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WASHINGTON — <\/span>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Democratic National Committee<\/a> will spend millions of dollars to cement control of voter registration efforts that have traditionally been entrusted to nonprofit advocacy groups and individual political campaigns, a shift that party leaders hope will increase their chances in this year’s midterm elections.<\/p>\n The initiative, being announced on Tuesday, will begin in Arizona and Nevada with at least $2 million for training organizers. It’s the first step in what could become the DNC’s largest-ever push to sign up new voters, with a particular focus on young people, voters of color and people without college educations. All of those demographics drifted away from Democrats in the last presidential race<\/a>, which returned Republican Donald Trump<\/a> to the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a crisis. And for our party to actually win elections, we have to actually create more Democrats,\u201d DNC Chair Ken Martin<\/a> said in an interview with The Associated Press.<\/p>\n Martin added that \u201cwe need all hands on deck, not just the outside groups,\u201d as the party tries to win back control of Congress and break Republicans’ unified control in Washington<\/a>.<\/p>\n Democrats have spent decades relying on advocacy organizations and civic groups to register voters, but those efforts are generally required by law to be nonpartisan. Party leaders want a more explicitly partisan approach like the one used by Republicans, who have relied less on outside groups to register and mobilize their voter base.<\/p>\n Martin said allied nonprofits are \u201creally important partners\u201d that have \u201cdone amazing work to actually get people engaging in their democracy.\u201d <\/p>\n “But in this moment right now, given the significant disadvantage that we have and the advantage the Republicans have, we actually have to do more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The DNC initiative aims to reach non-college-educated young voters by recruiting organizers from a wide array of backgrounds, like gig economy workers and young parents, who have often been overlooked in the party\u2019s grassroots efforts. Democrats hope that organizers’ own perspectives and experiences will help party strategists learn how to connect with Americans in blue-collar roles<\/a> who are disaffected with politics, whom the party fears it has lost touch with in recent elections.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s incredible that Democrats are actually investing in reaching Democratic voters who have been left behind,\u201d said Santiago Mayer, founder of Voters for Tomorrow, a progressive political youth group that is collaborating with the DNC. \u201cWe got killed on persuasion in 2024, and I think this is a really important step, fixing it and ensuring that we do not have a repeat of that in 2026.”<\/p>\n The program will kick off with dozens of videos from lawmakers, activists and party leaders across the country. Democrats hope to boost enthusiasm for the program through interstate party competitions throughout the year.<\/p>\n If successful, the investments will provide a foundation that Democrats can rely upon beyond the fall midterm elections.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a critical piece of the infrastructure that we\u2019re building to actually not only win the moment in \u201926 but to win the future,” Martin said. \u201cFor us to put ourselves in a position to win in \u201928 and \u201930 and \u201932, we actually have to keep doing this work and do it consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n