The Human Rights Campaign targets LGBT allies in push for Clinton votes

Hillary Clinton (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Dominic Preston
25^th October 2016

 

 

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The Human Rights Campaign has launched what it’s calling its largest get-out-the-vote campaign ever in an effort to tip Hillary Clinton and other Democrats over the edge in crucial swing states.
 

Most notably, for the first time the organisation is expanding its efforts beyond LGBT voters and attempting to reach allies and pro-equality voters as well.  

 

 

North Carolina governor Pat McCrory

 

The group is focusing on presidential swing states that also have tight Senate races, along with large enough LGBT populations to potentially impact the outcome.

They believe that LGBT voters and allies could make the difference in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Florida and Nevada.

There are roughly 10 million LGBT voters across the country, and they make up between 3 and 4 percent of the electorate in each of the states being targeted. 

“This is the largest and most robust and sophisticated get-out-the-vote voter mobilization effort in the history of our movement around a presidential election, no question,” HRC President Chad Griffin said.

Their efforts will be focused on voters who are uncertain about whether or not they will vote, but who would likely vote for a pro-equality candidate if they did make it to a polling booth.

“In the key swing states, that is where we have put the bulk of our energy, focus and resources in this election,” Griffin said. 

“And it’s important not just for this election, but it’s also something we’re building on to grow and expand in two years in the midterms and then in four years in the re-elect.” 

The focus of the campaign will be North Carolina, where the group hopes to take advantage of the backlash against the state’s controversial trans bathroom bill HB2.

“North Carolina really has the possibility of being a watershed moment for our country, and certainly for our movement,” Griffin said.

There are 256,000 LGBT voters in the state forming 3.3 percent of the electorate, and the Human Rights Campaign has identified roughly 145,000 other voters it believes could be persuaded to cast a pro-equality vote.

Current Republican governor Pat McCrory is running just half a point behind his Democrat rival Roy Cooper in the state’s election according to the latest polls, and HB2 has been a major discussion point throughout.

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