It’s beyond clear at this point that Republican members of Congress really would do nothing if Donald Trump stood in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot someone. The latest revelations about fired FBI Director James Comey—that Trump specifically asked him to close down his Russia investigation—have been met with either silence or bullshit from Republican elected officials.
We need to replace them with Democrats, pure and simple. And here’s where we start.
Twenty-three House Republicans sit in districts carried by Hillary Clinton, just one fewer than the 24 seats Democrats need to take back the House next year. (You can find a full list below.) This cohort represents some of the most vulnerable GOP incumbents—in fact, one such Republican, Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, has decided to avoid facing the wrath of anti-Trump voters by retiring instead.
As we’ve noted before, it’s so early in the election cycle that we don’t yet know who every GOP incumbent’s Democratic opponent will be. In some cases, no challengers have emerged yet. In others, we can expect primaries. But at some point next year, we’ll have our candidates—and we already have a way to make sure they hit the ground well-funded, even if we don’t even know their names just yet.
That’s thanks to the crew at ActBlue, which has created something called “nominee funds” that you can donate to immediately. These funds are organized on a district-by-district basis: You contribute now, and all money is held in escrow until after each state’s primary. At that point, the cash is transferred in one fell swoop to the Democratic nominee, who can then start using the money for his or her general election campaign pronto.
If we can flood these funds with small-dollar donations, we can both terrify Republicans and boost Democratic efforts to recruit good candidates. Of course, doing so would also help us defeat these Republicans next year.
And we simply have to do that. Our safety and our very democracy depend on it.
Please donate $1 to each of our funds targeting these 23 vulnerable House Republicans.
Congressional districts held by Republicans that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016: