Everytown announces 2014 election strategy

Posters bearing Everytown’s “Gun Sense Voter” slogan sit on a table at a May 7 Moms Demand Action press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Justine McDaniel

By Justine McDaniel

Gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety announced on Monday a three-stage strategy for creating change at the federal level that aims to collect information on Congress members’ views and use it to mobilize voters in key elections in the 2014 midterms and beyond.

The group plans to “take a page out of the Obama campaign” by using a data-driven strategy that combines technology with grassroots advocacy, said Mitch Stewart, a senior advisor to Everytown who worked on Obama’s reelection.

Starting Monday, the bipartisan group is sending a questionnaire about gun regulations to every candidate for Congress. Candidates will have until August 15 to respond to the 10 questions, which cover background checks, domestic violence and high-capacity magazines, among other things.

“What we want to do is empower Americans. We know how Americans feel about this issue. It’s time for Americans to find out how political candidates feel about the issue,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown.

The group will analyze questionnaire responses from each candidate along with his or her voting record, co-sponsorships and prior statements. It will then publish the information for voters and determine which 2014 candidates Everytown will support. The organization is also hiring new staff for the effort in 12 key states, including Arizona, Florida and Texas.

The last step of the organization’s plan will attempt to increase voter turnout in the elections it deems most important.

Drawing on the Obama campaign’s technique for harnessing grassroots power, Everytown will make a coordinated effort to register new voters, speak with undecided voters and get Americans to go to the polls with gun safety in mind.

The questionnaire parallels the National Rifle Association’s well known scorecard system, which gives each member of Congress a letter grade for their stance on guns. Unlike the NRA, Everytown has made their questions available to the public online and will publish information about the candidates’ views rather than assigning a grade.