Update at 5:56 pm: ANGEL MATCH IS COMPLETE! Thank you Redshift and everyone who donated.
April 1st is special election day in Florida to fill the empty seats of two grifters Trump pulled out of Congress to staff his regime. These are safe Republican districts in ordinary times, and we would definitely take a pass. But these are not ordinary times.
Boots On the Ground in Florida!
Florida special elections for the US House – is this a long shot or a potentially history making opportunity?
I would argue that it’s both. Donate or volunteer! We have just 13 days left for our dollars to make an impact.
FL-01 is even more red than FL-06, so we have a better chance at winning in FL-06, but who knows? Pick your own strategy – we have thermometers up for each seat, so you can decide.
FL-06 Josh Weil (BlueSky)
FL-01 Gay Valimont (BlueSky)
We have a new Balloon Juice Angel!
Redshift will match up to $25 per person up to a total of $500. He had some Tesla stock he had almost forgotten about, and sold it a couple of weeks ago, and it seems like poetic justice to use some of the proceeds here!
Thank you, Redshift!
Yesterday’s post, with lots more details.
Florida Special Elections – Long Shot? Or Potentially History Making Opportunity?
Meet the group that’s on the ground in Florida: National Ground Game
Short inspirational video from one of the founders below. ⬇️
There are post-carding and canvassing opportunities – check out their website.
WaterGirl
Thank you Redshift!
As always, in order to be matched, tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to me
Matching up to $25 per person, to a total of $500 for the match.
New Angel, new match, and everyone is eligible again.
WaterGirl
Here’s the bottom line from yesterday’s post.
Is this a long shot? What does victory look like?
Is this a long shot? I would argue that is a long shot and a potentially history making opportunity.
Certainly FL-01 is a super long shot, but in this year, I think anything can happen. Extremely low probability of an outright win in FL-01, but we’ll likely never see another moment where betting on long shot like this, and winning, could literally change the course of history.
What does “victory” look like in the special elections? If we win even one of them, that puts us one family emergency or bad case of the flu away from close Republican votes failing.
If we can’t flip either seat, is there victory to be found in substantially narrower margins? What does that mean for the New York special election?
No one knows. Uncharted territory. There be dragons.
But if you want to do something, here’s your opportunity.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
OT – https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/derek-chauvin-pardon-trump-ben-shapiro-elon-musk-rcna194497
persistentillusion
In for $25 for Josh. Thanks WG and Redshift!
VFX Lurker
I made two donations (it’s OK if only one qualifies for the match!)
Thank you, WaterGirl, for focusing our efforts.
YOU ROCK, REDSHIFT!
WaterGirl
FYI, in case anyone is interested in the big picture…
Fighting for every seat in the House.
After March 18 we will start raising funds for the third Special Election for the House, which will be the NY seat.
WaterGirl
@persistentillusion: @VFX Lurker: Thank you, both!
I especially love that it’s (sold) Tesla stock that is funding the Angel match.
dmsilev
Sure, I’m in. $25 for each, just now through the ActBlue links.
Dmkingto
Just sent $50 to both. Thanks Redshift, WaterGirl, & everyone else!
Steve LaBonne
In for $25 for Josh Weil.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I started a monthly donation to the DCCC via ActBlue, on the assumption (justified?) that they’ll know where to put the money for these and other races that may pop up.
I wanted to make it weekly, the way I had my Kamala Harris donation set up, but that doesn’t seem to be a normal option at ActBlue. So I guess I’ll just do manual donations weekly till the election. But maybe I’ll target the next few weeks to the specific races.
I also have a standing monthly donation to the DSCC.
WaterGirl
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: That’s definitely one way to do it, and everything helps. Personally, I often don’t like where and how those two groups spend that money, and it seems to never be boots on the ground, so I prefer to donate where I know how it will be spent.
We all have to follow our own hearts.
Fair Economist
I think of the FL special elections as a reconnaissance in force – the main goal is to figure out how much of a swing we can get in special elections under Trump, but there is a chance we’ll actually take something
$100 from me.
Doc Sardonic
Can vouch for boots on the ground in FL6. Got a visit this morning from a Weil volunteer.
tobie
I’m low on funds but I did sign up to phone bank in FL-06 this weekend. I can do that through to the special election.
Gretchen
I contributed $50 to each
Gretchen
@tobie: Great! Thank you!
Joy in FL
I just put in $10 to each of the Florida special elections.
I mailed 5 postcards for Josh Weil yesterday. The ads I see (involuntarily) on Instagram for Gay Valimont are good.
WaterGirl
@Fair Economist: Interesting take, I like it!
WaterGirl
@Doc Sardonic: Yay!
WaterGirl
@tobie: Go you! Thanks for phone banking.
WaterGirl
@Joy in FL: Three thank you! postcard, donation, and reporting on the ads. :-)
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
100 for FL-06
100 for FL-01
Thank you for all you do
Geminid .
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: The DCCC just made their first “Frontline” list of Democrats with especially tough races in prospect. They listed 26, including 13 who won districts that Trump carried last year.
Politico had article about the list that I summarised in the morning thread, at comment #147.
Elizabelle
Interesting. The 6th, with candidate Josh Weil (Michael Waltz left to become National Security Advisor), was Ron DeSantis’s congressional district.
