Democratic political action committees are setting up funds to connect small donors across the country with individual campaigns in an effort to encourage more people to give.
Swing Left, a group that has both fundraising and grassroots advocacy components, last week launched the Immediate Impact Fund, a platform that identifies Democrats in need and allows donors to direct donations to all or some of the campaigns they are involved in.
“With 60 days to go until Election Day, there is a palpable energy, excitement and buzz among grassroots Democratic donors and volunteers. At the same time, there is so much noise for ordinary people to cut through. We often hear people feel overwhelmed with information about where to spend their money, time and attention, and this overwhelm leaves them unable to make decisions,” said Yasmin Raj, executive director of Swing Left.
The fund will act as a rotating clearinghouse, designating different beneficiaries each week depending on the group's metrics.
“Swing Left takes the guesswork out of this with our Instant Impact Fund and we're updating our list of candidates weekly until Election Day,” Raj said.
“We select candidates based on which races need the support of donors and volunteers, and whose wins are most important to securing federal and state majorities in the places that matter most.”
The fund uses past election results, current opinion polls, assessments of the national political climate, fundraising data, national committee spending and independent evaluations to select campaigns to target.
The group's first wave of Democratic focus will be the Senate campaigns of Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, the reelection effort of New Mexico Rep. Gabe Vásquez, four House Democratic candidates (Amish Shah of Arizona, George Whitesides of California, Tony Vargas of Nebraska and Janelle Bynum of Oregon), and swing left-affiliated general funds nationally and specifically in Michigan and New Hampshire.
Small donations are attracting a lot of attention in some of 2024's most competitive races.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is facing a stronger-than-usual Democratic challenger, Rep. Collin Allred, has raised about $26 million in small donations, according to Open Secrets, and Rep. Allred has raised about $16 million in small donations.
Both Gallego and Tester also received significant grassroots funding, with Gallego contributing about $13.6 million and Tester adding smaller amounts of $12.8 million.
But a lot of small amounts of money goes to national level people who can then support their colleagues.
For example, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has raised $21 million but his seat is not at risk.
Safe-district lawmakers like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio are some of the House's biggest grassroots fundraisers. Aspiring leaders can choose to support allies across the country or raise money for future campaigns.
But smaller campaigns in key battleground states often struggle to attract the attention of individual donors.
The Swing Left model seeks to increase the direct flow of campaign funds without increasing the accounting and administrative costs for campaigns that receive private donations.
Because each donor can give up to $3,300 to each candidate in a general election, campaigns must cast a wide net and build up significant reserves through individual donations.
And money processed through this model goes directly into the campaign's coffers as donations, rather than being used as outside super PAC funds that cannot be formally coordinated with the campaign.
The group said Swing Left has raised about $15 million for Democrats from the 2024 presidential election through state-level elections.
The Swing Left also claims to have a million volunteers across the country who support Democrats through phone banking, door-to-door canvassing and other low-key activities.
“Our Immediate Impact Fund allows grassroots donors and volunteers to zero in on the elections where they can have the most impact and the path to victory for Democrats,” Raji said.
