A concept for after the 2026 midterms
RootsCamp on the Road
A circuit of local debriefs in the weeks after Election Day 2026. Shared for reaction from state parties, America Votes tables, labor, and allied organizations — nothing here is final.
What happens at a stop
RootsCamp stays user-generated — organizers pitch sessions, the camp votes, hosts schedule. Expect the debrief RootsCamp always runs after a vote: the problems the state just faced, the challenges still ahead, what actually worked, the innovations worth stealing, and how the movement wins from here. Every stop also carries GAIN Power's staples: professional development and career panels, plus a career fair where partner organizations table to talk with attendees about their programs, their openings, and who they're hiring.
How this stays neutral
A midterm debrief brings together people from a primary or a general that just ended — process, not politics: turnout mechanics, digital, field craft, what the electorate did and why, never relitigating the race or endorsing for the next cycle. Host neutrality is a condition of the model: GAIN Power and Global GAIN back no candidate, and every stop is co-hosted — by design, not by us alone — with the state party, the campaigns that just ran, and local labor and community partners, so no camp becomes one side's alumni reunion. It runs both directions: staff a losing campaign just got freed, and staff a winning one is building a team or moving to their next fight — feeding the same jobs board the wider network already runs.
Why local, not just national
GAIN Power is currently planning one National Convening for this cycle. We think six local stops matter just as much: these are the states campaigns will be hiring out of almost as soon as the votes are counted, and a camp in the state — in the weeks right after Election Day — reaches organizers a single national gathering later can't. The Circuit and the Convening aren't either/or; the Circuit feeds people and lessons into the national camp in early 2027.
What we're asking of partners
We're looking for co-organizing partners in each of these six states — state parties, America Votes tables, labor, and other lead progressive organizations — to help shape the agenda, invite the camp, and staff a table of their own at the career fair. GAIN Power brings the toolkit, the platform, and lead funding; partners bring the relationships and the read on what their state's camp actually needs.
What we want your read on
Does the timing work for your state — a debrief in the weeks after the midterms — or does something else on the calendar conflict? Who else needs a seat at this table? What should the career fair table list look like in your state? And does a stop make more sense paired with something you're already planning, rather than standing alone?
Tell us you're in
If this looks like something you want to help build, tell us how — as a partner and co-organizer, as a sponsor, or both. Nothing here is final until we've heard from you.