our story
SW MI for Bernie 2016 (now SW MI for Bernie 2020) is a non-PAC, volunteer-only campaign centered in Michigan's Sixth Congressional District.
SW MI for Bernie 2016 was informally founded by Charles Niswander in May of 2015. As soon as Bernie announced, a web presence was created immediately. Shortly after, Charles was invited to speak on Bernie's behalf on the Sixth District Democratic Party picnic, and held SW MI for Bernie 2016's first major public event shortly after in July at the VFW Red Arrow Post in Portage. It was a livestream event, where we had about 50 people and Paul Clements as a guest speaker, and signed up a lot of volunteers! (a video and pictures of that and many events can be found HERE)
From there on out, things just got better. SW MI for Bernie 2016 quickly joined forces with the rest of the grassroots movement for Bernie and Charles became a member of a "core leadership group" of about 25 people that was part of a larger group of around 2,000 people, ALL grassroots organizers. Stand Up for Sanders, our sister national-level volunteer organization, elected Charles as vice-chair though group vote and, as a team, we quickly went to work contacting organizers in every state, and a successful effort was made for Labor Day, resulting in about 130 Bernie rallies simultaneously around the nation on Labor Day weekend (the list of those events can be found HERE).
We actually began canvassing in September, mostly flyering events, such as the Lawrence Ox Roast and other events. By this point we were connected with Bernie grassroots statewide. Our major Labor Day event was our "Jam for Bernie". We held a concert with several local bands, and had a good turnout! (article about the event can be found here) Kimberly designed very professional-quality flyers and posters for our events and even our own logo!
I was interviewed for almost a half-hour on WIDR FM; around this same time, we also did several Chalk the Block events in a row, and covered every major town or city in the district with pro-Bernie chalking.
Shortly after, during the Allegan County Fair, we held a booth all week. This fair is the biggest fair in all of Michigan as far as I am aware; the attendance count was 302,000 unique visitors over the week! It was a lot of fun, we volunteers took turns manning the booth and answering people's questions, and we had a LOT of discussion with the people! Some confrontation too. Kimberly T and I took most of the booth-manning shifts; time was taken off of work so we could spend the whole week representing Bernie at the fair. We got far more attention than any of the other candidates! We even held a raffle for Bernie gear at our own expense.
Shortly after the Fair we arranged a way to sell T-shirts with our own SW MI for Bernie 2016 logo (also designed by Kimberly), we sold quite a lot, I believe around 100. We sold them at cost, and they were of course union made!
Next, we were invited to speak at the Million Student March at Western University (a march for free college that took place simultaneously around the country), and, even though we got rained out TWICE ( we rescheduled and it rained us out again! Bad storms too) we had 300-ish RSVPs BOTH times, and our event even got a short spot on the local news (WWMT) before it was to occur! (we got the news spot because I personally harassed them about it and encouraged my volunteers to do the same, lol).
Next started the debate parties! The first one we had 2 separate events, one in Holland I attended in Holland, we ordered pizza and soda for everyone free of charge and had a great time! (About 60 people) and one in Kalamazoo, and after that the Holland parties were continued by my good friend Dr. Oswald. Next we held 2 simultaneous parties in Kalamazoo, one at K college and one at a public bowling alley (Airport Fun Center). We had about 60 at one and 30 at the other! We have continued the watch parties since and they have gone very well.
Charles even had the honor of being a guest speaker on a public panel about Citizens United and money in politics!
With months of phonebanking, Debate Watch parties, and the HUGE final canvassing push we pulled off before the Primary, we had enormous turnout and our district enjoyed some of the highest margins for Bernie in the state!
In fact, on Michigan's Primary Day on March 8th,Michigan made history by beating all polls, pundits and expectations. We can't take credit, that goes to the people of Michigan and all the hard-working, self-sacrificing volunteers, but SW MI for Bernie 2016 has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for Bernie's success in Michigan and leading the rest of the state in effective organizing strategy. In our district, we got volunteers out to Get Out The Vote in droves starting a couple weeks before the election! We had volunteers driving people to the polls on primary day, and what a busy the week running up to the big day was!
Charles spent March 8th on the phone with people across Michigan, the Michigan Election Bureau, and Bernie's legal team, standing for the people of Michigan's right to vote against voter suppression tactics, and successfully had illegal signs intended to discourage voters with false information in 3 precincts removed, had 2 precincts reprimanded for giving incorrect information (one for lying flat out to voters), and also assisted people finding their polling places after suspicious last minute polling location changes.
We have been working to increase MDP membership, and have stood up for all people's right to get involved. We believe everyone should contribute to the cause of democracy be it through monetary donation or volunteer effort; we also believe "pay-to-play" memberships are against Democratic values, and we have advocated on behalf of the people of Michigan to the MDP in this regard.
Currently, in addition to our usual phonebanking and social-media blitzing, we are working on a state-wide effort (as part of nation-wide effort we are assisting with) to increase turnout to District Conventions where delegates will be chosen. There will most likely be an open convention, and we need strong-voiced, loyal Delegates to be sent to the National Convention for Bernie! For more information about that, please visit this page HERE.
