The Broader Representation Advocacy Team (BRAT-PAC) is dedicated to recruiting and training while identifying and providing financial support to progressive African American candidates for public office at the local, state, and national levels - creating a pipeline of new generation progressive African American candidates around the country at all levels of government.

One of the most critical resources to a campaign is money.  In our most recent election cycle, the average winning U.S. House candidate spent about $1.5 million, while the average winning statewide candidate spent about $10.5 million.  BRAT-PAC ensures that our endorsed candidates have an effective campaign infrastructure to win elected public office. From hiring field organizers, conducting town hall and candidate forums, to implementing our Get-Out-The-Vote strategy BRAT-PAC plays a critical role in ensuring our candidates run successful campaigns. 

Our primary mission is to identify and support candidates who represent a new generation of progressive leadership in the public policy and legislative arena and who can bring fresh thinking ideas and solutions to problems that continue to limit the potential in African American communities by:

1. Recruiting viable progressive African American leaders;
2. Training and identifying financial capital to assist candidates in building and running effective campaign organizations; and
3. Mobilizing African American voters to help elect candidates who seek the noble role of putting service above self and share our views on issues that directly impact the quality of our communities across the nation.

As both major political parties invest heavily in key states to turnout out voters, BRAT-PAC believes that we can use this momentum to elect progressive African Americans to state, federal, and local offices – cultivating a pipeline of African American progressive leadership at all levels of government across the country.   By doing this we can also encourage African-Americans to become and remain actively engaged in the political process, not just at election time. 

If elected representation should be reflective of the communities they represent, why not BRAT-PAC? 

A snapshot of the numbers:

• In 2014 there are close to 500,000 elected public officials in the United States but African Americans only make up just over 9,500 of those elected to serve in local, state, and federal offices.  
• African Americans make up 13% of the population in the United States and BRAT-PAC believes that at least 13% or 65,000 of the elected public offices should be held by qualified African Americans.
• Of the nation's 50 Governors, there is no African American Governor currently serving and of the 100 U.S. Senators, three (3) are African American.  To be truly reflective of the population BRAT-PAC believes there should be at least 6 African American Governors and 13 U.S. Senators who are African American. 

 In 2008 we worked as a community to elect the first African American President of the United  States by voting in record numbers as a community and working together.  This was proved again in 2012, that we can make a difference and change the face of the politics and policies that affect the African American community for future generations.