Fall 2025/Year End Update for Our Donors

 

As we end 2025, our team is thankful for your continued support of Project 42 and the capacity groups that we work with across the state. Here is a brief recap of some of our recent work, impact and new projects.

We hope you are having a nice holiday season and wish you a wonderful Christmas with your family.

Thank you for being part of Project 42, this impact below is due to your support in 2025!

Dann and the Project 42 Leadership Team – Steve Gordon, Brian Heyward, Sally Poliak and Dann Mead Smith

 

  • Project 42 was recently recognized by both Americans for Tax Reform/The Tholos Foundation (see below) and State Policy Network, the leading organization of state policy and advocacy groups. SPN highlighted Project 42 as one of only three organizations/states from around the country in their recent brochure on how to build and support Durable Freedom Infrastructure in the states and as a template for blue/purple states

  • Future 42 published and distributed our first legislative session scorecard for all state legislators – look for this popular publication to continue in 2026 as a key tool to hold legislators accountable especially on their votes on increasing taxes

  • With Full Court Press’ inaugural (and the first by anyone in our state for several years) Judicial Scorecard coming early in the new year – as donors, you will be the first to receive a copy as 2026 will have at least four Supreme Court races

  • The Center Square Washington State is now the largest online news publication in our state with over 300,000 email subscribers – surpassing The Seattle Times! See below for their plans to hire a dedicated business reporter to add this much needed coverage to their daily news stories

  • Recruiting and training candidates via Full Court Press (judicial candidates) and League of Our Own who have recruited and trained 90 women who have now been elected to local and state offices with 37 elected in November with another 400 interested in running in the future!

  • And our latest capacity group, Washington Veterans Vote, is planning to launch their new podcast in the new year (see below for more information and how you can help make this project a reality) to engage and activate this key block of voters

  

League of Our Own

37 League candidates were elected in November, their highest number in one election cycle. That's more than 3 dozen women poised to bring the principles of limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility to their communities.  Project 42 recently held an orientation session for all newly elected officials as they prepare to take office in the new year. 

You can be a part of the success! Encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to sign up with League as a Scout, Prospect, Coach, or Fan so they can continue to grow our effort to recruit, train, and empower the next wave of women leaders in Washington State.  

The Center Square Washington – expanding their coverage to include Business news

 The Center Square has identified the need for better and more extensive coverage on business news in our region especially with even more new and higher taxes on business being proposed.  As you know, the landscape of news reporting in our state has dramatically transformed. Publications are reducing the number of reporters. New reporters hired are young, inexperienced and asked to cover multiple beats.  What has suffered from this transformation is a lack of solid business reporting. Readers aren’t getting information on the state of our business climate. They also aren’t getting any positive coverage on the contributions businesses make in our communities and on people’s lives.  Most importantly they aren’t getting good information to highlight the consequences of potential legislation in Olympia. This gap of reporting makes it easy for legislators and local elected officials to raise new taxes on businesses.  It’s a problem that now has a solution.

Please let Dann know if you would like to learn more and receive a “one pager” that provides more information on The Center Square plans to hire a full time, dedicated business reporter in 2026 whose business-focused news stories will reach their growing email subscriber list of over 300,000 in Washington State.  

  

Veterans Focused Podcast Launching in Early 2026 – with support from Project 42 

As many of you know, a new organization and Project 42 capacity group, Washington Veterans Vote launched this year.  They are finalizing plans for their first full year in operation and are planning to launch a regular podcast as a new way to reach military veterans.  

Every day, policies made in Olympia and across Washington’s cities and counties shape the lives of Washington’s veterans, servicemembers, and their families—from housing and education to employment and entrepreneurship. Yet many in this community feel disconnected from how those decisions are made—or how to make their voices heard.

Launching in early 2026, Washington Veterans Vote’s new podcast will help bridge that gap. Each episode will link a Washington veteran’s story to a state or local policy issue from our issue platform and ends with a simple action listeners can take.


A Pro-Veteran Business & Entrepreneurship Climate

A Safe & Affordable Place to Raise a Family

Strong Pathways to Post Military Service Employment

A Strong Network of Veteran Care & Support Services

 

Why It Matters

  • Engages Younger Generations. Younger veterans, often busy raising families, prefer content they can consume on their own time. With 50% of Washington veterans listening to podcasts and 89% using YouTube, we have a clear opportunity to meet them where they are. 

  • Inspires Civic Leadership. Veterans are trusted voices and natural problem-solvers. When they vote, volunteer, or speak out, they motivate others to follow suit. Veterans also vote at higher rates than the general population—with research showing that veterans are 20% more likely to have voted in recent local elections than non-veterans.

  • Builds a Strong Grassroots Advocacy Network. Veterans are 37% more likely than non-veterans to frequently discuss political, social, or local issues with their neighbors.

By expanding awareness among veterans of the state and local policies that directly affect their lives, Washington Veterans Vote strengthens their grassroots network and amplify their collective voice in Washington.

We can’t do this without your help! We need to raise $100,000 to create the podcast and fund opportunities to get the podcast in front of our intended audiences on social media and through events and sponsorships.

Learn more:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iDwJjdxjyr03lbeM7RFBTpixYx8PYjyj/view?usp=sharing

 

Project 42’s capacity building recognized nationally thanks to your support 

Project 42 recently received the Tholos’ Foundation/Americans for Tax Reform inaugural (to an organization in the USA, they presented it to the president of Argentina in Buenos Aires last year!) Reagan Award.

 We received it (I am pictured here with Grover Norquist/ATR founder/CEO, and our board chair, Steve Gordon) at their annual conference in Palm Springs. This is the only award they presented at the event, which is a nice acknowledgement of the work that you, our donors have made possible and the groups that we have launched and partner with as part of Project 42. They see what we have built (are continuing to build) and some of the impact we are having in a challenging state as a model for other blue/purple states which was a pleasant surprise and special honor to receive it from Grover who worked with Reagan.