Fight for Democracy, Part 22: Back to the Beginning

I started this series by encouraging everyone to not only vote, but to do a little more than you have in the past to support Democrats. This is a reminder of how important that is. The latest forecasts suggest that Democrats have a good chance of winning back the House, but a small chance of gaining a majority in the Senate. But any chance at any victory is very much dependent upon voter turnout - historically, Republicans are much more likely to vote in midterm elections. Democrats need to vote, the need to encourage others to vote, and they need to help their Party win if it will have any impact. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2018-midterm-election-forecast/senate/?ex_cid=rrpromo

The easiest way to help is to give money. If you can afford to drop $20-$50 in gas money alone to have a weekend adventure, then I think restoring a functional (if not great) government is worth a little monetary sacrifice even if it means one less outing or a skipping Starbucks for a couple days. Here are a few campaigns were a little money can make a big difference on the national level.

Closely contested House of Representatives elections to support:
- California 48th, Harley Rouda (D): A chance to win a seat in conservative Orange County. It’s also a chance to defeat incumbent Dana Rohrbacher, the Republican most closely tied to Russia and one of the President’s biggest enablers.https://www.harleyforcongress.com/
- California 39th,Gil Cisneros (D): Another past conservative seat in a growing-liberal SoCal area. This is the closest House race in the state and a great chance to pick up a seat. https://cisnerosforcongress.com/
- Minnesota 1st, Dan Feehan (D): Where I grew up. Another close race and a chance for D’s to win a normally R’s seat. https://danfeehan.com/
- California 50th, Ammar Campa (D): another close CA race with a chance to unseat a real scumbag. Duncan Hunter (R) is currently under indictment for misusing campaign funds for personal gain (including an airplane ticket for a pet bunny) and slings racists attacks against his Mexican-Palestinian-American opponent. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/campa-campaign#web



Closely contested Senate races:
- North Dakota, Heidi Heitkamp (D) is up for re-election in a very conservative state. She voted NO on Kavanaugh and that principled decision brought in a lot of outside money supporting her opponent. If she loses, the Senate will definitely stay Republican. https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/hh4nd_nat?refcode=ads_fb_0918_d2d_nat_dla
- Nevada, Jackie Rosen (D) is running to defeat Republican incumbent Dean Heller (R). Heller voted to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act. He voted for the corporate tax cut. He voted for Kavanaugh. Rosen needs to win. https://www.rosenfornevada.com/
- Missouri, Claire McCaskill (D) is the incumbent. Another Democrat in a conservative state, and while she is often more conservative than the left would like, she voted no on Kavanaugh, voted no on the ACA repeal, and would lend her seat to a Democratic majority that would gain committee leadership. We need her to win. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mccaskill-d2d?refcode=ads_google_nat_d2d
- Florida, Bill Nelson (D) is running against former governor Rick Scott. Scott is truly the epitome of Republican incompetence and sleaze. This race is considered one of the most likely to determine control of the Senate. https://www.nelsonforsenate.com/

If you really can’t afford the cash, or if you want another way to contribute, consider these remote-location, introvert-friendly options:
Options to make phone calls: https://swingleft.org/p/call-voters, https://www.cadem.org/take-action/get-involved/make-some-phone-calls
And if phone calls are too direct, consider sending postcards (this one takes a little time to sign up and get approved, so jump to it if you want to help): https://postcardstovoters.org/

I think a lot of people believe our government is really bad right now. That they are doing atrocious things to the environment, to disadvantaged groups. We are in danger of losing health care, in danger of another market crash, in danger of more wars. Not to mention all the corruption, lying, and overall morally reprehensible behavior. You can do something about it. It might not work. It definitely won’t be a perfect solution. But marginally better is still better and you don’t want to face another two years of thinking you could have done more. Please vote. Please encourage others to vote. Please do what you can to support the Democrats who need it.