(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Really wanting to beat Marjorie Taylor Greene didn't make it worth donating to her opponent [1]

['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2022-11-14

(By contrast, Rep. Lauren Boebert’s district gave Biden nearly 45% of its vote. Her Democratic opponent, Adam Frisch, entered the race as a former Aspen, Colorado, city council member and raised a very good but not outrageous $3.7 million.)

There will always be a candidate running against that Republican you really want to beat, and it will always be tempting to give them money. Democrats should run someone in every district, and that person should work hard for it. But in most cases it’s a long game. It’s about what that district will look like years down the road, when maybe having a dedicated activist base will be able to tip a result. It’s about eking a few extra votes out of the reddest district to help statewide Democratic candidates. It’s honorable work—but it’s not flashy.

$15 million all at once in a 70% Republican district isn’t that.

Here’s what you do before you give to the opponent of the worst Republican out there: You look up the district. You look at both the person’s winning margin last time around and at the presidential vote for that district. And if it’s way out of reach, like 70% Republican out of reach, then unless you have a personal connection to the district, you give your money elsewhere.

You look, too, at how much money the Democrat in question has raised. If they’re one of the top fundraisers for the entire country and it’s not a competitive race, you definitely give your money elsewhere. That doesn’t just go for Marcus Flowers this cycle. It went for Amy McGrath in Kentucky in 2020. She outraised then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by more than $20 million. She lost by nearly 20 percentage points. Yet she continued aggressive fundraising long after it was clear that money was not going to be her problem, and people continued giving her money. Was that money well spent?

Every cycle there is someone who gets widespread attention simply for who they’re running against, or for a viral video that shows a candidate Democrats want to believe in. And too many people forget to do their due diligence on the race or the district or the candidate and just send that candidate money. I get that—that we need to believe, really believe, in the triumph of good people over bad ones, in the existence of that person who was never a politician but is going to step up and challenge the worst of the worst. But Republicans do not shovel tens of millions of dollars to the opponents of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, or, for that matter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Ilhan Omar, and in this respect, we need to be more like Republicans.

However you can help Raphael Warnock to win the Georgia runoff, we need you today. Check out our Daily Kos GOTV Page, and get plugged into a volunteer activity now.

Defeating Lauren Boebert would be the cherry on top of what was an incredible election night. As the race goes to a possible recount and ballots need curing, chip in $5 to help the Colorado Democratic Party.

Holy crap, what an amazing week! Where do we even begin this week's episode of The Downballot? Well, we know exactly where: abortion. Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard recap Tuesday's extraordinary results, starting with a clear-eyed examination of the issue that animated Democrats as never before—and that pundits got so badly wrong. They also discuss candidate quality (still really important!), Democratic meddling in GOP primaries (good for democracy, actually), and "soft" Biden disapprovers (lots of them voted for Democrats).

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/14/2135736/-A-Democrat-raising-15-million-in-a-deep-red-district-is-a-lesson-for-small-dollar-donors

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/