The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for LGBTQ people, is ramping up plans to hire full-time staff in anticipation for the 2018 midterm elections, Politico reports.
The hires almost will double the group's political structure, and the group plans to focus its work in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada, according to Politico. Those states are seen as the sites for the most competitive races for governor, Senate, and House seats in 2018.
The $26 million campaign will be called HRC Rising and will organize LGBTQ voters as well as voters "likely to oppose candidates who attack the civil rights of LGBTQ people," Politico notes.
Chad Griffin, the HRC president, said the group needed to step up its efforts.
"It's not enough to resist the hateful policies and attacks coming from the Trump-Pence regime — we've got to accelerate the pace of progress toward full equality and secure protections for LGBTQ people in states and communities across the country," Griffin told Politico.
LGBTQ people were the only demographic who supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 more than they did Barack Obama in 2012, the group said.
Griffin said the group is working to coordinate LGBTQ efforts along with other progressive organizations.
"The power and determination of the 10 million LGBTQ voters and our allies across America will only continue to grow stronger in the face of discriminatory attacks on our rights and freedoms," he said in Politico.
President Donald Trump is the impetus for the group's actions, Griffin said Tuesday in The Washington Post.
"I think folks believed that after the Supreme Court ruled on marriage, that we were headed quickly toward a place of full equality in this country. And the president's attacks on our community — and so many minority communities — has served to be, in many ways, a great awakening for our democracy," Griffin said in The Post.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.