SW MI for Bernie 2016 was informally founded by Charles Niswander in May of 2015. As soon as Bernie announced, a web presence was created immediately. Shortly after, Charles was invited to speak on Bernie's behalf on the Sixth District Democratic Party picnic, and held SW MI for Bernie 2016's first major public event shortly after in July at the VFW Red Arrow Post in Portage. It was a livestream event, where we had about 50 people and Paul Clements as a guest speaker, and signed up a lot of volunteers! (a video and pictures of that and many events can be found HERE)
From there on out, things just got better. SW MI for Bernie 2016 quickly joined forces with the rest of the grassroots movement for Bernie and Charles became a member of a "core leadership group" of about 25 people that was part of a larger group of around 2,000 people, ALL grassroots organizers. Stand Up for Sanders, our sister national-level volunteer organization, elected Charles as vice-chair though group vote and, as a team, we quickly went to work contacting organizers in every state, and a successful effort was made for Labor Day, resulting in about 130 Bernie rallies simultaneously around the nation on Labor Day weekend (the list of those events can be found HERE).
We actually began canvassing in September, mostly flyering events, such as the Lawrence Ox Roast and other events. By this point we were connected with Bernie grassroots statewide. Our major Labor Day event was our "Jam for Bernie". We held a concert with several local bands, and had a good turnout! (article about the event can be found here) Kimberly designed very professional-quality flyers and posters for our events and even our own logo!
I was interviewed for almost a half-hour on WIDR FM; around this same time, we also did several Chalk the Block events in a row, and covered every major town or city in the district with pro-Bernie chalking.
Shortly after, during the Allegan County Fair, we held a booth all week. This fair is the biggest fair in all of Michigan as far as I am aware; the attendance count was 302,000 unique visitors over the week! It was a lot of fun, we volunteers took turns manning the booth and answering people's questions, and we had a LOT of discussion with the people! Some confrontation too. Kimberly T and I took most of the booth-manning shifts; time was taken off of work so we could spend the whole week representing Bernie at the fair. We got far more attention than any of the other candidates! We even held a raffle for Bernie gear at our own expense.
Shortly after the Fair we arranged a way to sell T-shirts with our own SW MI for Bernie 2016 logo (also designed by Kimberly), we sold quite a lot, I believe around 100. We sold them at cost, and they were of course union made!
Next, we were invited to speak at the Million Student March at Western University (a march for free college that took place simultaneously around the country), and, even though we got rained out TWICE ( we rescheduled and it rained us out again! Bad storms too) we had 300-ish RSVPs BOTH times, and our event even got a short spot on the local news (WWMT) before it was to occur! (we got the news spot because I personally harassed them about it and encouraged my volunteers to do the same, lol).
Next started the debate parties! The first one we had 2 separate events, one in Holland I attended in Holland, we ordered pizza and soda for everyone free of charge and had a great time! (About 60 people) and one in Kalamazoo, and after that the Holland parties were continued by my good friend Dr. Oswald. Next we held 2 simultaneous parties in Kalamazoo, one at K college and one at a public bowling alley (Airport Fun Center). We had about 60 at one and 30 at the other! We have continued the watch parties since and they have gone very well.
Charles even had the honor of being a guest speaker on a public panel about Citizens United and money in politics!
With months of phonebanking, Debate Watch parties, and the HUGE final canvassing push we pulled off before the Primary, we had enormous turnout and our district enjoyed some of the highest margins for Bernie in the state!
In fact, on Michigan's Primary Day on March 8th,Michigan made history by beating all polls, pundits and expectations. We can't take credit, that goes to the people of Michigan and all the hard-working, self-sacrificing volunteers, but SW MI for Bernie 2016 has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for Bernie's success in Michigan and leading the rest of the state in effective organizing strategy. In our district, we got volunteers out to Get Out The Vote in droves starting a couple weeks before the election! We had volunteers driving people to the polls on primary day, and what a busy the week running up to the big day was!
Charles spent March 8th on the phone with people across Michigan, the Michigan Election Bureau, and Bernie's legal team, standing for the people of Michigan's right to vote against voter suppression tactics, and successfully had illegal signs intended to discourage voters with false information in 3 precincts removed, had 2 precincts reprimanded for giving incorrect information (one for lying flat out to voters), and also assisted people finding their polling places after suspicious last minute polling location changes.
We have been working to increase MDP membership, and have stood up for all people's right to get involved. We believe everyone should contribute to the cause of democracy be it through monetary donation or volunteer effort; we also believe "pay-to-play" memberships are against Democratic values, and we have advocated on behalf of the people of Michigan to the MDP in this regard.
Currently, in addition to our usual phonebanking and social-media blitzing, we are working on a state-wide effort (as part of nation-wide effort we are assisting with) to increase turnout to District Conventions where delegates will be chosen. There will most likely be an open convention, and we need strong-voiced, loyal Delegates to be sent to the National Convention for Bernie! For more information about that, please visit this page HERE.