GCI organizers worked with MoveOn members across the country to support candidate Francine Busby – we organized phone banks, kickoff meetings, and recruited and trained thousands of MoveOn volunteers to make campaign phone calls. On April 11th, voters in California's 50th District went to the polls to elect a Representative to replace former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned in an unprecedented bribery scandal. The Democratic candidate in this open primary special election, Francine Busby, is a genuine progressive endorsed by MoveOn members in the district. Busby finished first in the crowded field (there were 18 Republicans competing with her), with 44% of the vote – a great first step in a district where only 30% of voters are registered Democrats. In the runoff election on June 6, she was unfortunately unable to defeat the republican opposition, but she posted results of more than 45%, much more successful than would have been expected in the strongly republican district. MoveOn members made more than 200,000 phone calls during the campaign, identifying and contacting thousands of Busby voters and urging them to get out and vote. Although we didn't win CA 50, our work in this early election will make our fall “Take Back Congress” campaign more efficient. And this is just the first step in our program to get MoveOn’s 3 million members involved this fall…. Find out more about our fall campaign job openings.
