During this close, anxious election cycle, here’s some good news: Democrats are well-positioned to flip the House. Compared to holding the White House and Senate, this is low-hanging fruit. We can take control by winning just a handful of seats—which is totally doable given that 16 Republicans represent districts that Biden won in 2020.

Blue Tent has urged donors to prioritize flipping the House for two main reasons: First, to ensure a firewall against extremism in case Trump wins. And second, to allow Democrats to pass historic legislation if Harris wins. 

But there’s a third urgent reason to focus on flipping the House: To ensure that Hakeem Jeffries is Speaker on January 6, 2025, when Congress must certify the election results. 

The Threat to Certification on January 6

An alarming article in Politico recently laid out the ways that Mike Johnson could try to derail certification of a Harris victory. Such scenarios are hardly far-fetched. Remember, Johnson helped try to overturn the 2020 election, and even if he’s changed, Trump and MAGA extremists could pressure him to sabotage the process. Or, Johnson could be tossed out as Speaker, and chaos in the GOP caucus could paralyze the House, as happened last year, preventing a vote on certification.

These are chilling thoughts. History shows how quickly countries can descend into political violence through a chain of events escalating and spilling out of control. 

We don’t want to test these treacherous waters. And the best way to steer our democracy toward safety is to do everything in our power to ensure that Democrats control the House on January 6. 

Funding Grassroots Groups Working to Win Congressional Races

To help win the House, Blue Tent spent a year talking with organizing groups that work in competitive GOP-held districts to engage voters and help Democrats win. As a result of that research, undertaken as part of our People’s House project, we recommend a slate of organizations working to flip 14 seats. What all these groups have in common is that they’re focused on the ground game, which is where Democrats need the most help right now.

The Harris campaign and affiliated super PACs are doing a great job of flooding the airwaves in battleground states and also has a strong field program that’s reaching out to frequent voters. But these efforts must be supplemented with the work of grassroots groups that are most focused on reaching low-propensity voters and are in the best position to connect with them. You can donate to Blue Tent’s recommended groups below.

If you’d prefer to target your donations more narrowly, I’d suggest supporting either Battleground California or Battleground New York, two unprecedented coalitions to turn out Democratic voters across multiple swing districts.

While today’s Republican Party can’t be trusted to hold power at any level of government, the House of Representatives seems to especially be a hotbed of MAGA kookiness. We all need to pitch in to ensure that the GOP becomes a powerless minority in this vital branch of Congress.