Want to make a real mark on the 2020 election? Here’s how to donate effectively
If you’re like me, you’re starting to feel the weight of a long springtime quarantine.
As I continue to shelter at home with my three kids, I can barely catch my breath trying to monitor their learning, keep them fed, and do my work. During and between online-class transitions and laundry changes and meals and neighborhood walks, I feel completely absorbed by the pandemic, exasperated as I observe the Trump wrecking ball. I also feel more and more motivated to make a meaningful difference.
While the novel coronavirus seems to have no mission other than to spread, the Covid-19 disease it causes — which is directly or indirectly devastating countless industries and individuals worldwide — is effectively highlighting our basic yet intense need for strong political leadership at every level. And here in the United States, there is nothing more important to the health and well-being of our families and communities than ensuring that progressive leaders win elections in 2020, starting with the presidency.
My perspective, of course, is colored by my experience. I have worn many hats in progressive politics, most recently founding and leading an organization that recruits, trains, and connects Democratic women running for office. While starting Emerge, I advised Susie Tompkins Buell, a noted Bay Area entrepreneur, in strategic political and philanthropic investments. I have also worked in various capacities for political campaigns and party organizations, as well as in the U.S. Senate.
When creating a personal political-giving strategy, I would recommend taking some basic steps.
1. Determine your budget
No matter how big (or small) your wallet is, it is important to decide how much money you are willing to allocate. Amid today’s political madness, I would encourage all Democrats and progressives to be as generous as possible. While many worthy interests compete for our attention and resources, this truly is the political fight of our lives. Over the past several years, we have also learned that a seemingly insignificant donation can make a big difference.
Democrats won elections in 2017, 2018, and 2019 because more people gave small amounts of money. For an easy-to-absorb example, take a look at Karin Johanson’s chart below from her analysis “Why Virginia Matters.”
In her examination of why Democrats did so well in the 2017 elections, she compares the contributions that Democratic candidates running for the Virginia House of Delegates received versus their Republican counterparts. First-time candidate Jennifer Carroll Foy received more than 10,000 contributions vs. 36 for her Republican opponent. Yes, you read that right. She also out raised him, as did most of the other Democratic candidates. It was the small dollars that made the difference.
The extra bit of good news is that Delegate Foy is now running for governor of Virginia. If elected, she would be the first African-American woman ever elected governor of any state. She is also part of a new majority in the Virginia state legislature focused on passing meaningful legislation on issues ranging from gun control to education to gender equality.
As you determine your budget, you might ask yourself this question: What could possibly be more important than stopping Donald J. Trump and his cronies from getting re-elected?
2. Set guidelines
There are very few people who have the resources to give to a large number of candidates without having any criteria. Personally, with my more limited resources, I have to be very strategic in my giving. In addition, my life’s work and passion is for women candidates so I always prioritize helping women in key races. Focusing on women makes sense strategically because women in office pass more legislation, co-sponsor more legislation, and win in equal rates to men. This is true at the federal level (just think where we would be without Nancy Pelosi and her diverse group of women colleagues.) It is also true at the state level. Notably, the two state legislative bodies that have the greatest number of women — Colorado and Nevada — have passed landmark legislation that will affect generations to come.
In Colorado, they passed sweeping changes on education, health care, and the environment. In Nevada, they passed laws that strengthen the state’s domestic-violence penalties, created a bill of rights for sexual-assault survivors, and added permanent funding at the state level for rape kit testing. In Jay Newton-Small’s book Broad Influence, she highlights research showing that in order to effect real change within an organization, women must reach a “critical mass” of 20 percent to 30 percent of it. This is what has happened in Nevada and Colorado.
Women, and especially women of color, are drastically underrepresented in our political system at every level. They also face the biggest challenges in accessing resources. The United States ranks 75th in the world, in terms of women’s representation, and just a fourth of Congress (23.7%) is female. For all of these reasons, I choose to focus my political giving on women candidates.
In setting priorities for giving, it is important to keep in mind that you can ALWAYS make exceptions. I do. It is just good to have basic guidelines on which to fall back.
If you are extremely passionate about an issue, you might decide to focus your support on that issue’s champions. Various issue-focused organizations often provide guidance on which candidates to support, and how best to do so.
For those who are interested in supporting pro-choice women, for example, Emily’s List makes it easy. For those focused on environmental protection, one of my favorite sites is Give Green. With female slates of every kind imaginable, Women Count is another great site. If you are interested in supporting African American candidates, The Collective PAC curates a great list. For those who would like to prioritize the support of LGBTQ candidates, the Victory Fund is the go to place. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, likewise, has two excellent lists of House of Representatives candidates, Frontline (those running for re-election) and Red to Blue (those hoping to flip Republican seats).
