Laura Gottsman
lauragottsman.bsky.social
Laura Gottsman
@lauragottsman.bsky.social
Working to crowdfund Democracy all across the country.
Amazing work Chair @kendallscudder.bsky.social!

Live in Texas? Want to help? @lonestarleft.com explains it all for you.
Texas Democrats just did something historic under the leadership of new state party chair @kendallscudder.bsky.social. We have filed a candidate in EVERY 2026 race.

U.S. Senate: 1 of 1
U.S. House: 38 of 38
State Senate: 15 of 15
State House: 150 of 150
State Board of Education: 8 of 8
We Did It, Texas Dems, We Did It
Candidates in every legislative, statewide, and federal race. Now it’s time to build power where it counts.
www.lonestarleft.com
December 15, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Meanwhile, support infrastructure for all the Dem candidates running in Texas in 2026 by donating to the Texas Democratic party, Texas House Dems, and Texas Senate Dems on the @charlesgaba.com Texas page.

The sooner they can staff up the better. Now, not next summer or fall.
Chip in!
Show your support with a contribution.
secure.actblue.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:14 PM
@texasdemocrats.bsky.social are running candidates for every state House, state Senate, Congressional, and State Board of Ed race for the first time in decades.

What do these candidates need? Crowdfunding. Imagine all of us pitching in a few bucks to the whole slate.

Paging @charlesgaba.com.
🚨 🚨

In 2022, 42% of Texas state house Republicans (36) did not have an opponent. All those elections were “cancelled.”

In 2026, there won’t be a single uncontested race in Texas!

Why? Because @texasdemocrats are running for EVERY seat!

For the first time in decades.

HUGE.
December 12, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Be prepared for 2026--OTOH, lots of new opportunity for Dems. OTOH, GOP will spend gobs of money trying to memory-hole all the damage done in 2025 and reverse their awful poll numbers, as in 2023, 2024. Volunteer & donate now, don't wait.

@simonwdc.bsky.social and @jenrubin.bsky.social lay it out:
A Year Of Opportunity Ahead - @simonwdc.bsky.social with Jen Rubin of @contrariannews.org
December 11, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Amazing grassroots work in Missouri!
@davidpepperoh.bsky.social reviews all the ways politicians in Missouri have tried since September to ram thru a new, more gerrymandered map and to thwart citizen efforts to block it.
Activists gathered ~ 3x the required signatures. Still, the fight's not over.
Kudos to the Missouri activists who gathered 300,000+ signatures to freeze Trump’s plan to rig districts there….
The “Show Me” State Shows Up for Democracy
A Herculean Effort by Missouri Activists To Freeze a Gerrymandered Map
open.substack.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:58 PM
@adambonica.bsky.social shows that Dems don't need mega-donor money to win. GOP does.

By eschewing mega-money for campaigns, Dems can "attack Republican corruption without the crippling retort of "both sides do it," and the [have] freedom to pursue policies that benefit working Americans..."
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:58 PM
4/4
Go on offense RIGHT NOW.

@charlesgaba.com maintains an amazing resource for crowdfunding democracy at www.blue26.org.

Choose your slates, and know that 1000s of other people are too.

96% goes to target recipients (candidate campaigns; state parties) 4% to credit card fees; 0% to Charles.
Blue26.org
Not a PAC. Just helping raise money for Democratic candidates to help save democracy.
www.blue26.org
December 3, 2025 at 7:04 PM
3/4
Go on offense RIGHT NOW.

State legislative candidates w/enough funding to be loud boost turnout state-wide.

Join Blue Tennessee, Blue Ohio, Blue Missouri, Blue Indiana
@everystatebluetn.bsky.social
@everystateblueoh.bsky.social
@everystatebluemo.bsky.social
@everystatebluein.bsky.social
December 3, 2025 at 6:59 PM
2/4

Go on offense RIGHT NOW.

-Work on partisan voter registration in your community.
Dems Need To Get Serious About Partisan Voter Registration - My Conversation With Tom Bonier (And A Presentation Too)
I will be in Santa Fe, New Mexico Sunday night from 5 to 7pm MT - join us!
www.hopiumchronicles.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Want to go on offense RIGHT NOW?

