I'm a Bernie Donor and i want to help with down ticket races. Suggestions?

[Land Shark]

I am a donor to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign and also to other Democrats.

In my experience as a donor, the following is crystal clear to me: I do not control Bernie Sanders. It is also true that Bernie Sanders does not control me.

The limited relationship I have with Bernie as a donor consists of free will gifts and electronic thank yous and that works fine for me. I don't require the actual or facsimile signature of the candidate on stationery or any other written evidence of the candidate's thankfulness or obligation to me.

My political donations are not a command and control relationship in either direction. I prefer to discover candidates sort of on my own, as opposed to being directed what to do.

But I am willing to donate to other Democrats, preferably those strong on economic inequality and other Bernie style issues. Please reply and draw my attention to those Dems you think may have merit.

Thank you in advance. I prefer to take my cues from the community here at DU, rather than be told by any politician. I also lean toward general election help, but will consider primary help in appropriate cases.

[grasswire]

1. the great guy who is running against Debbie Wasserman Schultz in FL

Tim Canova. Check him out.

[ViseGrip]

2. ^^^THIS^^^

[Katashi_itto]

24. This!!!!

[metroins]

26. I support Hillary

And this isn't a bad idea...but a D is a D and I'd rather support a tough race against an R.

[brush]

3. Bernie out raised Hillary by several million in March. Contact the campaign . . .

and urge them to use some of that overage help down-ticket candidates he will need in the house and senate for his initiatives.

You might point out that Clinton has been much more generous in that regard.

[Land Shark]

4. I don't take marching orders from Bernie for donations, and vice versa. I go direct like this.

Please tell me who I should support and why. Thanks

[brush]

7. Catherine Cortez Masto for US senate in Nevada

Harry Reid is retiring and we need to keep that seat in the Senate.

[Land Shark]

11. Thank you. Is she opposed now and is there a pitch you can point me to?

[brush]

15. Sharon "2nd Amendment Solutions" Angle is running against her

You may recall Reid defeated the vicious little, extreme right wing gun humper in 2012.

She needs to be stopped again.

[TM99]

5. We have a special forum

at JPR that is all about ways and whom to help in down ticket races.

Come on over and you will find a lot of great information, donation links, etc.

[Land Shark]

6. Did not know that. Thanks

[Dems to Win]

8. Cori Bush, Sanders Democrat from Ferguson Missouri running for Senate nt

[geek tragedy]

9. Donate to the Democratic nominees (after the primary)

for the Senate races in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, New Hampshire and maybe Iowa.

Having the Democrats take back the Senate is easily the biggest priority in 2016, after the Presidency.

[Land Shark]

13. Agreed. Most of this talk about down ticket fundraising is premature. Good to think ahead i guess

[geek tragedy]

16. I think there are two issues:

1) down ticket fundraising to date. Largely gravy--nice if someone does it, but not expected at this stage;

2) willingness to raise money for down ticket races, state and national parties going forward if becoming the nominee--absolutely necessary and it's disqualifying if someone won't do it.

Consider: if we don't fund the state and national parties, that effectively defunds our GOTV capabilities. That's suicide.

I don't care if the donor is the sleaziest of the sleaze--GOTV needs to get funded.

[Land Shark]

18. And so does voter registration but where is all the campus dem registration efforts?

I'd like to see an extremely aggressive actual effort or at least a plan, then donate.

Right now campus registration wouod be helping Bernie. I had heard somewhere that it was essentially absent. Speaking of suicide.... and no, I don't accept that we can just get started in the fall.... That said, I haven't had time to investigate the voter reg on campus issue.

[geek tragedy]

19. Party doesn't have infinite resources.

Brutal reality is that one registered retiree is worth 2-3 registered college kids. Also, state parties less likely to register college kids who may move out of state, assuming they actually vote.

But absolutely right of you to expect some accountability and be assured your money will be spent on efforts you consider important.

[Land Shark]

29. Well there are only a few gold mines for Dem registrations and colleges are one

They may not all stay in town forever, but it's a reliable X thousands of votes every year in cities with colleges. May not be able to afford to ignore them.

[geek tragedy]

30. I wouldn't say reliable.

They don't vote in off-year election (Congressional and governor races are too boring) and query whether other groups already have college campuses covered--Rock the Vote etc.

[gollygee]

10. Paul Clements

Running against Fred Upton in the US House.

[CajunBlazer]

12. A couple of suggestions

I think it is very important that we win back the Senate; with the gerrymandering it will be very difficult to retake the house. The Senate is critical because it looks like there will be at least one Supreme Court Justice chosen by the next President and given the ages of several Justices, perhaps more than one.

You might want to do some studying to determine which of the Senate races across the country will be the tightest. Races were the Democratic candidates are fully expected to win and races where the Republican candidatesare fully expected to win are not as critical in my mind. Some states may be still choosing their nominees now so you might want to sit on your cash for a bit longer until you can determine how the national Congressional races will shake out. Once you understand how the Senate contests are shaping up, you might want to provide monetary support for the Democrats in the close Senate races which will be so critical.

You might also want to look into whether candidates for your state legislature might might benefit from your support. You can get more bang for your buck at the state level if the situations are right and we need to stock our state legislatures with Democrats because after the 2020 census, it will again be time for many states to redraw their US House districts. If we can't take control back of the state legislatures by then, we will again have gerrymandered US house districts and have to live though another 10 years with the US House of Representatives over loaded with Republicans.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[Land Shark]

14. Thanks for your sound advice. Eom

[ish of the hammer]

17. there is a small group of congresscritters who have come out for Sanders.

I think ACT BLUE has the list. May I suggest finding that list and donating to them. Senators Ellison, Grijalva and Gabbard come to mind.

[Rebkeh]

20. Two links

sandersdemocrats.org

And


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MZGzbSWESE8t18GGzrgc2FfL0b5tz-vmNf-F_-w5yN4/htmlview?pli=1#gid=0

[riderinthestorm]

21. Tammy Duckworth for Senate to replace Mark Kirk. He's #1 most vulnerable Nt

[Land Shark]

22. Illinois. Ok.

[Greybnk48]

23. Russ Feingold in Wisconsin.

He needs to knock Ron Johnson out!

[Bluestar]

27. Any candidate with (I) behind the name

That's Bernie's party ...

[Land Shark]

28. You are a loyal fundraiser for Democrats?