3. Find candidates at all levels to support
You can view your political giving very much like an investment portfolio. To hedge your bets, you want a healthy mix of stocks and bonds — candidates and organizations — as well as a mix of short-, medium-, and long-term investments — candidates at every level of office.
You want to invest in candidates at the local level both because the work they do is important and because they will ultimately become your federal candidates. And you want to invest in candidates at the state and federal levels because those offices are already empowered to make a major impact. Another reason to invest in a balanced portfolio of local, state, and federal candidates? If something goes wrong at the federal level (the election of Trump, for example), you want to have insurance at the local and state levels to mitigate the federal damage.
There is no question that the 2020 election is like no other. We are facing a massive threat to our democracy. Trump poses an existential threat to our country and the world, and there is nothing more important than defeating him. As donors, we should make sure that we give to candidates at all levels, starting at the top.
According to The New York Times, Joe Biden began his general-election bid $187 million behind Trump on the fund-raising front. The maximum that individuals can legally give to a presidential campaign is $2,800 for the primary and $2,800 for the general election, for a total of $5,600. And once again, any amount will help fuel the resistance.
Next, there’s the Senate. If Biden is elected president, but Democrats DON’T manage to flip the Senate, we can kiss meaningful legislation on climate change, gun safety, minimum wage, health care, and many other politically divisive issues goodbye. To make real progress in Washington on the issues about which we care so deeply, moreover, Democrats have to not only win the presidency, but also take back a majority of the Senate and keep their House majority.
It’s important to do a little due diligence on each candidate you are considering supporting. Some races are extremely well-funded, and we have a big problem on the progressive side with saturating certain races — remember Jon Ossoff’s bid for Congress in early 2017? He raised $23 million in the most expensive congressional race in history, and guess what? He lost. He was a very appealing candidate, but he didn’t even live in the district. We need to vet candidates before giving them money. Don’t give impulsively; do a little research.
4. Go long on local and state candidates
Remember that you want a diversified portfolio that stretches beyond the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. We have to think about the short and long terms. It’s worth noting that there are 520,000 political offices in this country, and only .07 percent of them are in Congress.
In 2002, a friend of mine told me that she wanted to run for district attorney. I had been suggesting that she run for office since I met her. She was born a leader. She asked me to help her, and she started a wonderful journey that ended up with her winning that first race, for which the contribution limit was $500.
For $500, I was able to invest in getting her in the pipeline. This friend of mine, Kamala Harris, went on to win her next race, for attorney general of California. She is now a powerful senator and was at one point seen as a front-runner in the race for president.
While positions like district attorney are incredibly important on the local level, they also are potential pipelines to power on a national level.
Another often-overlooked body is the state legislature, which is critically important for several reasons:
● Extremely important policy decisions on everything from reproductive rights to voter participation to climate change are made at the state level, and legislatures are incubators for policies that often rise to the federal level.
● State legislatures are important places to develop talent; half of Congress came out of the state legislatures.
● Many state legislatures determine redistricting, which affects how our congressional districts are drawn.
According to the organization Forward Majority, which is exclusively focused on state legislatures, Republicans are out raising Democrats by factors of at least 2 to 1 in the most competitive races for seats in the most strategically important state legislative chambers. If you are interested in supporting candidates in these state legislative races, good sites to visit include those of the Sister District Project, Swing Left and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee,
Local candidates matter as well. They will arguably affect your life on a daily basis the most. As a San Franciscan, I am proud of how our mayor, London Breed, has handled the coronavirus crisis. Her firm and decisive leadership has saved lives. The most you can donate to her is $500. That seems like an extremely high return on your investment.
If you like your mayor, be sure to support the city candidates he (or maybe SHE) is backing, because a mayor can’t effectively govern without allies in bodies such as the board of supervisors or city council.
Finally, what do our two senators here in California and our governor all have in common? They all started at the local level. As I mentioned, Kamala Harris started off as a district attorney, and both Dianne Feinstein and Gavin Newsom started off on the board of supervisors. One benefit to helping candidates you believe in at the local level is that you will have a LOT of fun watching them move up the political ladder.
The flip side to investing in a bench of local candidates for the long term? When we fail to invest in the bench, we cede control of the vast majority of state legislatures and other important down-ballot offices. Since the disastrous federal elections of 2016, Democrats have been making progress in taking the long-term view, but there is much more to be made.
I will end this piece on giving to candidates with a quote from Plato, who said, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” We have the power to make sure that doesn’t happen.