-Give money NOW for state staffers and infrastructure that will benefit every Dem running in the state in 2026. secure.actblue.com/donate/hopiu...

1/4
Republicans will struggle to recruit decent candidates to run against incumbent Democrats. Dems will be able to focus nearly 100% on offense.
December 3, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Laura Gottsman
Even more the case today. Repubs juiced turnout in a special up to midterm levels & still ran 14 points behind Trump’s 2024 performance. Most people haven’t begun feeling the effects of Repubs wiping away the ACA subsidies. Trump gets worse daily. Epstein won’t fade away.

They’re in deep trouble
One thing that will happen is a bunch of Republicans in safe Republican seats who have never had to run a real campaign will find themselves in competitive races for which they won’t be prepared.
Here’s the DRA version of the new, proposed Indiana map.

davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap...
December 3, 2025 at 4:56 PM
⬇️This.
In the Dem grassroots, we worked doggedly to flip states. The AZ governor's race and Attorney General's race were absolute squeakers. ~15k votes and ~300 votes each. AZ went from "fraud-its" looking for bamboo traces on paper ballots then to suing the Trump administration now.
Something people seldom talk about: How much worse would things be if states that had Repub governors at this point in Trump’s first term were still Repub?

Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona; all flipped R=>D since 2017…
December 3, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Crowdfunding democracy solves a lot of problems at once.

And it's been effective: pooling small-dollar donations to whole slates of candidates has raised enormous sums of money.

Read this 🧵from @charlesgaba.com, a small-dollar bundling pioneer:
📣 Caveat: This is not an endorsement of Sen. McMorrow; I'm a big fan of both her as well as Rep. Stevens.

Having said that, as someone who has personally raised over $21 million for hundreds of Democrats via *small individual* donors over the past few cycles, I want to underscore her point here: 1/
I’m not accepting a dime of corporate PAC money.

Why?

We need to rebuild trust in our politics. And the people you serve shouldn’t wonder who you really work for.
November 30, 2025 at 12:34 AM
"An examination of every race on the ballot in New York shows the shift was far more widespread, with Democrats having their best-ever performances in numerous deep red towns and rural areas."
Amazing story. There was a real blue wave all across NY State in November.
The real political shift in New York wasn’t Mamdani — it was everywhere else
November 28, 2025 at 6:29 PM
We can't predict all the surprise winnable races in 2026. How to capitalize?

Run Dems everywhere and make sure they ALL have money to run a loud campaign. A few thousand dollars makes a huge difference in down-ballot races.

Join @everystatebluetn.bsky.social

You don't have to live in Tennessee!
NO Republican should ever go unopposed & with our giving community's help, we'll support every underfunded Democratic candidate running for TN state gov in 2026.

We grow the pot with small donations over time, ie $10/m goes a long way! Come join us 🔽
contribute.bluetennessee.org/join_tenness...
The best thing to do is start organizing at the local level and make sure you have candidates running in every race, at every level in every election. Nothing is more demoralizing than seeing a ballot with 8 Republicans running unopposed. Also the local county party has to be visible 24/7/365
November 25, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Dem candidates running everywhere--with our grassroots support!--forces the GOP to spend money in "safe" races, and they have less for more competitive races.

And sometimes a race blows wide open--the GOP is now pouring money into the Dec 2nd special in TN-07 because of @aftynbehn.bsky.social.
TN-07 isn't supposed to be a competitive district. It isn't supposed to be a race that everyone is watching.

But IT IS.

This is what is possible when you run everywhere and you don't take any district for granted.
November 25, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Blistering piece from @simonwdc.bsky.social about ensuring we make not just Trump but the entire enabling GOP pay for the damage they have done to the country.

Do your part--step up NOW, don't wait. Volunteer, donate, amplify.
November 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
⬇️So true. And "actually campaign" means candidates have a minimal amount of funding to put up a website; print yard signs; buy voter data; drive around their district.

