Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

In after Baud. Damn.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Books are my comfort food!

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Motown is Joe-Town!

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Election Followup – Final Set of Organizations

Election Followup – Final Set of Organizations

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Zoom With Four Directions Set for Thursday at 7 pm ET 1

On Monday, we talked about North Carolina and more, and on Thursday, we talked about the Balloon Juice efforts in support of Four Directions.  Today let’s talk about the other organizations we supported.  This will be our final look-back post on the 2023-24 targeted fundraising cycle.

First up  – The Civics Center

This was our first year focusing on youth, and we hit the ground running.  We talked about the youth focus with NC Black Alliance and NCAAT in Monday’s post, so no need to talk about them here.   The Civics Center was our third group with a youth focus.  They train students and educators to conduct registration and preregistration drives in High Schools.

And they make it fun, providing T-shirts, stickers, customizable flyers, tote bags, candy and other swag in the brilliantly-named Democracy in a Box. 

The Civics Center does two major High School campus drives each year.  Our donations helped them expand their Fall registration drives into diverse urban campuses, at a cost of about $1,000 per school.  Between the $30k we raised and the double match they found for our funds, that’s 90 high school registration drives!

This really has a longer-term focus than our usual boots-on-the-ground, GOTV efforts.  But when you’re investing in youth, the younger you start, the bigger the long-term payoff!  Studies show that getting a student registered and to the polls when they first become eligible has a lifetime impact, and if they vote in 2 elections a row, you’ve likely created a voter for life.

Next up – Voting Access for All  (VAAC)

You probably recall that VAAC works in Michigan with the formerly incarcerated and with folks who are in jail waiting for trial because they can’t afford bail – people who were never tried in a court of law, let alone convicted.  I still need to connect with them about the fruits of their efforts in 2024, so I don’t have much to report there.  Just that I feel good about supporting that cohort, as I do about all the under-represented groups we support.

And finally  –  Worker Power

We supported Worker Power on 3 fronts during this cycle:

  • Spring canvass team in Maricopa County
  • Leadership School (scholarship for one young leader)
  • Fall canvass team in Pinal and Pima Counties (Tucson area).

We funded a canvass team for 3 weeks in strategically-targeted precincts in Arizona – neighborhoods with flippable state house and senate seats and vulnerable Republican Congressmen.

Although we didn’t get Arizona’s electoral votes, our efforts helped flip a state house seat in Phoenix, as well as contributed to the election of Senator Ruben Gallego. Sadly, we were unable to flip Republican Juan Ciscoman’s seat – in  an unhappy bit of irony, a Green party candidate siphoned off enough voters to deny a win to Democratic challenger Kirsten Engel, who is an actual environmental lawyer.  I have some choice words for people who have lost the plot.

I’ll leave you with 5 points.

  • Working for a better future is an act of faith.
  • Identifying and motivating new voters is an investment.
  • We can build on that investment in 2026 and 2028.
  • Money spent identifying and motivating voters is always money well-spent!
  • We can’t quit now.  We have to work even harder after this setback.

As with everything we do, it’s about right now, and it’s also about the future!

 

Reader Interactions

23Comments

  1. 1.

    Joy in FL

    I appreciate the Follow-Up articles you’re writing. I bet it’s hard to do, since we lost the biggest of the elections.

    I like knowing where we were able to help win elections. And I also value the way you’re helping me to remember the Big Picture, the Future Thinking, etc., in some specific ways. I can make the vague, general Big Picture for myself. For me, it’s a stronger, clearer, more sustainable Big Picture when it’s supported by some actual facts, which you are providing. Thank you!

  2. 2.

    Old School

    Even though it didn’t bring the results I wanted this year, I remain hopeful it brought something that can be built on in future years.

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    @Old School:  With close Senate races, it would be hard to believe that our efforts didn’t make a difference in the 3 senate wins:

    • Ruben Gallego (AZ)
    • Jacky Rosen (NV)
    • Tammy Baldwin (WI)

    .
    I’ll take 48-52 over 45-55.  Three fewer seats to make up in Senate races in 2026.  We wouldn’t have a chance of getting the senate in 2026 if those races had gone the other way.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @Old School: November was a body blow, and it took me about 4 weeks to figure out how to pick myself back up off the floor.

    Now that I’m at least standing (mostly) upright, I’m thinking about the ways we can move on from here.

  9. 9.

    sab

    All elections are not national, and our side won lots of local elections. BJ helped do that.

    The Republicans have been doing that for my whole lifetime (and I am old.) Now that they are winning at the national level I think their local focus is slipping. We can make that happen. School boards, city councils etc. The key to that is GOTV, and WaterGirl has helped us do that a lot. It will take many election cycles, but having the infrastructure in place is the key. Thousands of us can take on their handful of billionires.

  10. 10.

    Torrey

    I want to echo everyone else’s thanks for these posts, WaterGirl. Finding these groups, vetting them, and setting up our arrangements with them took a lot of work, and I also appreciate getting these summaries with a clear-eyed look at what did and didn’t happen and, importantly, how our efforts helped and how we are building towards the future. That last is particularly helpful at this political moment, when I need to remember the good parts and stay positive about the future.

    ETA: I love the logo you’ve got for these posts. Encouragement in a picture.

  11. 11.

    RaflW

    Thank you for these follow-ups, WaterGirl. I’m pretty down on funding Democrats for the time being, but taking a wait and see approach to that (I’ve given to several of the Dems who’ve already taken some really crappy/disappointing votes in the lame duck session, and we’re not even in the full mess yet. Since I donated to out of state candidates, there’s not that many ways to reach back as a smallish dollar donor and say “What are you doing? What?!”)

    Anyway, I feel like what we do collectively has some of the best impact at our scale, and accountability & report-backs are encouraging as well. Thanks.

  12. 12.

    BlueGuitarist

    Thanks WaterGirl, and BJ, for all your work on this and continuing efforts.

    A lot coming up: Wisconsin Supreme Court election April 1, 2025; Virginia and New Jersey 2025 elections. Midterms in 26.
    Mobilization effort will be more important in all those than in presidential election years.

    Not sure I’ll ever get over the elections this year, but we have to Keep on Keeping on

  13. 13.

    Kristine

    I know there are people who sincerely believe we need more than two parties, but I’m at the point where I assume that anyone running as a third party candidate is financed by Russia and the GOP.

    Also, thanks for all the work you’ve done on this, WG. You are all kinds of awesome.

  14. 14.

    BlueGuitarist

    @RaflW:

    I hope you aren’t disappointed in Brienne Brown, was pleased to be able to convince some folks to support her and that she won.

  19. 19.

    dc

    Thank you, WaterGirl and the whole Balloon Juice blog community for helping us channel our hopes and our resources to fight for the collective good.

Comments are closed.