Someone, please steal this idea
The question of whether will we have fair and free elections in 2024 will be answered in 2022. That's why we need simple answers about where to put our time and money.
I know you’ve heard about the almost $100 million that donors gave to Amy McGrath to lose to Mitch McConnell by almost 20% in 2020. And, if you’re like me, you spend most of your waking hours thinking about ways that money could have been better spent — which can send your mind to dark places, like trying to imagine how much it would cost to move Rand Paul’s neighbor next door to McConnell.
Sure, McGrath would have gotten most money of that money no matter what warnings potential donors got about the usefulness of their donations, as good Americans registered their disgust for the man who engineered the theft of the Supreme Court (and many of the hard-won rights this stolen court is intent on taking from us).
But I’d like to think that some of that money — at least a few million — could have been diverted to other winnable local races in key state legislatures. Including some in the Michigan House, where every race combined cost about $40 million.
That’s why I dream of a simple site where anyone can search a candidate or races and find out what are the actual realities of the race — when it comes to the electorate, polls, campaign funding, candidate quality and more.
I told that dream to Matt Robinson during an interview for his Beyond Politics podcast, and he — as someone who has actually worked in campaigns — immediately got it. He also understood why almost no one would ever want to fund such an endeavor. Candidates in unwinnable races and the parties in abandoned districts and states would shrivel at the thought. And the big money raisers would resent anyone who could get in the way of them in their cash flows.
I get it. It’s a bit depressing to think of politics with the cynicism we apply to moneyball or day trading.
But in 2024 we have no choice.
Republicans have a definite plan to steal the next presidential election and it pretty much all runs through 2022, and the hope Democrats waste all their money in all the wrong places.
So I’m begging someone to steal my idea. And knowing no one likely will, I offer this advice for anyone who has money to invest in a hobby like saving democracy:
Avoid donating to federal races for right now, except for vulnerable Democratic US Senators.
If you must donate to a House race right now, check out the partisan lean. Unfortunately, Marjorie Taylor Green — in her R +45 district — is going to win even if someone spends the entire defense budget to replace her. Lauren Boebert — in her R +15 district — is a much better target. But Colorado’s 8th district, R +3, is probably the best bang for your buck in 2022. But it’s tough. If you really want to help, see if your member of the House is among the 72 — SEVENTY TWO — House Democrats the GOP are targeting this fall.
Stick to organizations you trust. For me, this includes Run for Something, the Wisconsin Democratic Party The States Project and Democracy Docket. Matt has a bunch of great recommendations in his recent Editorial Board post, including the DLCC.
But that’s a lot of words to say, I wish there were just a simple site to help you decide.
There isn’t, yet. So please steal my idea and make it so.