- Press Release
March For Our Lives and AFT Unite in Ad Buy to Mobilize Voters
Share
In the final stretch of the 2024 Election, students and teachers are standing together to demand a future where their safety and lives are prioritized
Ad: Teachers and students demand gun safety leaders
NEW YORK, NY — Today, in a pivotal final push before the 2024 election, March For Our Lives and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) launched a joint ad campaign to drive voter turnout in battleground states. The campaign leans on a crucial issue—gun safety—that has demonstrably turned out key voters for Democrats, youth voters, and independent women. The powerful spot will air in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, and swing districts NY-17 and NY-19 in New York. The campaign highlights the stakes of the race, emphasizes the importance of electing gun safety candidates, and aims to mobilize voters to the polls to protect students, teachers, and communities from preventable violence.
Teachers and students understand the terror of the gun violence epidemic on a personal level and know better than anyone the urgency of addressing it. We also know that the choice is clear: One candidate will turn back the clock and undo lifesaving gun safety laws, while the other will fight to expand them and save lives. That is why March For Our Lives and the AFT are joining forces once again to remind voters of the importance of electing leaders who will fight for our lives. With a longstanding partnership that began the day we marched arm in arm back in 2018, this initiative is one of many that showcases the power and influence of students and educators.
“School shootings should never, ever, be normal and we need leaders to advocate for a set of policies that make this so,” said Randi Weingarten, President of AFT. “This year and every year we must vote for politicians who are willing to push back on the gun lobby and act for common sense anti-gun violence measures, including eliminating weapons of war from our schools and communities. Keeping students safe from gun violence is not a rural or urban issue, a Democrat or Republican issue. It’s something most of us agree on—and that’s why we’re getting out the vote across the country to secure a future free from the scourge of gun violence.”
“When teachers and students unite, we are a force to be reckoned with,” said Natalie Fall, Executive Director of March For Our Lives. “This campaign underscores a simple but urgent truth: students and educators deserve freedom from gun violence, and we deserve leaders who will prioritize their safety over the interests of the gun lobby. Since our first march in 2018, teachers have fought alongside us to demand change, and we’re enthused to lock arms once again to fight for a champion for us. Together, March For Our Lives and the AFT are committed to ensuring that, in 2024, voters know what’s at stake and use their voice to protect our children and educators.”
This campaign is a call to action for every parent, student, teacher, and young person to vote for candidates who will deliver real change and ensure our well-being is a top priority. The campaign will target young voters and independents in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, March For Our Lives home state of Florida, and the key congressional races in NY-17 and NY-19. The ad campaign reminds voters that teachers and students are hard at work in our classrooms and that we deserve leaders who will step up to the plate to protect our lives.
##