Square One’s Timeline

Our journey to uplift and elect transformational Democratic leaders.

— 2024 —

Square One continues to endorse inspiring candidates around the country — playing an important role to help Democrats flip the House, hold the Senate, and uplift the Harris-Walz campaign by investing in candidates in key presidential battlegrounds. 

See our 2024 endorsed candidates here.

We also launched Power Breakers with May Rupert, a new Substack interview series where every other week, we bring you a conversation on the people and ideas that matter in this election cycle and beyond. We’ll make you think. We’ll make you question. We’ll make you hope.

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— 2023 —

Square One expands The New Campaign Playbook, our free educational resources for candidates up and down the ballot, with a set of nine videos on everything from launching a campaign to fundraising, field and GOTV, and endorsements. We also release Power Brokers, a report of the state of spending in Congressional races, with lessons on how to invest in more women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ candidates in overlooked red districts and states around the country.

We welcome John Bisognano to the Leadership Board, the president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. 

By the end of 2023, we roll out 11 endorsements — the most candidates we’ve ever endorsed this early in the cycle. They include many new candidates to Square One like Monica Tranel in Montana, Tony Vargas in Nebraska, Sarah Klee Hood in New York, and our first US Senate endorsement of the cycle, Ruben Gallego in Arizona.  

Square One continues to endorse inspiring candidates around the country — playing an important role to help Democrats flip the House, hold the Senate, and uplift the Biden campaign by investing in candidates in key presidential battlegrounds. 

— 2022 —

The Square One Leadership Board is relaunched with movement leaders from progressive politics around the country, including  Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign; Marlon Marshall, former special assistant to President Obama; Dawn Huckelbridge, founder of Paid Leave for All; and Jonae Wartel, who led the effort in Georgia to help Democrats flip the US Senate from red to blue in 2020; among many others.

Our candidate program expands to include candidates for the US Senate for the first time, including Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin and Cheri Beasley in North Carolina.   

We receive words of praise (and wisdom) from President Obama in a letter to Square One: 

Square One continues its support of barrier-breaking candidates for the US House, including people like Will Rollins, an openly gay former federal prosecutor in California, Yadira Caraveo, a pediatrician in Denver whose parents immigrated to the US from Mexico, Kermit Jones, a doctor and veteran in California, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, an ordained minister and fierce advocate for LGBTQ equality across the South, and Michelle Vallejo, a community advocate and small business leader in South Texas.

Election night yields impressive results for Square One candidates. Yadira Caraveo, who was given just a 9% chance of winning by the pundits, is elected in one of the closest races in the country. In a historic first, she’s the first Latina or woman of color ever sent to Congress by Colorado. Square One incumbents return to Congress. Many other Square One candidates come closer than expected, and pave the way for wins in the next election.

— 2021 —

Square One releases The New Campaign Playbook — free, comprehensive resources for candidates, campaign staff, and activists — with a focus on tools for women, people of color, and LGBTQ candidates running for office and breaking barriers along the way. 

We begin endorsing candidates for the 2022 elections.

— 2020 —

Square One transitions our model of support during the Covid outbreak to ensure our candidates have the resources and tools they need to run strong campaigns during lockdown. 

Our work is highlighted in the documentary SURGE, chronicling the historic rise of female candidates in the 2018 election.

We endorse breakthrough leaders like Desiree Tims in Ohio, and double down on endorsements in states like Texas that are key to long-term growth of the Democratic party. 

All of Square One’s incumbent candidates win reelection: Lauren Underwood, Lucy McBath, Haley Stevens, Katie Porter and Antonio Delgado. 

Square One published an op-ed in Politico — it becomes the most-read article on the site that day.

— 2019 —

On January 3, 2019, Lauren Underwood is sworn in as the youngest Black woman to ever serve in Congress. 

Square One works with our winning members to transition into Congress.

We re-endorse our former candidates from the 2018 cycle, pick up key Democratic incumbents like Katie Porter of California and Lucy McBath of Georgia, and begin to recruit and support a whole new class of women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community running across the country.

We focus on supporting districts and states that will be key to the 2020 presidential election, knowing that excitement around our candidates will help drive voter turnout for the Biden campaign. 

— 2018 —

Square One continues to endorse candidates, including Gina Ortiz Jones, a veteran in South Texas, and Haley Stevens, a former Obama administration official in Michigan.

Every single Square One endorsed candidate wins his or her primary election.

Square One candidate Liuba Grechen Shirley pushes the FEC to allow campaign funds to be used for childcare — and wins. This victory changes the game for working parents everywhere who want to run for office. 

On the night of the midterm elections, Square One candidates help drive a massive blue wave victory for Democrats in the midterm elections — flipping seats from red to blue, reclaiming the House, and electing leaders like Lauren Underwood in Illinois, Antonio Delgado in New York, and Haley Stevens in Michigan. 

In places where Square One candidates came close but lost, we put districts into play that had been considered impossible for Democrats to compete in.

It’s an extraordinary success for Square One and our campaigns — candidates and districts that had been all but written off by the establishment become key wins for Democrats, reshaping the way Democrats think about where to run and who can win. 

— 2017 —

In the aftermath of Trump’s election, Square One is launched with the mission of electing a new generation of Democrats to Congress. 

Using data to analyze the most promising-but-overlooked districts for Democrats, Square One begins endorsing candidates including Lauren Underwood, then a 30-year-old nurse living outside Chicago, and Liuba Grechen Shirley, a working mother in Long Island, New York. 

Our model of high-impact, hands-on support is implemented with diverse candidates around the country to support their campaigns and help them win.