It Talks

Your favorite Minor Heretic is not a joiner. I am not someone who enjoys political organizing, meetings, phone banking, or any of that. I went to a couple of Indivisible meetings in my area and left wanting to sniff glue. Nothing against the fine people who organized them; I just don’t have enough patience.

Still, I felt as if I had to do something. I’d feel like an idiot sitting on the sidelines while the majority in U.S. House (and, perhaps, the Senate) was being decided. Especially if it went the wrong way.

Thankfully and unfortunately, the answer is simple: Money. It talks. It makes the world go round. It’s what I want. Get back, keep your hands off of my stack. And so on.

The question is, where to give? I figured that directly to candidates is the most efficient way. But which candidates? Some districts are 100% solid Republican or 100% Democratic. It’s kind of pointless to donate to those.

I looked around online and found some candidates who are 1) decent Democrats, and 2) in races where the predicted margin is tight; 47% to 53% or similar. These are races where a few bucks could make a real difference.

If you want to do the deep dive you can go to 538.com and see what Nate Silver’s crew have calculated. Here are the 25 races they think are most likely to tip the House Democratic. A surprising number of House and Senate races are 99-1 for one party or the other.

From a variety of sources I came up with the following list. I include the candidate websites so that you can check them against your own moral compass and donate directly if you choose. I took a little money out of my savings and split it among them. I figure that if the House doesn’t flip, at least, then my savings won’t do me much good in post-democracy oligarchic America.

Candidate	Website	Senate/House	State	District
Beto O'Rourke	https://betofortexas.com/	Senate	TX
Kyrsten Sinema	https://kyrstensinema.com/	Senate	AZ
Jacky Rosen	https://www.rosenfornevada.com/	Senate	NV
Antonio Delgado	https://www.delgadoforcongress.com/	House	NY	19
Tammy Baldwin	https://www.tammybaldwin.com/	Senate	WI
Claire McCaskill	https://clairemccaskill.com/	Senate	MO
Jared Golden	https://jaredgoldenforcongress.com/	House	ME	2
Anton Andrew	http://www.antonandrew.com/	House	PA	160
Melissa Shusterman	http://www.melissashusterman.com/	House	PA	157
Harley Rouda	https://harleyforcongress.com/	House	CA	48
Bill Nelson	https://www.nelsonforsenate.com/	Senate	FL

You can go to actblue.com and create an account. This will streamline your donating to Democratic candidates.

A warning: You will have to go through your emails and unsubscribe to the deluge of fundraising requests you will get. They always have an unsubscribe link at the bottom. They cease instantly, though.

If you are an extrovert and eager to get out there canvassing and calling, please do. If you live in a place with solid Democratic legislators then try the Sister District Project to support Democratic candidates elsewhere. In Vermont, also try Lean Left VT.

Whatever you do, don’t sit this one out. Thank you from the bottom of my heretical heart.