As you know, Four Directions will be on the ground in Virginia in the run-up to the November 2025 elections.
They will be deploying the same strategies that they successfully deployed in Georgia and in urban Nevada, which means reaching out to Native American voters wherever they are located in Virginia.
That means phone calls and texts to Native voters and likely Native American voters, followed by in person wherever it makes sense, which means wherever there are concentrations of Native people. That means tribal lands and also concentrations of Native people around military bases and elsewhere.
Beyond that, the Native population tends to be widely dispersed in Virginia.
Phone calls are starting now, and Four Directions will be on the ground going door-to-door before the end of August
Most effective outreach: 1) In-person, 2) live phone calls, 3) texts
As was true in GA, Four Directions is the only group that is focusing on the native voting population.
The Native American population of voting age exceeds 160,000!
*estimates are based on 2020 census and extrapolations from the 2024 population growth:
What races are on the ballot in Virginia this fall?
- Governor
- Lieutenant Governor
- Attorney General
- Secretary of the Commonwealth
- Special election to replace Gerry Connolly in the House (US-11)
- Virginia House races (but not the Senate)
Fun Facts
- Elections are run by Board of Elections, not by the Secretary of the Commonwealth
- Members of the Board of Elections are appointed by the governor
- Gerry Connolly held his house seat for 17 years in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia
- Connolly flipped from Republican in 2008, so a likely KEEP for us, but not certain.
- There are 7 federally recognized tribes in VA
- The commonwealth of VA recognizes those 7, plus an additional 4 tribes
External Matches
Four Directions found us external matches!
The first $10k will be DOUBLE-MATCHED
The next $20k will be SINGLE MATCHED
Balloon Juice Angels
Two Balloon Juice Angels have already come forward.
If we have enough Balloon Juice Angels, the first $10k could be 6x matching.
Ex: $100 donation + Bj Angel (100) = $200, matched by external match 1 (200) and external match 2 (200).
That’s $600 if you donate $100! It’s $150 if you donate $25. And so forth.
Donations up to $100 up to a total of $1,000 will be Angel-matched.
Let’s do this!
We need wins across the board, of course, but BIG WINS have the potential to stop some of the worst of what they are doing.
Because we all know they all care more about themselves and their power than about the country.
Caring about our democracy is our super power.
Update: I have ActBlue set to bring up a popup window where you can say whether or not you want to share your information with the recipient. If you have popups turned off or you have a popup blocker installed, you will not see the message, and I think your info WILL be shared. So you want to make sure popups are not blocked on the browser you use to make ActBlue donations.
WaterGirl
Reminder that in order to be Angel-matched, you need to tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to me.
Any donations through the thermometer will be double-matched (for the first $10k). That’s a 3x match.
It’s adding the Angel match that gets you to 6x.
EDIT:
I have ActBlue set to bring up a popup window where you can say whether or not you want to share your information with the recipient. If you have popups turned off or you have a popup blocker installed, you will not see the message, and I think your info WILL be shared. So you want to make sure popups are not blocked on the browser you use to make ActBlue donations.
H.E.Wolf
Shouting “Hooray!” in the comments before even reading the post!
mali muso
In for $25! I live in Virginia and am excited that we have the opportunity to flip the executive leadership and hopefully shift the national narrative.
Scout211
Question: How do you donate and not allow ActBlue to sell your information? I know it’s been discussed but don’t immediately see that.
H.E.Wolf
And now I’ve read the post and I’m even more delighted!
PS: Clearly it’s time for me to educate myself on the Native tribes resident in Virginia. I love having a self-education project. :)
WaterGirl
@Scout211: I have it set up so that you have to click a box to allow ActBlue to share your info with the recipient.
This is the prompt you will receive. If you say YES, they will have your info. If you say NOT NOW, they will not have your info.
WaterGirl
@mali muso: Our first donation!
trollhattan
One state away, op-ed on the NC governor’s race.
