Post-2024 Election Update: Many of you have asked, “What’s next?” The feature of Democracy in the Balance that made it fun for me to write and, I hope, useful for you to read, was that I sifted through the reams of information available on downballot races and packaged it in a way that made it easily accessible and actionable for you, the readers.
I can’t add any value to the minute-by-minute analysis of the D.C. dumpster fire stretching to both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue over the next four years (nor do you wish to read it). But I can use my determined research skills to bring you stories of resistance—people and organizations across the country that are pushing back against the forces that aim to undermine democracy and take our country back to a darker time—and how to support financially those resistance efforts. Stories like the post from November 6 of the Virginia NAACP helping high-school students take legal action to keep the Shenandoah County (Va.) School Board from reinstating Confederate names to schools that were changed in 2020.
These posts will appear in your inbox and Substack feed on an occasional basis until the 2025 Virginia gubernatorial and state legislature campaigns begin in earnest later this summer. I welcome your tips of what the late great Rep. John Lewis aptly called “good trouble” in your part of the country that I can share with our readers.
We all care about the future of our country for ourselves, our neighbors, and our world, but many of us struggle to know how we can best make a difference in the 2024 election. In prior election cycles, I’ve written postcards (fun with colored pens!), made phone calls (no answer…again), knocked on doors (creepy at best, scary at worst), and, of course, voted (the most fundamental form of participation). But still I wonder whether I could be doing more, at a time when our democracy hangs in the balance.
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After numerous “What can I do?” conversations, I’ve decided to follow the advice of journalist Matt Yglesias. He argues that the best way to defeat the MAGA movement is to donate to campaigns, particularly down-ballot candidates where a little bit of money can have an out-sized impact—and where office holders have the power to limit healthcare, take away reproductive rights, ban books, decide which version of history your children are taught, block efforts to keep guns away from those who shouldn’t have them, ignore the effects of climate change and more.
Yglesias got me started with a terrific short list of candidates in very close elections who could decide party control of the U.S. House. But his list just whetted my appetite for more. I’m a news junkie and an irrepressible researcher, but I’m certainly not a professional pundit. So I have culled through the best sources I could find* to come up with a much longer list of candidates—federal, state and local—who meet two criteria:
- They must be running in super-close races. I’m not seeking sure winners or sure losers. I’m focused on the small minority of races where a few extra dollars could change the outcome on November 5.
- The outcome has to matter. Given a choice between a race that might extend Democratic control in a state legislature already securely in Democratic hands versus a race that could flip control, I’ll choose the latter.
While the presidential race has never been more consequential, Democratic party control of the U.S. House and Senate will be essential for a future President Harris and Vice-President Walz to advance their legislative priorities or if the unthinkable happens, to thwart the Project 2025 agenda. At the state and local level, myriad races will determine what kind of environment our kids experience in school; what sort of welcome an immigrant will receive; and what level of support a neighbor having a mental health crisis will obtain.
Starting Tuesday, September 3, and each weekday through Election Day, in my new Substack newsletter, Democracy in the Balance, I’ll profile a candidate in a close race who experts deem is worthy of your financial support.** My husband David and I will personally donate to each candidate that I spotlight, and I invite you to join us at whatever level is appropriate for you—$5 or $50 or more.
Each profile will include a direct link to the candidate’s campaign website, so there is no financial incentive for me to mention them nor will I be privy to your donations. Let me be 100% clear: No money will be coming through me. If you choose to give, you’ll be donating directly to the candidate. I’ll make it easy by giving you a link to do that.
When you subscribe to Democracy in the Balance, you’ll automatically receive an email message—starting September 3—with a profile of the candidate of the day. An archive of all profiled candidates will be available on this site, so even if you join late, you won’t miss any of the action.
I hope you’ll register now, and if you like this idea, please share this link with as many others in your orbit as possible so that together we can maximize its impact.
And although I have a preliminary roster of candidates to take us all the way through Election Day, I welcome your suggestions of close races you think I should profile.
Pro tip: If you’ve ever donated to a political campaign, you know that you will never again have a moment’s peace from text messages and emails asking for more. To avoid the assault on your devices, I strongly suggest that you create a separate gmail account (e.g. democracy123@gmail.com) for making contributions through the ActBlue platform, which nearly all of these candidates will be using. That way all of the follow-up email messages will go to a separate email account that you need never open.
Thank you for joining this grass-roots endeavor, and for all of the other ways in which you are moving our country forward in your own lives.
She said it best…
*Sources: The Cook Political Report, 270towin.com, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Ballotpedia Battlegrounds, Inside Elections, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Real Clear Politics, DDHQ/The Hill, Votemama.com, Matt Yglesias
**Credit for the idea goes to Alex Clemens, a California-based political strategist who published a similar newsletter called Sawbuck Patriots in the fall of 2020.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: 2024, democracy, elections, Kamala Harris, November 5
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