November 7, 2018

It’s Wednesday Morning, and the Election Was Still a Blowout for Democrats

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I  want to repeat what I said last night. The midterm results probably seem disappointing to Democrats because they lost so many high-profile races: Bill Nelson and Andrew Gillum in Florida, possibly Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Beto O’Rourke in Texas, and Claire McCaskill in Missouri. Plus a bunch of shaky House members won: Devin Nunes, Steve King, Duncan Hunter, and here in my own district, Mimi Walters. What’s more, it looks like Dems are going to lose all three of the razor-close Senate races: Montana, Arizona, and Florida.

But! Dave Brat lost. Scott Walker lost. Kris Kobach lost. Barbara Comstock lost. Dana Rohrabacher finally lost. And Dems picked up seven governorships.

But most important, Democrats flipped dozens of congressional seats and took control of the House despite running against a terrific economy. The last time we had an economy this good during a midterm was in 1998, when the party in power actually picked up seats in the House. The fact that Democrats did so well in face of such huge headwinds is a rebuke to Donald Trump and no one else. Suburban voters simply got tired of his racist and xenophobic schtick and turned on him en masse. The result was a historic victory for progressives.

So celebrate! The odds of doing this well when the economy was in great shape were tiny. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Progressives kicked ass this year, and no amount of spin from the White House can change that. Donald Trump will try, but he’s got nothing:

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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