WaterGirl
@mali muso: Yes to both!
We are starting with Four Directions, but we are also looking for a couple of key Virginia House seats where we could make a difference, like we did in Virginia previously when the Dems took the majority in the House.
We’ll have to research the Dem running for Connolly’s seat to see whether they could use our help.
We never want our money to be like salt in the ocean, which is why we aren’t likely to put up a thermometer to give directly to Abigail Spanberger. Pretty sure she has more money than god. But focused efforts like the Native vote or getting out the vote for the Virginia statehouse elections and the House special election will also get out the vote for Spanberger!
MazeDancer
Six times!
Can’t beat that. While I do send a tiny monthly to 4D, ain’t nobody matching it 6 times.
As always, donating to Four Directions feels like direct payment to getting more Dem voters.
In for 10.
Scout211
@WaterGirl: Okay, thanks.
I donated $100.
But unfortunately, that screen that you posted never showed up anywhere, not even in the email I received from them after I donated
I hope that they don’t sell my information because it has taken me years to fix that with our previous donations through ActBlue that have produced a decade of spam emails. Sigh.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I was just talking about this yesterday!
We will surely get in on this race, hopefully through our previous partners who get out the Black and Asian youth vote in North Carolina. Plan on contacting them in mid August or so.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: I will go make a donation myself to confirm.
I already confirmed that I have it set up so you get the popup screen.
ooh, popup. I wonder if you have popups turned off in your browser?
edit: I didn’t get the popup, either. In chrome, where I don’t know if I have popups disabled
edit: Looks like popups default to disabled in Chrome.
Scout211
Yes, I do. ☹️
I didn’t know it was a pop-up.
They Call Me Noni
@WaterGirl: In for $25, so you solved my tech issue just in time!!
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Four Directions won’t sell or share your info. I suspect ActBlue would.
Thanks for asking the question that led to the research about the information sharing.
Scout211
@WaterGirl: Well, I am not happy that my information will now, yet again, be thrown into the political spam trash heap, but at least I can say that my dilemma will help other contributors from getting caught. Sigh.
Thanks for the edit and update. It will be helpful to other jackals.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Why don’t you cancel your donation through ActBlue?
And then make it again with the popup blocking turned off. Or you could write a check and it could still count for the external and Angel matching.
Dmkingto
In for $100.
Torrey
I’m puzzled by the explanation of the math. (FWIW “I’m puzzled by math” is my usual mental state, so no cause for panic.) The description above says that the two matches do not run concurrently. That is, Match 1 matches only the first $10K (double match), but does not match anything above that amount in contributions, and Match 2 single-matches $20K only after the first $10K has been matched. So, as I read it, there is no such thing as a single contribution from a BJ member that gets matched by both external matches.
To get down to specifics, if I’m not mistaken, assume BJ member #1 contributes $100 and is matched by a BJ angel. This yields $200 from BJ. Then, if the $200 from BJ is double matched by the first external match, it yields a total of 2 X $200 added by the first external match. That works out to $200 from BJ and $400 from external match 1 = $600 total for Four Directions.
BJ member #2, on the other hand, contributes $100 after the external match #1 has been met. IF that contribution is also matched one-for-one by a BJ angel, that yields $200 from BJ and a single-match of $200 from the second external match for a total of $400. (If there are no more angels by the time we get to the second match, BJ member #2’s $100 would be matched by the second external match of an additional $100 for a total of $200.)
Am I wrong, or am I wrong? (I know the usual phrase is “am I right, or am I right?” but we’re talking me and math here, so “wrong” is probably the way to bet.)
nevsky42
In fer $100! Thanks from VA-5.
dc
In for $25
Geminid
@WaterGirl: I doubt if the 11th CD candidate needs help. Rep. Connolly was winning by 2 to 1 or better the last few cycles.
