a crack at it myself, even if I had limited experience with the other side of politics.

Everybody has a newsletter these days, but back then, launching a regular email focused explicitly on these topics was a more novel concept. I really had no idea what to expect when I sent out the first edition of what was then called Progressives Everywhere back on December 17th, 2017, and admittedly, it was a bit slow at first. But it got rolling by February of 2018 — I remember interviewing a House candidate right before going on stage at a convention for my day job, and it felt like a significant moment.

Now, five years later, Progress Report has raised over $7 million for progressive candidates and grassroots organizations, as well as well over $1 million apiece for both abortion funds and bail funds. We have helped countless progressives win their elections and pass their ballot initiatives, broken news that eluded the mainstream media, and cherish nearly 30,000 (free) subscribers along with a growing number of premium members. We’ve built useful websites and earned attention for trolling horrible Republicans, and helped workers going through a tough time.

I say “we” because this newsletter is no longer my side project; it now has multiple paid contributors — we were lucky to have Natalie write for us for most of 2022, featured in-depth, on-the-ground reports from a number of different states, and lots of guest says from activists. I’m currently in the process of assigning out upcoming stories to several new contributors, which will begin to hit your inboxes in early January. I also work full-time in political media now, telling stories about working people and policy and corruption.

Running and building Progress Report, meeting so many of you folks, and working together to help so many people has been an unexpected thrill and honor. I’m excited about what the future will bring — including tomorrow, when I’ll have a new, wide-ranging, jam-packed edition of Midweek Reads for premium subscribers.

I don’t do this to make money, and I’ve kept the subscription price at the minimum number even amid a severe inflationary period. There’s so much more to build from here. The country is in a much better place than when we started — it couldn’t have gotten much worse — and that’s given us the opportunity to report on big wins and ongoing movements in addition to efforts to prevent the worst possible outcomes.

With it being the holiday season and our five-year anniversary, I’m offering a steep discount on a full year subscription, which includes at least three newsletters a week. It’ll help pay for new reporters and in-depth reporting, as well as the other projects we run throughout the year. I know times are tough and you probably just spent a bunch of money on holiday gifts, but if you can swing it, a subscription or donation would go a long way. And if things are too tight for you right now, let me know and I’ll give you a free premium subscription anyway. Your interest and engagement is what keeps this going more than anything else.

- Jordan