It is Florida’s Palm Coast; stretches from south St. Augustine to south Daytona; includes Daytona Beach.
Stretches inland to outskirts of Ocala, Leesburg, and Sanford (hello, Auto Train).
From wiki: The district contains over 525,000 registered voters, of whom just over 39% are Democratic, while slightly more than 41% identify as Republican.
Last time the district went for a Democrat in a statewide race was 2012, with Senator Bill Nelson.
It went 64% for Trump in 2024.
munira
Just gave $10 to each of them.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: That’s 20% who are not declared as either R or D.
Seems to me that with the way things are going with the wanna-be-King, that 20% might not be too happy.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you to the angels and donors, and to WaterGirl for getting us schooled (in the fishie sense) so that we can take action.
Very true. And some of those dragons are us!
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Indeed. Interesting situation.
Josh Weil is a school teacher. And. He lives in Orlando and works in Kissimmee. Neither of which is in the 6th congressional district; both some miles south of it. I hope he can win.
From the Daytona Beach News-Journal, in December:
Josie
@H.E.Wolf: When you request addresses from Postcard to Voters, do your three days start that day or the next day?
Doc Sardonic
@WaterGirl: Fl6 has a lot of rural, redneck MAGA area but it is sparsely populated. What complicates things is the blue areas in Volusia and Flagler counties are leaning red due to the influx of MAGA to the Free State of Florida. The determinant on this one is going to be threefold I think. Turnout on our side or lack of turnout on the Repub side, which way the wind is blowing in the section of The Villages in the district, and how pissed or not people are with what’s going on. Also did I mention turnout? That said Josh Weil is running a better campaign, for a Democrat, in this district than I have seen in a long time, Randy Fine has been silent as best I can tell, have seen no mailers, not sure about radio or tv ads for either candidate as I don’t consume either medium.
H.E.Wolf
That’s a good question! If you request addresses on a Monday, they are due in the mail on a Thursday: 3 business days later.
Postcards To Voters, which uses the 3-day system, always includes the due date when you get addresses.
Note: “3 business days” means, in practice, that when you request addresses from PTV on a Thursday, the due date is LISTED as Sunday. But since there is no mail pickup on Sundays, the true due date is Monday.
I live near a post office; so I can request addresses on a Thursday, miss the Monday morning pickup by our mail carrier if I’m running late, and deliver my completed cards to the P.O. in the late afternoon, to catch the final pickup of the day.
Josie
@H.E.Wolf:
Got it. Thanks.
Warren Senders
I pitched in $25 to each candidate.
WaterGirl
Thanks to everyone who has donated! We just passed the halfway point.
$230 left on Redshift’s match!
ARoomWithAMoose
In for $25 for FL-1 and $25 for FL-6 via the ActBlue links.
H.E.Wolf
@Josie:
My pleasure!
Hildebrand
I’d like to register the complaint that it’s pretty bloody annoying for MisterMix to post without being able to comment here. Either have the courage to open comments or don’t post.
geg6
@Hildebrand:
Be sure to send Cole an email about that. He’ll really pay attention if it’s in all caps.
/s
zhena gogolia
@Hildebrand: I find it annoying as well, but I don’t run the blog!
Baud
@Hildebrand:
Complaints is next door.
Redshift
@tobie: Good for you! I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s more valuable than money in a low turnout special election.
Belafon
I went to cnbc just to see how the markets are doing – not good – and saw this headline:
Just thinking, as things get further along, that this isn’t going to exactly carry the day for the administration.
rikyrah
Thank you, WG
kalakal
In for $25 to each of the 2 links
Redshift
@Hildebrand: You don’t have to read every post. (Seriously, there have been front-pagers here who I skipped because they annoyed me.)
Baud
@Belafon:
“The American Dream is to have a nation of serfs.”
eclare
Hey, a good friend of mine got a questionnaire from the American Community Survey, supposedly part of the US Census Bureau. I don’t see how the questions are legal, but she is freaking out because JAIL! if you don’t respond. Has anyone else received this?
Old School
@eclare:
I haven’t received it, but it’s legit:
jimmiraybob
FL-06 Josh Weil: $50
FL-01 Gay Valimont: $25
jimmiraybob
@Baud: ”
“The American Dream is to have a nation of serfs.”
Nonsense, the American Dream is to have a nation of peasants.
WaterGirl
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
That used to be mostly a joke in reference to bullshit at work. I never thought I would see it as the goal of an entire administration.
I nearly wrote “leader of the free world”, but that no longer applies to the U.S.
WaterGirl
Thanks to everyone who donated while I was out!
We are 2/3 of the way to meeting this Angel match.
NaijaGal
Donated $50 to each effort (FL-06 Josh Weil and FL-01 Gay Valimont) via ActBlue. On vacation today, so catching up on BJ posts.
WaterGirl
@NaijaGal: Thank you!
Just found 4 donation comments in yesterday’s thread that I hadn’t seen before.
That completes this Angel match from Redshirt.
Thank you so much everyone!!!
chopper
i keep getting fundraising texts first thing in the morning before i’ve woken up from gay valimont and i swear every time i think they say they’re from “gay voldimort”
WaterGirl
@chopper: Well, I have to think that gay Voldemort would be more fun than the regular one. :-)
Matt McIrvin
These are long shots but I’m in for $25 on both of them.
WaterGirl
@Matt McIrvin: Thank you!