It wasn’t always that way. When Connolly ran in 2008 after Republican Tom Davis retired, he won by around 12,000 votes. Connolly won in 2010 by a little under a thousand votes, but he never had a close election after that.
Fairfax County was solidly Republican when I lived there in the late 1960s, but it’s solid blue now.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
In for $250 (plus tip). Thanks, WG!
dnfree
In for $80 or really it’s $75 + a $5 tip for ActBlue, so not sure how that counts?
dnfree
Regarding getting undesired information from the group or person we’re donating to via ActBlue, if I get an email or a text message from them, I just “unsubscribe” or “stop”, depending on the source, and that seems to work. I’m not sure about the “selling” part.
2liberal
in for $100
XeckyGilchrist
Thank you. I wish that option had existed before ActBlue turned my text messages into an avalanche of “Chip In!’ spam.
WaterGirl
@Torrey: You’re mistaken. :-)
We have a $20k match for the first $10k. Then we have a $20k match for the remaining $20k we are trying to raise.
Here’s my $100.
PatrickG matches my $100. So that’s $200.
Then we have a double external match.
So External match #1 adds their $200 to match the existing $200.
External match #2 adds their $200 to the existing $400.
So it’s:
$100 + $100 + $200 + $200 = $60
EDIT: “double-match” means the amount gets matched twice.
WaterGirl
@Dmkingto: Thank you!
WaterGirl
@Dmkingto: Thank you!
WaterGirl
@nevsky42: @dc: @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): @2liberal:
Thank you all!
WaterGirl
@XeckyGilchrist: I have been doing this since I first discovered the option. That was 2022, I think.
WaterGirl
@dnfree: Unsubscribing works for me, too. The instant the first one comes in, I unsubscribe.
WaterGirl
@dnfree: Good question.
Tips don’t count toward any kind of matching, whether it’s BJ Angel matching or external matching.
The matching only happens for what goes into the thermometer. Maybe that helps?
So your $75 turns into $450. And ActBlue gets your $5.
Scout211
Apparently that is easier to do when you have an ActBlue account. If you don’t have an account you can send an email to support, which I did. But my credit card already has the pending charge so I’m not confident that it will work.
In case I can cancel, could you send me an email with the address of where to send a check? Thanks.
BenInNM
In for $25! Thanks again to WG and everyone who contributes
WaterGirl
To further clarify, the external matches never show up in the thermometer. The external matching people give a check to Four Directions once we raise our part.
WaterGirl
@BenInNM: Thank you!
Ramona
$50 through Act Blue (for Four Directions), no comment because I read that part too late…
WaterGirl
We are 2/3 of the way through the first Angel Match, which is Anonymous!
Torrey
@WaterGirl:
Thank you for the explanation. It’s never a surprise when I get the math wrong, but I’m still seeing what I think is a mistake or at least a source of confusion (for me, anyway). Let me add that it’s not really important whether I understand this or not. But I would like to get it clear and see where my error is.
Here’s what the description says:
So that means that there are piles of money BJ has to come up with. The first pile is $10K, and that will be double-matched. (I understand that a double match means that for each BJ dollar, an outside organization or entity puts in two dollars.) However, the reference to “the next $20K” means (to me) that external match 2 only kicks in once external match 1 is complete.
Again, nothing rides on this, but I’m just trying to clear up my own confusion, possibly because I don’t have enough to do, or because I do, and I’m avoiding it. :)
But if the two matches work at the same time, maybe what’s throwing me off is the word “next” before “$20K”:
So the first $10K gets double-matched, and the first $20K gets single-matched on top of the $10K double-match?
WaterGirl
@Torrey:
Until the thermometer reaches $10,000, every dollar that goes into it will result in a check for $20,000.
At $10,001, it is single matching. When the thermometer reaches $30,000, they will receive a check for $20,000.
