About They See Blue
®
Our voice. Our vote.
Our Origins
The They See Blue® organization, founded in July 2018 in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeks to leverage a cultural connection to advance civic engagement among like-minded South Asians. In the 2018 midterm elections, we mobilized the South Asian community in California's Central Valley with a laser-focused strategy to flip the CA-10, CA-21, and CA-22 House seats from red to blue.
With the help of various grassroots organizations, we attracted 200 volunteers, held successful fundraisers, and conducted targeted outreach to South Asian families through canvassing, phone banking and sponsoring political ads on local radio stations. As a result, Democrats won CA-10 and CA-21.
Today, They See Blue® is a registered Section 527 organization.
They See Blue chapters are independent all-volunteer self-governing grassroots organizations and are not part of the 527 organization.
Our Mission
With the momentum from our 2018 achievements, we replicated our playbook nationally in subsequent election cycles. Our goal is to support They See Blue ® chapters in all states with large South Asian populations and mobilize these voters in battleground states to ensure Democratic control of the White House, the Senate and the House.
The mission of the They See Blue ® organization is to mobilize and engage Americans of South Asian* origin in the democratic process to help Democrats win federal, state and local races.
*Afghan • Bangladeshi • Bhutanese • Indian • Indo-Fijian • Indo-Caribbean
Maldivian • Nepali • Pakistani • Sri Lankan • Diaspora
In the 2020 national elections, we ramped our efforts across the country, including Georgia, where we helped get two Geogia Democrats elected to the U.S. Senate. Our organization made a real difference.
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Our Organizing Strategy
A report by The Center for American Progress found a greater than 10 percent turnout gap between white Americans and eligible Asian American voters. This gap has existed for decades and shows no sign of closing without targeted intervention.
Our fundamental organizing strategy is to increase voter turnout among Democrats and Independents in the South Asian American community by leveraging personal relationships and shared cultural identity.
DATA
Collect robust disaggregated data on Asian Americans.
Eliminate language barriers to voting
LANGUAGE
OUTREACH
Prioritize Asian-American outreach in political campaigns
End discriminatory voter-purging policies
EQUALITY
REGISTER
Remove barriers to voter registration
Our Guiding Principles
General policies
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We are not an issues-based group, though many of our members feel passionate about specific issues and are motivated by them.
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We are focused on US politics in our organizing and do not take stances on non-US politics.
Candidate endorsement
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We officially do not support any candidate until they win the primary and become the Democratic nominee (though informal early engagement is OK).
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We support Democratic nominees who are in critical swing districts or states, regardless of their position on specific issues.
Organizational structure
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We are a group of individuals focused on electing Democrats up and down the ballot.
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Each of us is a volunteer (though some do more than others).
Culture
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We are an inclusive “big tent” organization with a diversity of views, and we strive to maintain a courteous and respectful discourse — meaning no personal attacks — in our messaging forums.
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We do not tolerate racism, casteism, classism, homophobia and transphobia, religious discrimination, sexism and other forms of discrimination and exclusion.