How Sarahana Scored An Upset in Assembly District 103: The Political Novice Shares Her Tactics

Shrestha relied heavily on support from DSA organizers to recruit volunteers. “I did this because I knew I would have 10 dedicated colleagues from DSA, and those people completely suspended their lives to help me run.”

Those connections would prove critical, and the campaign continued to attract support from an ever-broader network of grassroots campaigns, including the renewable energy advocacy coalition, Public Power NY, whose own volunteers discovered Shrestha through the coalition. “So many volunteers came to us because of their support for the Build Public Renewables Act,” she said.

Meanwhile, For the Many, a non-profit grassroots activist organization that endorsed Shrestha and other progressive candidates, ran its own ground game in support of the upstart candidate. The group contacted 76,262 voters across the district through door-knocking, phone calls, and text messages, according to a statement from For the Many.