This paper analyzes two pairs of states—North Carolina and South Carolina, and Wisconsin and Ohio—that achieved very different enrollment rates in the federally facilitated Marketplace (FFM) during the 2014 open enrollment period; North Carolina and Wisconsin exceeded enrollment projections, while South Carolina and Ohio fell short of FFM averages. Demographics, uninsurance rates and FFM premium rates did not appear to explain the significant enrollment differences. Intense anti-Affordable Care Act environments in the two states that did less well, however, and a coordinated coalition of diverse stakeholders in the states that performed better did appear to improve FFM enrollment outcomes.