Funding an ecosystem of candidates, as we just did in Virginia, is efficient and effective for candidates AND donors.
The Democrats won several VA House seats where winning looked like a pipe dream going into the election. The Dems won these seats because they recruited candidates and actually campaigned. Important lesson for 26--the electorate is pissed--but you can only win when you run. Run everywhere!
Democrats contested all 100 Virginia House of Delegates races. Part of the party’s statewide success is due to the synergies between the legislative and statewide campaigns—even the losing ones. This is a big reason why Jay Jones won comfortably. This is a model the Dems should emulate everywhere
November 5, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Laura Gottsman
Last night, Democrats flipped 3 seats in MISSISSIPPI, breaking the supermajority in their state legislature. Democrats showed up and made massive gains in red districts all over the country.

If you want to help do that in Missouri, HI! 👋👋 That is literally why we exist!

1/
November 5, 2025 at 3:21 PM
We've run through the tape on today's races. Now keep on running to the next races! There are 23 more special elections coming right up. Support them all with one click, courtesy of @charlesgaba.com.

Remember, 96% goes to Dem candidates, 4% goes to credit card fees, and 0% goes to Charles.
Believe it or not, even with ~2 dozen special legislative elections being held today, there's STILL nearly 2 dozen MORE already on the calendar.

9 more in 2025
14 in 2026

secure.actblue.com/donate/speci...
Chip in!
Show your support with a contribution.
secure.actblue.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Reposted by Laura Gottsman
If we can mirror this in 2026, it takes away almost any advantage the GOP can gain from gerrymandering while adding some resilience to democracy by activating the maximum number of people around the cause of freedom.
Virginia shows how it's done!

1. Dems running in ALL 100 VA House districts
2. Strong grassroots funding for EVERY race
3. Volunteers writing postcards, door knocking, and phone banking all over

Our roadmap for 2026, per @davidpepperoh.bsky.social
Thanks @charlesgaba.com & @90for90.bsky.social!
The Virginia Case Study
Strong Top of Ticket + Contesting All Districts =
open.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Virginia shows how it's done!

1. Dems running in ALL 100 VA House districts
2. Strong grassroots funding for EVERY race
3. Volunteers writing postcards, door knocking, and phone banking all over

Our roadmap for 2026, per @davidpepperoh.bsky.social
Thanks @charlesgaba.com & @90for90.bsky.social!
The Virginia Case Study
Strong Top of Ticket + Contesting All Districts =
open.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:38 PM
By crowdfunding state legislative candidates, Blue Ohio @everystateblueoh.bsky.social has steadily grown the number of Dems running. They spread pro-democracy energy; raise statewide turnout for the top of the ticket; & force the GOP to defend their extremism.

Join the community: www.blueohio.org
Home
Ohio needs you. Join the movement.
www.blueohio.org
November 1, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Tireless democracy defender @davidpepperoh.bsky.social previews very encouraging election prospects in Ohio, one of the most GOP-rigged states in the country.

We must expand our competitive electoral map and Ohio is a prime target.
Winning These November Elections, David Pepper Previews 2026 In Ohio, A Declining Trump Goes All In On "More For Me, Less For All Of You"
Let's leave it all out there on the playing field these next four days everyone!
www.hopiumchronicles.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Tennessee refuses to act to keep kids, seniors, disabled people and working poor people from going hungry by funding SNAP.

Join Blue Tennessee @everystatebluetn.bsky.social to crowdfund state legislative candidates who will protect SNAP--small recurring donations add up to big change.
With the Republican shutdown, the 1 out of 10 Tennesseans that rely on SNAP are going to be really struggling come November.

We have a $2 BILLION surplus that could be used to feed hungry Tennesseans that Gov. Lee won't use. Absolutely shameful.

www.tennessean.com/story/news/p...
Gov. Lee will not use state reserves for SNAP food aid if shutdown holds, GOP officials open
Gov. Bill Lee says he "shares frustration" of poor families that won't see federal SNAP benefits but won't use state funds to keep food on their tables.
www.tennessean.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:05 PM