Political Fundraising

Update at 5:56 pm: ANGEL MATCH IS COMPLETE! Thank you Redshift and everyone who donated.

April 1^st 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.

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FL-06 Josh Weil  (BlueSky)

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FL-01 Gay Valimont  (BlueSky)

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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!

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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.

Florida Special Elections – Just <s>14</s> 13 Days to Make a DifferencePost + Comments (59)

Update at 5:30 pm: We have a new Balloon Juice Angel!  redshift will match up to $25 per person – to either FL thermometer – up to a total of $500. He sold some Tesla stock h’d almost forgotten about a couple of weeks ago, and it seems like poetic justice to use some of the proceeds here!  Thank you, redshift!   ANGEL MATCH STILL AVAILABLE

Update at 2 pm:   We have a Balloon Juice Angel!  frosty will match up to $25 per person – to either FL thermometer – up to a total of $500.  Thank you, frosty!   COMPLETE

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.

April 1^st 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 probably take a pass.   But these are not ordinary times.

Let’s talk about the two open seats and the candidates who are running to fill them.

   –  FL District 1 is open because Matt Gaetz (R-Pedophile) was tapped to be Attorney General – a thought so horrific that even Congressional Republicans couldn’t stomach it.

  –  FL District 6 was held by Michael Waltz, who will now help undermine our safety as Trump’s National Security Advisor.

To be clear, these are deep red districts.

Florida District 1  (FL-01)

District 1 (Pensacola and the western Panhandle) is the most Republican District in the state (Cook Partisan District Index R +19).  Gaetz retained his seat 66-34 over Democratic challenger Gay Valimont.   Valimont (D) is running again as the Democrat in the special election against Florida’s CFO, Jimmy Patronis.

It’s unfathomable that the loathsome Gaetz got those numbers, but he’s from a prominent Florida political family.  Patronis is not.

Arguably Gay Valimont has a better chance against a lesser-known and non-incumbent candidate.

Gay Valimont  website.

FL-01 Gay Valimont:  (BlueSky)

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FL District 6  (FL-06)

District 6 (Daytona Beach) is a little less grim.  Cook has it at R+14.  However Waltz had a margin of victory similar to Gaetz in 2024: 66-33.

This time, a charismatic Democrat named Josh Weil emerged from the January 28, 2025 primary.

His opponent, Randy Fine, was recruited by Trump to run for the seat, even though he lived outside the district.  Carpetbagger much?

Josh Weil website.

FL-06 Josh Weil:  (BlueSky)

 

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National Ground Game

Many of you have asked in the comments if we would do any fundraising or take other action to help win these Florida seats.  (Special thanks for this to rikyrah for the reminders.)  So here’s  your opportunity to donate or volunteer for these races, if you are so inclined.

Consistent with our “boots on the ground” preference, we identified and made contact with an organization that went all out registering voters in Florida 1st and 6th, and is now pounding the pavement to turn out voters.

Meet the National Ground Game.  The Ground Game dispatches organizers and canvassers in all 50 states.  We’ve made contact with Board Member Zoe Cohen-Sanchez, who is featured in the video below describing the organization’s efforts in FL-01 and FL-06.

Short inspirational video below.   ⬇️

There is not enough time to go through our typical process of meeting with folks from an organization, seeing if there is a good fit, trying to figure out if there is a way that we can help them do something beyond what they are normally able to do, and meeting with them again to work out details.  But we can put up thermometers to support their work.

This group will also be organizing for the open House seat in New York, and we hope to meet and talk with them as they begin to focus in New York.  But right now, the last thing we want to do is slow anything down, so we’re putting up the thermometer and they happily agreed to use whatever funds we might raise for the individual races.

Two Separate Thermometers & Volunteer Opportunities

We have two separate thermometers – that means that you guys can direct donations to either or both of the candidates.  You want to donate to the one where winning seems the most likely?  Donate through the FL-06 thermometer.   Want to donate to the longer shot, donate through the FL-01 thermometer.  Want to donate to both districts?  You’ll donate once through FL-01 and again through FL-06.

In addition, there are post-carding and canvassing opportunities (if you’re already in Florida), that you can access through their website:  www.nationalgroundgame.com

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.

Florida Special Elections – Long Shot? Or Potentially History Making Opportunity?Post + Comments (61)