Democratic donors this cycle face a strange situation. The most urgent priorities for the party in 2022 are defending the House and Senate. But these high-profile and much-discussed congressional races are also the ones in least need of money. Some Democratic Senate candidates had nearly $20 million in the bank at the end of 2021, while most House incumbents facing competitive reelection had at least $1 million. The enthusiasm of donors is helping buoy the party’s chances in an election where they are likely to lose a significant number of seats, as the party in power almost always does.
One option for donors who want to find candidates who actually need money is state races — in particular, secretary of state and attorney general contests. As we explain in our briefs (here and here), these overlooked posts have a significant amount of power, particularly when it comes to elections, making them especially important when we look ahead to 2024.
How these positions could matter in 2024
Secretaries of state serve a mostly administrative role; though their duties vary from state to state, they often oversee licensing, record-keeping, and elections. Attorneys general serve as their state’s top legal advisor; in most states they have some power to intervene in local prosecutions and defend the state in criminal appeals trials. The most public-facing duty AGs have is filing lawsuits against corporations or the federal government, and it’s become common for state AGs of the opposition party to file a lawsuit any time the White House does something they don’t like—former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sued the Trump administration 100 times, for instance. After the 2020 election, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton bizarrely sued several swing states over their election procedures, a suit that was joined by 17 Republican states before being thrown out by the Supreme Court.
This shows how these relatively obscure positions can become prominent during times of controversy; in a contested 2024 election with Republicans crying fraud as they did in 2020, secretaries of state could stand by the results and refuse to question vote counts that favored Democrats, as Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, did. Or they could publicly join the chorus of right-wing voices alleging some dark conspiracy, and perhaps ask state legislatures to invalidate the popular vote. (This is a worst-case scenario.) Attorneys general could join a sequel to Paxton’s lawsuit and help undermine confidence in the election. Already, alleged electoral fraud is a major issue in Republican attorney general primaries in a number of states, and in Nevada, the GOP censured the Republican secretary of state for failing to take trumped-up allegations of fraud seriously. With Republicans mobilizing around the idea that Democratic electoral victories are fraudulent, there will be a lot of pressure on Republican governors, secretaries of state, attorneys general, and state legislatures to do whatever they can to muck up a Joe Biden reelection—a dangerous thought, not just for Democrats, but for democracy itself.
Candidates in swing states need money
In 2022, there are several SOS and AG races in states that will be pivotal in 2024. Because of the chance for electoral mischief, it makes sense for Democrats and donors to prioritize these races. In Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada both of these positions will be up for grabs in what should be competitive elections. This is all the more reason for donors to seek out grassroots organizations in these states, three of which should also have very competitive Senate elections this year.
Democratic primaries for SOS are ongoing in all of these states except for Michigan, where Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson had $1.4 million in cash on hand as of the end of 2021, a substantial amount for this sort of race. On the AG side, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel had $1.5 million, and Nevada Attorney General also had around that much, a record haul for this point in the cycle for Nevada AG. This is evidence that the donor enthusiasm around top-of-the-ticket candidates is trickling down. But there is still value to giving to these races, because the total amount of dollars involved is so much less than a Senate campaign or most House campaigns—your $50 or $100 will matter more.
For more information on these races, see our briefs: