Thousands of campaign workers will find themselves out of work after the 2026 midterms. One progressive political network has a plan to keep them from leaving politics.
GAIN Power is seeking $1.5 million by December 31 for a post-election infrastructure project designed to retain, train and reconnect political professionals during 2027 before the workforce expands again for the 2028 presidential race.
Its plan calls for $800,000 for RootsCamp gatherings, $500,000 for a Democracy University pilot and $200,000 for technology including a new applicant-tracking system and interconnected professional communities. GAIN says 2027 will serve as the bridge between the midterms and the next presidential cycle, with the objective to “retain, train, connect” workers who would otherwise disperse after campaigns close.
But the fundraising pitch is only one part of a larger project.
Building a Permanent Political Workforce
GAIN describes its programs as year-round infrastructure for the progressive political workforce.
Its ecosystem spans three legally separate entities. GAIN Power LLC operates workforce, networking and technology programs. Global GAIN is a 501(c)(3) that houses education and leadership programs, including Democracy University. GAIN Voters is an active FEC-registered hybrid PAC with a non-contribution account.
An earlier fundraising prospectus sought between $1.01 million and $2.23 million in pre-election funding to have that infrastructure ready immediately after the midterms.
The plan included organizers in six states, technology upgrades, a marketplace for political consultants, Democracy University and between $150,000 and $300,000 for Democrats.app, which GAIN describes as a “Party Reform Platform.” The prospectus says Democrats.app is intended to onboard displaced political workers and apprentices beginning the day after the election.
The project would sit under GAIN Voters.
That would mark a significant expansion on the electoral side of the network. FEC records covering January 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 show GAIN Voters reported $732.50 in receipts, no contributions and $856.52 in disbursements during that period.
From Campaign Training to Party Influence
The educational side of the project is Democracy University, founded by GAIN Power founder Amy Pritchard and veteran Democratic strategist Will Robinson.
Democracy University describes itself as a fiscally sponsored project of Global GAIN, a 501(c)(3). GAIN’s current fundraising plan characterizes it as nonpartisan democracy education and says the $500,000 pilot will fund curriculum development, instructional design and video production rather than partisan campaign training.
The platform is being developed to teach political and organizing skills while building career pathways for people working in elections and civic organizations.
Democrats.app serves a different purpose.
Its current site teaches users how Democratic Party institutions work and how to enter them. A section dedicated to the 2028 Democratic convention explains how to become a delegate, how state delegate-selection plans operate and how delegate experience can connect to presidential campaign employment.
Another section is titled “Organize Delegates, Shape the Platform.”
The site explains that organized delegate slates can influence the party platform, convention rules and resolutions, telling users that coordinated delegations can move the party on issues important to their communities.
The result is a potential pipeline stretching from post-election employment assistance, through training and professional networking, into the mechanics of presidential campaigns and Democratic Party organization.
Democratic Committees and Unions Have Backed GAIN Programs
GAIN is not building that network in isolation.
Its 2023 Powerful IDEA Awards listed sponsors including the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Senate Majority PAC, AFSCME, National Education Association, United Food and Commercial Workers and America Votes.
GAIN’s sponsorship model also integrates political recruiting with financial support.
Current sponsorship packages reach $50,000 and include advertising across GAIN events, booths at career fairs, access to its Career Center and dozens of political job postings.
The organization says its network has reached more than 100,000 people, while more than 6,800 employers have used its Career Center since 2020. Those employers include Democratic Party committees, campaigns, labor unions, advocacy groups and political consulting firms.
At the center is Pritchard, a longtime Democratic political strategist who has sought to turn what were traditionally temporary campaign relationships into lasting professional infrastructure.
The Next Funding Question
What remains unclear is who will finance the current expansion.
GAIN publicly identifies previous sponsors and partners, but its new prospectuses do not provide a complete list of donors already committed to the post-election project.
That distinction matters because the money can move through different entities. Funding for GAIN Voters is subject to federal campaign-finance reporting, while charitable funding flows through Global GAIN. Commercial sponsorships and investments can go through privately held GAIN Power LLC, where the same level of public donor disclosure does not apply.
GAIN itself describes the network as “three entities, one mission,” while also stating that GAIN Power LLC, Global GAIN and GAIN Voters are legally separate organizations.
What is already public, however, outlines a larger ambition than a post-election jobs program.
GAIN is attempting to build infrastructure that can catch political workers as campaigns shut down, keep them connected through the off-year, train and place them, and prepare parts of that workforce for the next presidential cycle.
And through Democrats.app, that infrastructure extends beyond employment into teaching activists how to enter and organize within the Democratic Party itself.