WATCH the video first—you’ll be glad you did:
Two years ago, not long after publishing “Laboratories of Autocracy,” a small group of us decided to try something different in Ohio—and create a best practice for the nation.
We set out to solve a problem—a problem most don’t see as a problem. But a problem so big that it is eating at the heart of American democracy.
The Problem: Under-supported and Uncontested Statehouse Races
And the problem is that while explosions in small-dollar contributions have been working wonders supporting federal candidates in certain swing states in recent years, almost no money flows to most statehouse candidates.
And since it’s statehouses where most of the attacks on democracy and extremism have been doing the most damage, the lack of meaningful support for most statehouse candidates turns out to be a huge problem for democracy. Even worse, that lack of support is leaving huge numbers of these districts (the very districts where the most damage is being done) not contested at all. (Because why run if no one cares enough to support your candidacy?) And that, of course, makes the problem even worse. A downward spiral of extremism and anti-democracy, wholly uninterrupted by the other side or even a modicum of accountability.
In my book Saving Democracy, I equate the situation to a soccer game where one team is always on offense (extreme statehouses are the forwards, shooting at the goal non-stop). And the other team hardly plays defense against them:
SO…seeing this problem, I joined up with a group called Every State Blue to see if we could do something about this dilemma.
Could we convince people of the importance of investing at the statehouse level—investing just a sliver of the dollars we collectively give to federal races at the statehouse level, into districts and campaigns that usually get little attention and even less support?
A Solution? Blue Ohio
To try, we set up something called Blue Ohio.
Think of it as a community that greatly values those heroes who step up to campaign in these statehouse races, and especially in the toughest districts. We not only meet monthly to talk with these candidates, but we highlights all sorts of other political matters. But we also all care enough that our members give an amount monthly to support them.
And 100% of what we give goes to those statehouse candidates.
And uniquely, we prioritize the races that usually get little to no support—the ones who never get their calls returned.
They get our help first, and we go up from there. We call it our “bathtub model.” By filling the bathtub from the bottom up, our goal is to create an always rising baseline of support across the entire state. The more money, the higher the level in that bathtub rises.
Over the long run, our goal is that Ohioans who are considering running know that if they run anywhere in Ohio, no matter how tough the area, they will get support.
Because to battle back against extremism that has taken hold of our state, we value them running, especially in tough places. We need them running. In red districts and blue, we need them knocking on doors to turn out votes for everyone on the ballot. And we don’t just say it, we pitch in to make it happen.
So that was the concept.
And we started it two years ago this month. We then started making a lot of noise.
And what happened since?
Two Years In….
Well, first, people did rally around this vision.
Blue Ohio has grown quickly to 1000+ members over those two years. People from all over Ohio joined, and some from even further away. It turns out, people are eager to embrace this deeper vision of fighting for democracy, even if they don’t live in the state that is impacted.
As a result of this growth, the steady flow of our monthly contributions has added up.
Even in 2022, after only a few months of existence, we were able to support 20 candidates and raise a basic baseline of support for all. In that short time, we reduced the number of Democratic candidates who had $5,000 or less in support from 13 (in 2020) to 0 (in 2022). Blue Ohio essentially filled the gap.
But as I emphasized in “Saving Democracy,” this is a long-game strategy, and time is its best friend. So as pleased as we were with our first few months, we hoped the impact would be far greater in 2024. The question was, how much?
2024: Boom!
Well, we got our answer at the end of last week—as we invested in our first round of candidates for this cycle (who just emerged from their primary). And the answer turns out to be powerful affirmation of what we’re doing.
Here are the basics:
The total amount of our support more than tripled from 2022, as this week, Blue Ohio will send close to $300,000 to candidates.
And how many candidates were we able to help, just in our first round?
56!
Having been chair of a state party, let me tell you that is a BOATLOAD of candidates for a single group to help. It’s a number that represents more than 61% of the candidates running who have a GOP opponent and who have filed the proper paperwork with the Secretary of State to receive support.
How big of a difference do these funds make? Individually and collectively? I’m glad you asked:
Prior to our support, those 56 candidates had raised just under $129k collectively. (Averaging $2,296.93).
With Blue Ohio’s help, that number leapt to….
…$413K+ total!
That’s right. We more than tripled their total support.
Overall, this support raised the floor of all candidates running across Ohio to $7,386.44. (It will grow higher over the rest of the year.) Again, for those candidates under that floor (the average was under $2,300), Blue Ohio made the difference. Our members are lifting them all.
That is enormous support overall.
But way beyond raw dollar numbers, what does this mean?
It means 56 candidates now running with the support they need to get started.
It means candidates with triple the resources to knock on doors, hand out flyers, drive their district, and so on. In other words, the marginal value of these dollars goes much further than the same $300K would’ve done as part of a multi-million dollar TV buy for a single race:
It means candidates freed up from doing call time in rural districts—where dozens of hours can generate a few hundred dollars, or less—to instead get to those doors in the first place: their highest value as a candidate.
And when they do all that grassroots work, these candidates are of course lifting themselves, and holding their extremist opponents accountable.
But every door they knock on and volunteer they enlist is also lifting turnout up and down the ticket—for Sherrod Brown, our Supreme Court candidates, the campaign to end gerrymandering, and everything else on the ballot.
This support lifts all those causes, often in places where we usually have little to no presence.
This Blue Ohio support is helping to change that.
Keep Going: Join Us!
As you can tell, I’m excited about all this.
It’s working, yes, but in my mind, we are just getting started.
This is the type of long-game strategy that we haven’t undertaken for decades (while the other side has). And this proves it can work.
So what you can you do to help?
Simple: JOIN US!
Join Blue Ohio—become a monthly member. Help us keep growing this model as big as we can. Sign on to join HERE.
Then after you join, share this email with others so they join as well. Every new member makes a huge difference. That’s how this all started two years ago, one member at a time!
We are also building the same model in others states where activists have stepped up. So check out Blue Tennessee. Or Blue Missouri. Or Blue Texas.
Pick at least one. Join them.
Because the people of these states and others deserve to have democracy again. And it all starts with many more contested and supported races at the statehouse level. And that starts with valuing those races, and the heroes who step up to run in them.
Thank you for all who’ve gotten Blue Ohio off to such an impactful start.
And thank you to all of those who join us—and share the news—so we can continue to grow and support candidates running everywhere!
Let’s GO!
BREAKING! It's Working.....