Like the rest of the country, here at Blue Tent, our holiday hangover is starting to wear off and we’re getting ready to pursue some big goals for 2022. Our top priority for the year is helping left-of-center donors make the most of their money, which we believe will build a stronger, more resilient and effective progressive movement. With the midterm landscape tightening up and increasing pressure on Democrats to deliver for their voters, the 2022 election cycle could prove pivotal for progressives’ long-term prospects.
Small donors and billionaires alike will help Democrats drop a record amount of cash on House, Senate and state-level races in the next 11 months; much of that money will probably be wasted on ineffective ads and doomed campaigns. It’s as unfortunate as it is inevitable, which is why it’s vital for as many donors as possible to give strategically and thoughtfully, now and in the future. So if building a real, sustainable movement for change is something you care about, here are your resolutions when it comes to supporting progressives in 2022.
1. Ignore doomsaying and deadline-obsessed fundraising emails
As BT has previously written, many fundraising messages are hyperbolic and attention-grabbing, followed by a deceptive appeal for cash based around some sort of “DEADLINE TONIGHT” when it’s your “LAST CHANCE” to make a difference and “BEAT [INSERT HATED REPUBLICAN].”
These deadlines are meaningless, and promises of outraging Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump by giving a few dollars to the DNC are, let’s just say, overstated at best. Moreover, when it’s a committee or a PAC passing the hat, you have no way of knowing if your money will even be spent on the candidate they say they’re supporting or opposing. Ignore these emails or, better yet, unsubscribe from these lists.
Like most resolutions, this one will be hard to keep as the year goes on, especially as November gets closer and Democrats pressure you to give more money to really make the difference. But as we’ve also written, late money is becoming increasingly unimportant in elections with greater engagement, longer campaign periods, and increased polarization (not to mention that many people vote absentee or mail-in, meaning those late ads are going to folks who already voted).
2. Stop rage giving
The 2020 cycle will go down as a historic year for wasted Democratic money. Hundreds of millions poured into Senate races in Kentucky, South Carolina and Maine, and Democrats came away without even a single close race. Why so much money on such big losses? Liberals were foaming at the mouth to dethrone hated Republicans like Sens. Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and Susan Collins, and the candidates the Democratic Party lined up to support turned out to be complete duds at everything except for getting liberals to open their wallets.
Many Democrats are already making a similar mistake—for example, by giving big to the Democrats running against Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green. There’s a small chance Green’s antics could lose her a Republican primary, but her deep red district will still choose the QAnon congresswoman over someone with a “D” next to their name. Giving money in the hopes of vanquishing one of the most hateable politicians in America feels good at the time, but it’s often just as good as lighting your cash on fire.
Not only do donations to such candidates mean wasted money on a loss, but they also represent an opportunity cost: A small fraction of the money spent supporting the 2020 Senate losers alone might have flipped a state legislative chamber or meant the difference in some tight House races. When the impulse comes to give money to beat a rightwing bogeyman, stop and think: Would my money be more useful in service of something else?
3. View your donations as investments
Liberal-leaning parts of the country have a massive financial advantage over their opponents, with counties that voted for Biden in 2020 producing 71% of the country’s GDP. Yet the same people who have been able to profit handsomely from their business savvy and smart investing are often making some of the worst financial decisions when it comes to politics. A big part of the problem is that people don’t treat their political and nonprofit contributions the way they would think of investing in a company or the stock market.
More often than not, good investments require patience and an extended time frame. Investing in the progressive movement often means putting aside shiny objects with a desired, immediate payout—say, defeating McConnell in a Senate race—and focusing on building the nuts and bolts infrastructure of a sustainable political operation: grassroots organizations, think tanks, labor unions, and strong local parties. Progressives can’t skip these steps and hope to get bigger wins down the road.
Thinking of political donations as investments also means understanding when money is truly wasted, which doesn’t just mean it went to a losing campaign. Like Amy McGrath in Kentucky, Beto O’Rourke lost a Senate race against a hated Republican opponent in Sen. Ted Cruz. Beto’s campaign, however, can hardly be called a boondoggle: Texas has been slowly shading purple for years, and the 2018 Senate race functioned as a meaningful attempt to test just how far the state had come. Moreover, Beto had big coattails: While Cruz kept his Senate seat, Democrats wiped out a number of Republican judges and other elected officials across the state.
Had McGrath done the impossible and defeated McConnell, on the other hand, her victory would have been mostly pyrrhic: McGrath’s huge war chest did not significantly help down-ballot Democrats, and she would have immediately become one of, if not the most, conservative Democratic senators, likely joining Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema in blocking the progressive agenda, with a good chance of losing her seat in the next cycle.
4. Focus more on local politics and grassroots organizing
When it comes to making smart political investments, it’s hard to go wrong with grassroots organizations and the groups that support them. Whether it’s building a movement for higher wages for grocery store workers or trying to win a high-profile senate race, grassroots organizing and local political infrastructure are the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Some of our favorite grassroots-focused groups include the Fairness Project, which supports progressive ballot measure campaigns at the state and local level, as well as Sister District, which targets state legislative races. For donors interested in community groups, Movement Voter Project is another great place to give.
Oh, and one final resolution for everyone trying to make the most of their political donations: Keep reading Blue Tent, where we’ll do our best to guide donors through the coming storm of the most expensive midterms ever. If you haven't yet become a member, please sign up today.