Conceding Democracy
Conceding Democracy
Democrats must compete everywhere they can to hold Republican incumbents accountable for undermining our democracy.
Since WelcomePAC’s launch in fall 2021, we’ve compiled a quarterly analysis of campaign finance reports paired with each district’s partisan lean to see how Democrats are doing in some of the most flippable Republican-held seats in the country.
Are they competing by funding strong challenges to democracy-undermining incumbents in these seats? Or are they conceding without even showing up to play?
Called “Conceding Democracy,” the findings from our quarterly analysis have been featured in The New York Times, NBC News, CNN, The Washington Post, and The Bulwark.
You can check out our findings from the past two years below.
Democracy Deserts (Q3 2023)
As 2024 begins to ramp up, Democrats and Republicans alike are neglecting to fund challenges in some of the most competitive House districts in the country.
Democracy Conceded (Q1 2023)
In more than a dozen undervalued House districts we identified in 2022, Democrats lost without putting up a fight. But they were competitive the in seats we identified where they did put up a fight.
Conceding Democracy (Q4 2022)
By end of Q3 2022, Democratic nominees had raised less than $100,000 across the entire cycle in 8 of the 29 GOP-held House districts where Trump received 50-54% of the vote in 2020.
Conceding Democracy (Q3 2022)
Democratic candidates started Q3 2022 with less than $200,000 in cash on hand in 5 of the 7 GOP-held districts where Trump received 50-51% in 2020.
Conceding Democracy (Q2 2022)
By the start of Q2 2022, no Democratic challenger had more than $90,000 in cash on hand in 15 of the 21 GOP-held districts where Donald Trump won with 50-54% of the vote share.
Conceding Democracy (Q1 2022)
At the start of Q1, Democrats had funneled millions of dollars into unwinnable races against high-profile MAGA incumbents like Marjorie Taylor Greene while continuing to give other democracy-undermining Republicans a free pass in more than a dozen potentially winnable seats.
Conceding Democracy (Q4 2021)
By the start of Q4 2021, 72 of the 93 (or 77%) competitive Republican-held districts we identified lacked a 2022 Democratic challenger with more than $150k cash on hand.