Take it from this Buckeye…GO MICHIGAN!
No, not for football. I wouldn’t go that far.
But for politics.
Why? Because Michigan Democrats ran a candidate in EVERY Statehouse district for 2022. All 110!
And as their dominant performance one week ago showed, that matters!
Why?
Because it means a locally recognized candidate is knocking on doors in every district. Which means: carrying the message, in person, in every district. Holding extremism to account, in every district. Lifting turnout, in every district. And forcing the other side to expend resources in every district (as opposed to funnelling it all to a few swing districts).
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, Michigan is the unique exception to what is otherwise the rule—that dozens of districts go uncontested in state after state. Not just red states, but swing states where so much is on the line.
In Georgia, last week, 52 districts went uncontested. Even with a Senate and Governor race with national implications, millions of voters faced no choice on their ballot at the statehouse level.
In Florida, it was 37. In Ohio, 18. In Texas, 40.
Think of how much it would have helped Beto or Stacey Abrams to have a supported candidate in every district in these states. Candidates working that district, every day. On message. Knocking on doors. Distributing lit. Lifting turnout.
Instead, none of that positive political activity took place in countless districts. Extremists, for the most part, were the only voices there. The only choice voters had.
Bottom line, to go on OFFENSE for democracy, every state must strive to do what Michigan just did. Run a candidate in every district, every cycle.
I know—this is far easier said than done.
But it must be done. And it starts with:
1) recruiting now with a goal to run in every district, and with the mindset that failure is not an option. Great groups like Run for Something are doing wonderful work here, but we still must do more recruiting
2) creating an infrastructure that VALUES, in every way possible, running everywhere, not just in words (and even those are critically important), but other support, including financial help.
Right now, that infrastructure doesn’t exist in most states, so all those districts are left uncontested. And it makes recruiting so much harder.
And many candidates who do run basically have no resources. And too often, that experience is so painful, they never run again. And they tell others never to as well. Which begins a cycle of districts going uncontested, year after year.
As Michigan just showed, we must do things differently. And better.
Which brings me to Blue Ohio.
The reason we piloted Blue Ohio was to begin to create an infrastructure that VALUES running everywhere. That says to every candidate: “running in tough districts is the highest form of public service. In fact, it’s heroic service that lifts democracy. So we’re here to help!”
How does Blue Ohio do this? We crowdfund small dollar support from a broad community of believers, then give that support to candidates, starting in the toughest districts.
The long-term goal is to make sure we run everywhere and that we provide enough support so that those who are running in the toughest districts have the minimum it takes to run a real campaign.
And the good news is, in only its first few months, Blue Ohio has already attracted more than 1,000 members, all giving monthly:
Even better, our collective support allowed us to provide multiple candidates in tough districts around Ohio with their biggest support BY FAR.
For example, in 2020, beyond uncontested races, there were 13 candidates in Ohio who had less than $5k in their ENTIRE campaign.
In 2022, there were zero!
Why? Blue Ohio—even after only a few months of existence—filled the gap for numerous candidates.
Remember: this is just a start to a long-term plan.
Our goal is to grow far bigger by 2024, building off the 1000+ members we already have. We want to reach 2,000 members. Then 3,000 members. Then 5,000. If we do that, and they each give monthly, the numbers grow incredibly quickly. (In two years, this start-up, grassroots effort could very well be the single largest supporter of Democratic statehouse candidates in Ohio).
And that serves our long-term goal to create a structure that helps ensure that: 1) someone runs in every district;and 2) every candidate has enough resources to run at least a basic campaign. Financial support is key, of course, but also the moral support and other forms of assistance that allows them to run the best campaign possible.
We also hope to inspire other states to build the same infrastructure. It’s definitely needed everywhere.
If you want to check out Blue Ohio, Go HERE. You can even join as a member.
But we’re also opening up our usual monthly brown bag virtual lunch to everyone this Friday (including non-members) both to talk about Blue Ohio and brainstorm on how we must do better in states like Ohio.
Feel free to join us to learn more by Linking HERE.
WHITEBOARD: Hail Michigan