All told, there is $40k of matching funds, if we can get to $30k.
eclare
In for $25
Torrey
@WaterGirl: Thank you. That’s my understanding. Here’s what (also) confused me:
External match 1 would add double BJ’s $200 donation, adding $400 to the total, for a total of $600. (You do have $600 as the sum but it’s by including both external match 1 and external match 2.)
But while external match 1 is happening, external match 2 is sitting on the sidelines, twiddling its (possibly metaphorical) thumbs. External match 2 only leaps up with a gladsome cry and gets into the action when external match 1 is finished, no?
Also, a more serious question–or at least one it’s more important to answer for each match: will these two matches match any amount up to $10K (for match 1) and $20K (for match 2), or do we have to raise the full $10K and $20K to get any of the matching funds?
silvery
Donated $100
skerry
I donated $35
Thanks for all your work, water girl
Joy in FL
$25 on the thermometer. I’m very glad to support Four Directions.
Uncle Cosmo
In for $50. Now match it!
I must have popups blocked, nothing “popped up” to axe whether I wanted my info shared. Oh well, more trash incoming…
Maxim
In for $100. Thanks to WG and our Angels!
lowtechcyclist
@H.E.Wolf:
There are reservations of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Indians in tidewater Virginia, adjacent to the rivers with the same names. The summer camp I used to attend took us on a field trip to the Mattaponi reservation each year.
WaterGirl
We have completed Angel match #1!
Now starting Angel match #2 – Happy to announce that our second Balloon Juice Angel is PatrickG!
Thank you, Patrick!
eclare
Pretty photo today, WaterGirl
Redshift
@H.E.Wolf:
An important thing to know is that the federal legislation has been required for most Virginia tribes to get federal recognition, for two reasons:
First, since Europeans contacted the tribes long before the American Revolution, they made treaties with England, and not with the US Government.
The second, much worse reason is that they lack the required documentation of their history and ancestry because during Jim Crow, a white supremacist named Walter Plecker was the head of the Bureau of Vital Statistics. He believed Black people pretending to to be Native would “pollute the blood” of white people, so he established rules that official records could only classify people as white or “colored.” He further destroyed the earlier official records of people’s Native ancestry, which is called a “paper genocide.”
The result was that they didn’t have the official documentation to go through the normal federal recognition process, and couldn’t get recognition until Virginia Dems (along with one Republican) got the job done in 2015.
Redshift
In for $25!
WaterGirl
@eclare: No water, but such lovely flowers and background!!!
EarthWindFire
@Geminid: Current resident of VA-11 and I would like to marry this comment. Also, this is a September 9 special election and early voting is underway. CD-11 got 2-3 weeks notice for a primary and CD-11 Dems turned out 34K voters.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you! I’ll start there. Much appreciated!
H.E.Wolf
Thank you for this also. I appreciate it!
WaterGirl
@H.E.Wolf: I wonder what the residents of the reservation thought of the kids from the daycamp visiting.
sixthdoctor
In for $50.
emrys
In for $25
Lumpy
I just donated $100, thanks for organizing this
I have the order # if you want it? (Wondering how you keep track).
EarthWindFire
In for $25!
WaterGirl
@Lumpy: Nah, I trust you guys.
WaterGirl
@Redshift: @sixthdoctor: @emrys: @Lumpy: @EarthWindFire:
All together, that’s $1,350 with matching!
Wolvesvalley
OK, here’s $100.
WaterGirl
@Wolvesvalley: Thank you!
ewrunning
In for 25. As a former VA voter, I’m banking on a delivering the Rethugs a crushing defeat this year.
Percysowner
I’m in for $10
Embra
I did $100. Thanks for arranging this. It makes a difference.
Another Scott
+$100+
Thanks.
Forward!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
JeanneT
I’m late, but here for another $100.
WaterGirl
@ewrunning: @Percysowner: @Embra: @Another Scott: @JeanneT:
Thank you all!
You guys together, with the matches: $2,010!
WaterGirl
We are 2/3 of the way through PatrickG’s $1,000 Angel Match!