There's an old saying in politics—Democrats fall in love, but Republicans fall in line. For a long time, that's been the common wisdom, that Democrats may be extremely passionate about our candidates, but the GOP’s base will turn out no matter what, even if they’re not particularly enthused by who’s on the ballot.
And yet, last night, across the country, Democrats won big in two special elections. Democrats won in New York’s 1st Congressional District and in Pennsylvania’s 140th State House District, narrowing the Republican majority in Congress and taking control of the Pennsylvania State House. And crucially, in both of these elections, the Democrat vastly overperformed the results we saw in 2022 and 2020—in the case of the election in Pennsylvania, the Democrat did better than Joe Biden by
twenty-six points.
If that sounds familiar, it definitely has me thinking about what happened here in our municipal elections back in the Fall.
Because here’s the thing. For as long as I’ve been involved in politics, the common wisdom has been that this isn't how it works, that Democrats only show up when they feel passionately about an election and that these off-year and special elections are supposed to be gimmes to the GOP. As I said last November, we aren’t “supposed” to be winning races like this. And yet, here we are.
Some have said that this means Democrats have finally learned to fall in line, even when we aren't in love. But I think it means we’ve finally learned what being in love really means: being there, even when it's hard, even on the bad days. That when you love our country and the ideals our party stands for, you rally and make the choice to show up.
And I think that's good news for us in November—but only if we nominate the right candidates in March. We have to have people on the ballot who can go out into every corner of the state and run campaigns that are worth our voters showing up for, and with early voting beginning tomorrow, that means I need your help.
On Monday, I let you know that we were launching our very first TV spot of the campaign. But last night, I got word that my primary opponent has also begun running outreach efforts. And to be honest, I’m a little worried—the last few weeks, he’s shown that he’s not above lying about my experience or misrepresenting our fundraising numbers. Frankly, there’s no telling what kind of misinformation he’s going to put out over the next three weeks.
That means we need resources—resources to get our message out to as many voters as possible to combat the attacks and misinformation. We need to be able to blanket the airwaves and get volunteers out to the polls so that we can be in control of our own first impression to voters. It’s a damn shame I’m having to say this about a fellow Democrat, but it’s the unfortunate reality of what this race has become.
John, can I count on you to show up for me? Can I count on you to help us get across the finish line? Anything you can pitch in will help us make sure that voters have an accurate impression of who I am, and will help ensure that we’re running a campaign voters can fall in love with in November.
