[1]Lucas Kunce for U.S. Senate

John,

Right now, grassroots movements like ours are facing an existential threat
from one of the biggest email providers in the country — Google.

I’m not going to ask you for a donation in this email. But I do hope
you’ll give me a moment to explain what’s happening and why it’s such a
big deal for campaigns like ours that don’t rely on shady mega-donors and
corporate PACs.

Over the years, Google has amassed a market share of more than half of
emails in the United States. Whether you know it or not, that means they
have incredible power over the content we see and the content we don’t —
basically, what’s important enough to go to the normal inbox, and what
goes to spam.

[ [link removed] ]PoliticoPRO: Google to end pilot program that let political groups skip
spam filters.

One example of this is the Verified Sender Program that Google introduced
in 2022. When campaigns joined that program, Google ensured that their
emails were sent to the primary inboxes of their supporters — where people
actually saw and engaged with them — instead of spam. Fundraising surged
as a result.

But when Google ended that program early last year, grassroots fundraising
took a big hit. Emails are generally one of our biggest sources of online,
small-dollar donations. But without the safeguards Google put in place, we
had to dramatically limit the number of supporters with Gmail accounts
that we could reach out to each day. It had a real, and lasting, impact on
our campaign.

Now, we’re seeing even tinier moves in Google’s algorithm having massive
effects, on both campaigns and our political system as a whole.

Fewer and fewer emails to Gmail accounts are getting through to people’s
primary inboxes — not just for our campaign, but campaigns at all levels
across the country. It’s affecting our ability to reach voters with
critical information, to contact supporters about ways to get involved,
and especially our ability to fundraise.

When emails are blocked, and small-dollar donations dip as a result,
politicians begin to rely more heavily on those shady mega-donors and
massive corporations who’ve made it their business to muck up our
political process. And we already know how dangerous that is for our
democracy.

It’s a classic example of corporate monopolies amassing so much power that
they pose a real threat to everyday people in our country.

So now, I’m asking for your help to fight back in a few ways:

 1. Make sure your email provider knows you want to see these emails.
Whether it’s by clicking a link [ [link removed] ](like this one) or replying to this
email or simply marking an email that has gone to your spam folder as
“Not Spam,” engaging with our emails is one of the best ways to prove
that you’re an active member of this movement.
 2. Share your thoughts. If you have ideas for how we can make these
emails more interesting or engaging, our team would love to hear them.
[ [link removed] ]You can click here to fill out our quick survey and share your
feedback.
 3. Get people talking. Forward this email to a friend and let them know
what’s happening here. Or even ask them to click on a link in this
email too. This is an issue that should be on everyone’s radar — from
voters, to donors, and the execs at Google who can actually do
something about this.

I can’t tell you how much your support means to me,
John.

Together, we’re going to keep building this grassroots movement to defeat
Josh Hawley and take back Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat for real working
people.

Thanks for everything,

Lucas Kunce

[ [link removed] ]DONATE


 


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Paid for by Lucas Kunce for Missouri.

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