Labor Day weekend is here
Most Americans are not political geeks. They don’t spend their mornings writing things like this, or reading things like this. They don’t stay up late at night generating charts trying to get politicos higher up the food chain to address turnout anomalies that could help them win up and down the ballot. (UNA stands for UNAffiliated voter.)
Most Americans don’t really pay attention to the fall elections until after Labor Day. Nor do they pay attention to crucial downballot races that have much more impact on their daily lives than the presidential contest.
LOLGOP suggests they do, and you do:
🚨IT’S TIME TO THROW EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT DOWNBALLOT🚨
This is part of our Downballot for Democracy mission.
It’s basically Labor Day. That means Election Season for most Americans, who avoid politics better than they do COVID, has finally begun.
Of course, this particular election—with its 34 felony convictions, Republican-on-Republican shooting, and miraculous elevation of Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket—has attracted more attention than most presidential races. And the surprising result of all this mishegas is that Democrats are pumped.
But what’s depressing as hell is that all the joy for the top of the ticket isn’t helping downballot candidates. Instead, it’s actually hurting them.
That’s what Run for Something‘s Amanda Litman told the great Greg Sargent on his Daily Blast podcast earlier this month.
And no one would know better than our patron saint of Reverse Coattails, who has worked with hundreds of young, progressive downballot candidates, operating basically as the farm team for the Democratic Party and democracy itself.
Check out the video above to hear her explain the current fundraising crisis. She then quickly offers a perfect example of why winning downballot races is essential to ending our crisis, where our freedoms are on the line every election. If you’re not inspired to go downballot and back Run for Something after listening to this two minutes and 26 seconds, democracy may not be for you.
Harris/Walz will have the money they need. And they seem to be spending it in brilliant, highly targeted ways.
But the truth is nothing can replace money doing directly to downballot campaigns for a simple reason: it frees candidates up to reach out to voters in every possible way.
Some imagine a trickle-down effect from the money sent to the top of the ticket. And, yes, an exceptional presidential campaign can lift most boats. But Harris/Walz isn’t going to take that extra cash and start spreading it out. First of all, there’s no such thing as extra cash. Campaigns should spend every dime to ensure the candidates win, and that’s why donors send checks to a particular campaign.
Without the money in the bank, the campaign and the candidate cannot plan; they can’t invest in ads, swag, or staff. And the time when they can do that is quickly fading.
So if you have the money you can give, please give it to a downballot candidate as soon as possible. And if you need ideas about where the best opportunities are, check out Downballot for Democracy, and please share this with anyone who cares.
Do. Not. Forget. Downballot candidates.
It is legend here in N.C. that Chief Justice Cheri Beasley lost her seat on the state Supreme Court in 2020 by 401 votes out of 5.5 million cast. Voters fill in the top of the ticket races and “drop off” as they go down the ballot. They leave blank critical races. Help remind your neighbors how important those races are. Democrats here lost control of the state’s highest court and have suffered the gerrymandering and vote-suppressing consequences.
Don’t let this happen to you.
Pro Tip: Don’t just trust what comes out of the computer.
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For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV planning guide at ForTheWin.us.