Friends – First and foremost, we want to say THANK YOU! Yesterday President Joe Biden addressed the nation: Election experts all across the country projected we’d lose our House majority by 20-30 seats, that we’d lose the Senate by 1-2 seats, and that our Governors in tough races would lose.
Instead, as Joe Biden said, Democrats pulled off the BEST midterm performance with a Democratic President since President John F. Kennedy! You are to thank. Our democracy is on steadier ground and in several states, a woman’s Constitutional right to her own bodily autonomy was preserved and restored. From the bottom of our hearts: Thank you and thank you for stepping up even when the odds were against us.
You might not think a single donation to an email like this makes a difference. But thanks to the nearly 400,000 of you who have donated to support us and our candidates (with an average donation of just $20!) we were able to make historic investments up and down the ballot in key races all across the country. And in those highly competitive races, it made all the difference.
So we wanted to share with you where your support and donations went + update you on how many of our candidates, despite the odds, made history.
THE SENATE 
As you’re probably aware, Senate control has not been decided and we’re anxiously watching votes come in in two of the country’s closest and most consequential elections in Arizona and Nevada.
Because of incredible supporters like you, we were able to invest over $800,000 into key Senate races in states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia as well as launch voter mobilization efforts that reached hundreds of thousands of swing voters in these hotly contested races.
On the eve of Election Night, many election experts predicted John Fetterman would lose, that
Mark Kelly was in serious jeopardy, and that Raphael Warnock could be defeated outright. Instead,
John Fetterman won a historic victory in Pennsylvania,
Mark Kelly is in a good position to win (based on where the outstanding vote remains to be counted), and
Raphael Warnock is headed to a Senate runoff in Georgia after earning a slight lead over his opponent.
We were proud to be there for Mark Kelly on day one when he announced his candidacy at the beginning of 2019 and we’re so incredibly thankful for the many of you who have donated directly to his campaign and those in Arizona who showed up for him on Election Day.
THE HOUSE On the morning of Election Day, two of the most respected election analysts in America, The Cook Political Report and Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight,
projected Democrats would lose 25-40 seats in the House and Kevin McCarthy warned his inside polling projected Republicans gaining as many as 65 seats. It was supposed to be a red tsunami of historic proportions. But because of you, despite the alarm bells and doomy forecast, we defied history and had the best showing in a midterm election with a Democratic President in 60+ years (virtually every single one of our House Democrats won!).
Eric Sorensen (IL-17) and
Dr. Yadira Caraveo (CO-8) were projected to lose their toss-up races. Many election experts even shifted their races to Lean Republican and Likely Republican, respectively.
We’re proud to tell you that Eric and Yadira will be headed to Congress in January. Eric will be the second only climate expert in Congress and the first ever LGBTQ+ member of Congress from Illinois while Yadira shattered a glass ceiling to be the first Latina elected from Colorado + will be the only pro-choice physician of color in Congress. In addition, we’re proud to say that PhD chemist
Shri Thanedar (MI-13) won his House race and will become the first Indian American elected to Congress from Michigan.
Polling showed Republicans could take out some of our most vulnerable House Democrats including
Lauren Underwood(IL-14),
Sean Casten (IL-6),
Melanie Stansbury (NM-1), and
Dr. Kim Schrier (WA-8).
Instead, Lauren, the youngest Black woman in Congress, Sean, the only climate expert in Congress, and Melanie, the first Democrat to win a special election this election cycle (and the only natural resources expert in Congress), won re-election by massive margins despite millions in Republican attack ads. There are still too many votes outstanding in Dr. Kim Schrier’s race (who was projected to lose by many!) but we feel good about her odds of winning re-election in a race rated as Lean Republican.
Because of you, we were able to
invest MILLIONS into key House races, reach hundreds of thousands of swing voters, + support vulnerable House Democrats who many election experts predicted would be swept away in a Red Wave.
OUR GOVERNORS To put into perspective how well our Governors did, this is the best showing for Democratic Governors in a midterm election with a Democratic President since the Reagan Era – nearly half a century of history defied, because generous supporters like you stepped up in a major way.
In Wisconsin,
Gov. Tony Evers was projected to lose by 1 point + with it the future of reproductive rights, voting rights, and free and fair elections with it.
We’re incredibly happy to share with you that Tony, the former science teacher who ran for office because he felt Wisconsin students deserved better, has won re-election by 3.4 points which is the best showing for a Democratic Governor candidate in the Badger state since 2006!
Tony’s running mate and now Lt Governor-elect is
Sara Rodriguez, a State Representative and epidemiologist.
Thanks to you we were able to bundle nearly half a million dollars for Tony + reach hundreds of thousands of swing voters in both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Which brings us to
Josh Shapiro, who defeated a January 6 insurrectionist to become the next Governor of Pennsylvania, winning a state Donald Trump carried by a staggering 11 points. Not only does this win prevent Republicans at the state level from advancing an abortion ban, which they promised they would if they had a Republican Governor, but it also ensures that both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania will not have election deniers overseeing elections in 2024.
The same extends to Michigan where
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist (software engineer), won a stunning victory in a race many expected to come down to the wire. With this victory, reproductive rights and the election certification process has been protected.
And lastly, in a historic first, our Democrats flipped Maryland’s Governor seat from red to blue and in the process elected
Wes Moore as Governor (who will be the first Black Governor in Maryland) and civil engineer
Aruna Miller as Lt. Governor (who will be the only Indian-American Lt Governor in the country).
STATE + LOCAL ELECTIONS To be candid, the Democratic Party has largely ignored and under-invested in state, local, and municipal races. We still haven’t recovered from the nearly 1,000 state legislative seats we lost in the 2010 midterm elections which is part of the reason so many states have GOP-dominated legislatures that gerrymander maps, suppress the vote, restrict abortion, and advance Far-Right policies, even in states that are blue!
We’re trying to change that: We invested nearly one million dollars directly into supporting local and state legislative Democratic scientists. This year we set a new record by supporting nearly 400 Democratic scientists running for state and local office – And it paid off. In Michigan, where we supported 31 state and local Democrats, we can confirm that we flipped the Michigan State House + State Senate for the first time since 1983!
In Minnesota, where we supported 26 state and local Democrats, we can confirm that we have flipped control of the Minnesota State Senate for the first time since 2012 and defended our razor-thin majority in the State House.
In Pennsylvania, where we supported 13 state and local Democrats, we can confirm that we have flipped control of the State House for the first time since 2008.
There are still plenty of key Senate, House, and state and local races yet to be called. But we wanted to take a moment to update you on our work + some of the incredible victories your support helped power. You are the reason the forewarned ‘Red Wave of 2022’ never materialized. But with control of the Senate hanging in the balance and once again coming down to a Senate runoff in Georgia, please consider donating so we can defend our Senate majority!
Thank you,
314 Action
