How Marjorie Taylor Greene gave my life purpose

All we have is our focus. And that becomes more valuable as people try to use it against us.

This all started because a bunch of good people can’t stand Marjorie Taylor Greene.

And because we mostly exist only in our own thoughts, we assumed that anyone, if given the choice, would rid themselves of Marjorie Taylor Greene. Seizing on this sentiment, Greene’s 2022 opponent spent most of the year saying things like,"I know your inbox is probably full of campaign requests right now. But let me make my case: We're building the most extensive Democratic campaign this district has EVER seen — and MTG is terrified."

And because a bunch of good people loved the idea of MTG being terrified they donated money and more money and more money.

The result?

A long-shot Democratic candidate raised more than $15.6 million to defeat Marjorie Taylor Greene. He lost by 31 points.

There is a force even more powerful than human subjectivity. It is gerrymandering.

This race became my bugaboo because after 2020 and the more than $100 million wasted on losing to Mitch McConnell and Susan Collins, I hoped that people had learned that not all targeted political donations are a great stressball. And not everyone who gets into politics is respectful of the hard work and money that may be thrown at them. 

While this was happening I tweeted about this bonfire of cash and wrote about it and pissed a lot of people off.

“You don’t believe in the 50 State Strategy” and “You want to abandon the South and every red district” were the big complaints. And they missed the point exactly.

FOR WHAT PEOPLE WERE BLOWING ON AN UNWINNABLE RACE, WE COULD LITERALLY FUND RACES IN 50 STATES. 

Run for Something, the closest thing the Democratic Party has to a 50-State Strategy, had a budget of $17.8 million in 2023, WHICH IT DID NOT RAISE. If you just peeled off the $500,000 you need to run a very respectable race against MTG and spent the money on RFS, we would have been infinitely better off.

The States Project reminds us that “a state legislative campaign usually costs less than 10% of a competitive US House or 3% of a competitive US Senate race.” If the money blown on helping MTG win by 31% were spent on a single swing state legislature, the results could have been historic.

There were some better arguments against my preaching about this race.

• Donations aren’t fungible; people donating to MTG aren’t going to do targeted giving to elect good election clerks in Raccine.
• This is extremely rare and a distraction itself; most fundraising matches the opportunity and the voter interest.

I don’t know if either of these things are true. But all the pushback clarified that it wasn’t enough for me to just tweet or write or complain. 

I had to make a case that required someone to blur the lines between journalist, commentator, activist, troll and partisan. I am or have been all of those things. And I also felt called to do more to try to fight for democracy, inspired by the successes we’ve had in my state of Michigan.

I know that voters shouldn’t be lied to. MTG’s opponent didn’t just run an ambitious race. He constantly made it seem like victory was inevitable without any of the “This is a huge lift and will benefit the ticket statewide” you’d like to see from a noble, effective candidate in an unwinnable race. He became as much of a purposeful distraction as MTG is herself.

And I also know that fact checking these lies, telling people not to do something they are sure is good, just pisses them off! Saying “No, no, no!” would never work. We needed to say “Yes! Please! Over here! Yeah, that!”

And that’s how earlyworm was born. We wanted to build a site that rewarded the focus of those who spend the most time thinking about democracy with news that connects to action. We’re still tinkering and improving our vision, which is tricky because no one – I don’t think – has ever done a site devoted to marrying news to activism. And there may be a reason why!

But this is what we’ve decided is the best use of our time in a year that I feel will be the most consequential of my or my kid’s lives. And not just America. 

I firmly believe that Vladimir Putin’s best and maybe only hope for expanding further into Europe and ending America’s global influence as a(n imperfect) force for democracy and the Rule of Law is electing Donald Trump. 

So knowing that Biden/Harris and most of the promising US Senate candidates will have enough money and attention, we’re focusing down ballot, “reverse coattails” as Run for Something calls them.

That’s why we’re proud to announce the launch of earlyworm’s 2024 Giving Guide.

This guide is designed to focus people on the most effective things they can do now that matter most to produce the best possible results for democracy in November. We want it to be something you share with your loved ones as they decide that it’s time to get in the business of saving democracy.

It can’t be comprehensive or perfect. But we are betting any credibility we have built (if there is any!) that based on all the research we’ve done, these are the best possible uses of our limited resources.

This is a living document that will likely become more intense and elaborate as the year progresses. Our initial focus in Arizona, which won’t surprise you if you’ve been following this effort at all, but we’re also looking at targeted ways of backing down-ballot races in all three of the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which are also each electing a US Senator in 2024. And we shout out Run for Something and The States Project because they represent our best ambitions for both a broad Democratic Party and also a strategic party that maximizes opportunities to effectively deliver tangible change.

So thank you, MTG. You’re a constant inspiration.