Republicans hold the White House, both houses of Congress, and most governors mansions and state legislatures. That gives them a huge fundraising edge—anyone seeking access to power will direct their money to Republicans. But a surge of small-dollar contributions—thanks, Donald—is keeping Democrats financially competitive. It’s not just Jon Ossoff, running in the special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, who has the advantage of immediacy—the election is April 18, with a likely June run-off—as well as running to replace one of Donald Trump’s Cabinet members. Other Democrats are joining Ossoff in exceeding small-dollar fundraising expectations:
In February alone — and just online — Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a top GOP target in 2018, brought in over $212,000 in donations of under $200 through ActBlue. That’s over four times as much as she raised in small donations across all platforms — online or through more traditional fundraising means — in the first quarter of 2011, the comparable period in her last reelection campaign.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, meanwhile, raised at least $637,000 in small online donations last month — over six times more than she raised in total small-dollar contributions in the first quarter of 2011. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy has been informing his constituents that he’s getting close to receiving as many individual contributions as he did during his entire 2012 campaign, when he got 64,704. He received nearly $650,000 online in February.
That’s fantastic. Democrats need the money to go up against Republicans and their billionaire backers in 2018, and the more reliant on small donors the party is, the better.
But there’s a but.
Yes, we need as many United States Senate seats as possible. But Democrats also need to be electing governors and taking back state legislatures, especially as the 2020 redistricting comes up. We have work to do up and down the ballot, and we need to be sure not to overlook the “down the ballot” part.
Can you chip in $3 to help elect Jon Ossoff?