On April 5, an estimated 2,000 people flocked to Sayre Park in Glenwood Springs for the Hands Off! rally organized by Mountain Action Indivisible, a political advocacy group operating from Parachute to Aspen. The spike in Indivisible protests across our region is part of a national trend of grassroots organizing that quieted during the Biden years, and is reemerging in the wake of the current presidential administration. Mountain Action Indivisible is the Valley’s branch of the nation-wide Indivisible project.
Indivisible started eight years ago with a document written by Obama-era Congressional aides Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, who saw conservative grassroots movements turning constituents’ ideas into policy. The updated document, available on the Indivisible website, provides a practical outline for Americans to understand their power as the people. Debbie Bruell, one of the founding members of Mountain Action Indivisible (MAI) and former chairperson of the Garfield County Democrats, said that community is an important political resource.
“What the guide is really about is understanding the power we have as constituents,” said Bruell. “That’s what they witnessed with the Tea Party. People were really organizing at the local level. They were putting pressure on their representatives. They were realizing the importance of school boards and county commissioners. So the guide was more about helping people understand the power that we have to influence our government.”
Another founding member of MAI, Lori Brandon, emphasized that democratic government is a service to the people, not the other way around. “It really is a representative government that we live in,” said Brandon, “and that’s what it’s all about. The people who we elect are supposed to represent us. They work for us. It’s important for us to tell them what we want and how we feel.”
Bruell and Brandon stated that everyone is welcome at MAI meetings, no matter who they voted for or if they voted at all. Their notion is that no matter who you are, you may eventually feel the negative ramifications of the Trump administration.
“It’s the cost of living through the tariff problems, inflation, all the immigration problems, the lack of due process,” Brandon said. “That’s why people are getting upset and coming out.”
MAI has subgroups in a variety of Western Slope towns. According to the national Indivisible website, there are over 2,200 local Indivisible groups that cover more than 90% of U.S. congressional districts.
“We have a wide variety of people showing up,” said Bruell. “We definitely saw some Latino people at our April 5 rally, but a lot of people specifically told me they have family members who don’t have the correct documentation and are afraid to show up.”
New Castle resident Michael Podmore has been a MAI ambassador for two months. Before that, he canvassed for Democrats downvalley. Podmore said that most of the people he sees in meetings tend to be older and white.
“I do wonder if the people who are over 50 kind of grew up in a time where they saw a lot of protests, and they saw the positive result of that,” he shared. “Younger people maybe haven’t really seen that, and I think they’re possibly a little more reluctant to take that step.”
It’s a major goal for MAI to keep growing, in large part because its range is within Colorado’s Third Congressional District, represented by Republican freshman Jeff Hurd. MAI has called on both Democratic Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper as well as Congressman Hurd to contest the White House’s treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and demand support for Ukraine.
“We’re putting a lot of pressure on [Hurd],” said Brandon. “The goal is for representatives in Congress who are supporting Trump to start to feel more pressure from their constituents, and fear that they’re going to lose their [re]election.”
Local interest and participation is integral to MAI for another reason: funding. So far, the only donations MAI has received have come from individuals. Local chapters can apply for grants from the national organization, but MAI hasn’t yet.
“They do reimburse some things,” clarified Brandon. “Some general costs, like our website hosting costs, some room rentals or materials that we have to buy for flyers and things like that.”
During the first Trump administration, Indivisible’s revenue totalled over $7 million. The majority of this came from major gifts and foundation grants, but a significant portion was raised from small-dollar donations. The Indivisible Political Action Committee contributed over $145,000 to federal Democratic candidates.
According to Bruell, MAI has raised nearly $4,000 since picking up operations in January. They have received a few bigger donations, but most people are sending in under $100.
A statement on the national Indivisible website details a peaceful, nonviolent approach. The website says rejection of political violence is strategic, because leading with hope is more effective than motivating with fear.
“Everybody is in agreement that nonviolent protesting is the American way,” said Brandon. “It’s the safest way and it’s the most effective way. There’s been research to support that.”
MAI has active members in Aspen, Silt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, New Castle and Parachute. Local leaders receive regular email updates and can tune in for a weekly Zoom call hosted by Indivisible. Apart from this, Indivisible chapters are locally led and vocal about issues significant in their area. According to Podmore these are uniting causes that reach across party lines.
“ We need candidates who are going to put partisan stuff aside and [prioritize] saving democracy and saving our freedoms,” said Podmore. “That doesn’t seem like a partisan issue to me … That seems like an American value that we all grew up with.”
For more on Mountain Action Indivisible, visit www.mountainactionindivisible.org