Many have asked the best place to send money to help win the senatorial election in Georgia in January.
A friend shared his thoughts on this with us:
“I wrote this as a Twitter thread last week after it was reported that Sara Gideon finished the election with $14 million in the bank. I’m sure Jaimie Harrison and Amy McGrath are in the same boat. At some point it just becomes impossible to spend all of the money we send them in a useful way….
- I know this is going to ruffle some feathers, but the best way to elect Democratic candidates is not actually to give them money…. wait for it…
Yep. Don’t give your money to Gideon or Ossoff or even Warnock.
The BEST way to elect progressives is to invest in the grassroots organizing groups that are on the ground 24/7/365 doing the work to go beyond platitudes and instead are achieving public policy wins for normally marginalized people at the local, state and national levels.
They also help these people organize themselves so that they can advocate for their own priorities — a novel concept— which leads to them BEING and, importantly, FEELING empowered.
This leads to increased trust in institutions and the political system, which in turn grows participation and voter turnout.
In Georgia, you can invest in local organizations like Fair Fight Action or if you want to have a broader impact, Movement Voter Project, which invests in these grassroots organizations in targeted geographies.
For 2020, their highest priorities were Arizona, Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
They invested (starting in 2016) in a couple of dozen local organizations that were embedded in the communities they wanted to serve and engage.
The results? Well, you know that 4 out of 5 ain’t bad.
For the Georgia runoff, they have a separate fund that invests in groups like @fairfightaction. You can donate to it here: secure.actblue.com/donate/ga-fund…
But, they’re also investing in local organizers for 2022 and 2024. That work started the day after the November 4, 2020, election.
And, $14 million— which would have bought a few minutes of TV ad time for Gideon or Ossoff— has a much greater effect if spent at the local level on real people doing real work.
That money could have paid for YEARS of organizing work by organizations like 482Forward or @onearizona or @newvoicescle or @CASAforall or @MakeTheRoadPA or @SheCanWinNow
YEARS. And in that time, there would have been real progress towards making our society more just and more equal.
If you want to win elections for progressive candidates in 2022 and 2024 and beyond. That work starts now!
Donate at bit.ly/3oh79vs.