Here’s what we know now that the midterm dust has settled. 

We were reminded, once again, that everything Trump touches dies. We learned that if Kevin McCarthy ever touches the Speaker’s gavel, he’ll be worked by Marjorie Taylor Greene like a cheap puppet. (Gross).

And we’re seeing Ron DeSantis being paraded around by the anti-anti-Trump right like he’s their second coming of Ronald Reagan. 

But you know what’s really stuck with me about this election? 

Is how close the whole damn thing was. 

The margin of victory to decide the House? Less than 6,000 votes in five seats.

The margin of victory in the close Senate and Governor’s races? Less than 200,000 votes combined.

To put that into perspective, there are many times that amount of people reading this email right now. So yes, our pro-democracy movement was largely victorious because there are more of us than them. That’s why we won 17 target races and shut election deniers out of statewide office in every major swing state. (Yes, Kari Lake, the truth hurts. Now go whine about it on Steve Bannon’s podcast to his audience of basement dwellers who haven’t seen the sun in 10 years.)

But keeping our country from turning into an authoritarian ultra-MAGA hellscape was not some predetermined outcome. It required targeting a specific number of voters with the right message. 

And not letting up. 

This time it was a few hundred thousand votes. But here’s a question: how many votes will prevent Trump from taking back the White House in 2024? 100,000? 80,000? We beat him by 42,000 votes in three states last time.

Our politics contains a clear moral binary. It is lies vs. truth, democracy vs. autocracy, and good vs. evil. And if it outrages you that a couple hundred thousand separates this clear moral distinction, then good. It absolutely should. 

We’re working year-round to break through the noise and ensure that the ultra-MAGA movement isn’t just defeated in most of our target races. We want them destroyed. We want them completely exorcised from our national politics. That includes races for dog catcher. This fight is EVERYWHERE.

We had a good election cycle this year. I’m damn proud of the work we did together, Friend. 

But a couple hundred thousand votes? We have work to do. Pitch in today and help us sustain our mission into the next year.  

-Rick