Member-only story
How to (Really) Help Flip the Senate
The Georgia runoffs in January are important. We need all the support we can get.
In 2017, after President Trump appointed Republican Rep. Tom Price as Health and Human Services secretary, a seat opened up in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. In the special election that June, Democrat Jon Ossoff ran against Republican and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel. The seat was a stronghold for the Republican Party (it was once held by Newt Gingrich), but due to an influx of younger and minority voters in the district, Democrats had a shot at flipping it. The pressure was on. As a 6th District voter, I felt it with every single door I knocked, every voter I called, every event I hosted. Pundits called this race (the most expensive congressional election in U.S. history) a referendum on the Trump administration. For a few intense months, all eyes were on Georgia, and Democrats from coast to coast rallied around us and then collectively mourned when Handel edged out Ossoff.
The national attention we received in 2017 has nothing on this runoff, which will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. The tsunami of enthusiasm from Democrats across the country has been both inspiring and overwhelming. But there are plenty of ways out-of-staters can help without adding to the burden or the burnout that organizers have been fighting off for months.
Instead, consider investing in local organizations that have been on the ground and engaging with communities year-round.
With only four weeks remaining until January 5, the key is for those interested in helping to find ways to plug in without further adding to the burden of folks who are working around the clock.
First: donations
If you are able to make them, they are vital. But the campaigns will likely get all the money they need for this election. (Besides, we know that exorbitant amounts of money to Senate campaigns don’t necessarily translate to wins.) Instead, consider investing in local organizations that have been on the ground and engaging with communities year-round. These organizations are both nonpartisan and partisan, and they…
