Smart use of email fundraising from the Daily Kos activism list today: they sent out a message this afternoon asking activists to support last-minute Get Out The Vote work on behalf of three separate several Democrats running for state legislature in Virginia.
Colin, we’re two days out from the election in Virginia and just look at the latest polls from some of our must-win races:
- VA-HD-87: Democrat John Bell 47 – Republican David Ramadan 47
- VA-HD-34: Democrat Kathleen Murphy 48 – Republican Barbara Comstock 45
- VA-HD-13: Republican Bob Marshall 47- Democrat Atif Qarni 44
We can win all of these races if we just get out the vote.You saw what happened after 2010. Republicans turned their new state legislative majorities into laboratories of right-wing extremism—attacking women’s right to choose, busting unions, gerrymandering Republican congressional districts, and so much more.
Now, Democrats are surging in Virginia and we can break a Republican supermajority with your help.
Please chip in $4 right now to help get out the vote.
Keep fighting,
Michael Langenmayr
Campaign Director, Daily Kos
Here’s what I like about this fundraising appeal:
- The ask is timely: GOTV is something you CAN spend money on at the last second, in the form of everything from online ads to van rental for poll shuttles.
- It’s also specific: it lists the exact races DKos is focusing on.
- It’s realistic: at least according to the polls cited in the email, at least three of the candidates are tied or close, meaning that a GOTV push just might push them over the top. And since we’re talking about relatively small numbers of voters on both sides (via back-of-the-envelope calculation, a VA state legislative district should hold about 60,000 people), a few dozen ballots here and there might matter. Money spent on the governor’s race, by contrast, is almost certainly wasted either way by now.
- It’s locally focused: state legislatures are where the action is in a lot of battles Daily Kos cares about, from reproductive rights to taxation and labor laws. Of course I’m biased, since my first job was working for a member of the Texas Legislature, but you can generally get a lot more done at the state level than in Congress these days.
- It’s also nationally oriented: the email is careful to note the how much the Republican 2010 state legislative wins have hurt Democrats across the country, since the Rs dominance at the state level let them draw legislative and congressional districts to help guarantee continuing conservative majorities. Some of us yelled about it at the time, but in vain, and Daily Kos has learned the lesson.
Lots to like! And, the email and landing page incorporate plenty of other good practices in their execution, so good work all around. I WOULD be curious to see how much they raise and what they spend it on, though, if they’re willing to part with that knowledge. In any case, you’ve heard it here before: all politics may be local, but all fundraising is now national. Even if you’re running for state legislature from the sticks.
– cpd