The Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund has made an awkward admission just days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. In an Oct. 29 email urging supporters to volunteer, the billionaire Michael Bloomberg-backed gun control organization openly admits “one-in-ten of our supporters who registered to vote didn’t cast a ballot in recent elections.”
The same appeal boasts more than 13 million voter contacts this election cycle. But there is a difference between reaching voters and getting them to cast ballots. Political money can buy advertising and voter outreach, but it can’t guarantee an election victory.
Bloomberg’s Millions Met a Different Reality
In July 2024, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Victory Fund announced a $45 million election program designed to help elect then-Vice President Kamala Harris and gun control-supporting candidates. The ambitious effort included plans for 10 million voter contacts across eight states.
After the election, Everytown reported that its volunteers had made more than 12 million voter contacts. Vice President Harris, nevertheless, lost the presidency to President Donald Trump, 312 electoral votes to 226. Republicans also won control of the U.S. Senate and retained their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Everytown celebrated 3,300 victories by candidates it designated as “Gun Sense Candidates” during the 2023-2024 election cycle, including hundreds of its own volunteers. Those state and local successes were real, but they did not deliver the White House or congressional majorities the organization sought.
The money behind that effort was substantial. Federal Election Commission records show Everytown Victory Fund spent more than $22.2 million during the 2023-2024 federal election cycle. That total covers the Victory Fund’s reported expenditures, while the announced $45 million election program encompassed additional Everytown entities and activities.
Big checks, ambitious promises and millions of voter contacts. The results at the top of the ballot told a different story.
Millions More, but No Guaranteed Votes
Everytown (and its benefactor Michael Bloomberg) is once again pouring money into federal and state elections. FEC records show Everytown Victory Fund raised nearly $34.8 million and spent more than $30.3 million during the 2025-2026 election cycle through Oct. 14.
Earlier this month, NSSF detailed Everytown’s announced $10 million advertising partnership with the House Majority Political Action Committee targeting eight competitive U.S. House districts. Every candidate receiving support is a former Moms Demand Action volunteer.
The organization also announced a $3 million campaign with the Democratic Governors Association targeting Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada and Wisconsin, along with another $3 million effort supporting state legislative candidates in five battleground states.
Those commitments reflect serious political resources. They do not establish how many voters Everytown has persuaded or how many elections its candidates will win.
The group’s latest 13 million voter-contact claim deserves similar scrutiny. Calls, texts and door knocks can include repeated contact with the same person. Thirteen million contacts do not represent 13 million unique voters, much less 13 million ballots.
Everytown’s one-in-ten admission also has limits. The organization did not disclose which recent elections it examined, how many registered supporters were included or how it calculated the figure. Taken at face value, the statement suggests approximately nine-in-ten of those supporters voted, not that only 10 percent participated.
Still, the appeal acknowledges a basic reality that even a well-funded political operation must persuade individuals to follow through on Election Day. That’s something campaign spending announcements cannot obscure.
Don’t Confuse $$$ With Results
Don’t confuse money with results, just ask Mayor Bloomberg himself who spent more than $1 billion dollars (that’s not a typo) on his failed presidential bid in 2020 that lasted just 104 days, according to Politico. It would be a mistake to dismiss Everytown’s political influence. Its state and local victories demonstrate why elections beyond the presidential contest matter, and its considerable financial resources can shape competitive races.
In Michigan, for example, a governor-appointed task force recommended bans on certain firearms and magazines, additional purchase restrictions and new licensing requirements for firearm retailers. Those proposals have not become law, but the state’s next elected officials will help determine whether similar restrictions advance.
NSSF’s #GUNVOTE voter education initiative provides resources for registering to vote, finding your polling place and learning about candidates’ positions on Second Amendment issues. Everytown can count its millions in campaign spending and voter contacts. What it cannot count in advance are the votes that will determine Tuesday’s elections.
The lesson from 2024 is not that money doesn’t matter. It is that financial resources cannot replace actual participation.
Election Day is Nov. 3. Know the candidates. Understand what’s at stake. Don’t take your vote for granted.
There’s still time. Don’t Risk Your Rights. #GUNVOTE!
Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.