"Keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to time have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence."

Wrote Abraham Lincoln, in an 1840 letter, quoted by Ben Wikler, in "My State Was a 'Democracy Desert.' This Is How We Turned It Around" (NYT)(gift link)

"My State" = Wisconsin. Ben was chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party from 2019 to 2025. 

He continues: "There’s a name for that approach today: 'relational organizing.' It starts with the recognition that people will be more open to a new message if they trust the messenger. So if you want to build a movement, build trust. Seek to do this outside of your own political bubble, because the people who are most apt to change their minds about politics are generally the people who are the least interested in it. Your goal should be to join or build a group that engages voters who don’t live, sleep, eat and breathe politics — in a barbershop, at a fish fry or at a farmers’ market."

I wrote about the term "relational organizing" back in 2023 — here — based on a WaPo piece the quoted Wikler. I said:

Is this wholesome — in a Heather-Locklear-I-told-2-friends kind of way? Or is this awful — appropriating and leveraging personal relationships? If someone begins a conversation with me with a political pitch, I'm offended. But maybe most "personal" friends are just people who are looking to manipulate and use you in one way or another. 

I resist tag proliferation, but I'm making a tag for "relational organizing." I'm doing this not in spite of but because of the fact that it annoys me. It annoys me the way "the politics of meaning" annoyed me. Is "relational" even a word? Yes, it is. The OED has examples going back to the 1600s. Here's a 2006 example from Time Magazine: "Girls have traditionally practiced not so much physical aggression as relational aggression." 

Is "relational organizing" an established term? I found a few things:

1. "The Key To Creating Lasting Change? Mobilizing the People You Already Know. Relational organizing focuses on the most important tools at our disposal: our relationships and our ability to talk with one another about things that matter" (Harper's Bazaar, 2020): "Every single one of us has a network.... Hell, I even recruited my mechanic to join our legislative advocacy day once. This is what activists do. We do the work of unifying like-minded people around an issue, and then we turn those relationships into votes."

2. "How to be a Relational Organizer" (NAACP, 2020): "Talking to your friends and family about politics may seem like a daunting task, but we've got news for you - it doesn't have to be so hard. Just remember these three prompts, 'Open, Question, Action' and the conversation will flow naturally...."

3. "'If we do this right …': The new Dem organizing strategy catching fire ahead of the midterms/Operatives who helped elect Sen. Jon Ossoff are exporting their voter contact program to more states for the midterm elections" (Politico, 2022): "A group of Democratic strategists is trying to spread a novel organizing tactic in this year’s election. Technically, it’s called 'paid relational organizing,' but it boils down to this: paying people to talk to their friends about politics."

4. "The Secret to Beating Trump Lies With You and Your Friends/The pandemic wrecked traditional campaigning. Relational organizing stands to reinvent it" (Mother Jones, 2020): "... a buzzy new term: 'relational organizing.'... [It's] nothing new. Word-of-mouth and community-based activism were the backbone of the civil rights, women’s rights, farmworkers’, and labor movements.... [Some political scientists] believe relational organizing holds the most promise for people of color and other communities that historically lack political power. The possibility is being demonstrated right now, as polls show that a majority of Americans are awakening to racism in policing. That could not have happened without Black Lives Matter, a textbook example of relational organizing."