952: No Fake Matches
Invest in the right Democrats at end-of-quarter
Ignore the unread number for a second (I’ve been on vacation!) and get outraged by how many of them are fundraising texts:
It’s end-of-quarter. If you’ve ever donated, your inbox is getting blitzed with fundraising spam. Many of them fund shady PACs that mostly spend the money on consultants and overhead instead of winning races.
The party committees are annoying in a different way, promising impossible matches. In 2023, the attorney general of Arkansas (and former member of Congress) wrote a compelling piece about the matches:
Protecting people from scams and fraud is one of my most fundamental responsibilities as attorney general of Arkansas. Americans are used to scams perpetrated by fraudsters and con artists, but they don’t expect it from their elected leaders.
The truth is politicians, political parties and PACs are deceiving unsuspecting victims who believe in our political system. And they’re doing it by fundraising with emails and text messages that falsely promise to “match” a contribution. This scam is not only unethical, it’s also potentially illegal — and politicians who use it may find themselves under legal scrutiny.
Have you received an email or text message from a politician promising that your contribution will be matched 2x, 10x or have a 1,500 percent impact? If you’ve contributed to a candidate recently, you’re likely on donor lists that result in a constant bombardment of email and text message solicitations featuring some variation of these claims. The match scam is so ubiquitous and tiresome that at least one presidential candidate is hoping to win support by promising “no fake matches.”
Proclaiming “no fake matches” is a good start. But it’s not enough.
High-ROI Candidates
When WelcomePAC launched mid-2022, we identified 21 overlooked districts with real potential. The analysis led to to this headline in The Boston Globe about a shocking pattern: winnable races, massively underfunded.
In that first cycle, just four got enough funding to be competitive. But those where we saw the opportunity matched a formula: damaged MAGA incumbents and credible, charismatic Democratic challengers.
This cycle, with Democratic enthusiasm through the roof, and old habits are returning. We’ve previously criticized the campaign of Marcus Flowers in CNN for raising tens of millions in an unwinnable race against Marjorie Taylor Greene.
What we said in 2022 is still true: the best way to fight Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t to throw money at a doomed challenger. It’s to flip the House and send her into the minority.
Addressing this problem is why we launched the Win The Middle slate, and are building a community with you to address the damaging inefficiencies in our democracy.
The best place to spend right now to flip a district and send Marjorie Taylor Greene packing and stop Republicans from cutting healthcare for the poor to pay for tax cuts for billionaires is Wisconsin’s 3rd, where Rebecca Cooke is running against Dark MAGA incumbent Derrick Van Orden.
Ignore the fake matches, the appeals to make expressive, but unhelpful donations. Support Rebecca Cooke and the other Win The Middle candidates who can actually deliver Democrats a House majority.