We are running out of time. If we have already been donating we are likely also running out of money. So, how do we prioritize to achieve our maximum impact for the 2026 midterms.
Make an Action Plan.
In the end it is the total number of votes that count: yours and others. Thinking of our current political situation as a plane that might crash, be sure to put on your own mask first before helping others. First, make sure your vote will count. Then, determine how you can help/ influence others to cast their votes.
Get yourself ready to cast your vote as early as possible.
No contribution is endless, so you need to start with a series of realistic capacity related goals:
Set a Baseline
- hours per day to spend reading and responding to emails & texts
- hours per week to devote to activism
- how much money you may be able to contribute
- number of opportunities you may have to influence a GOP friend or relative
Preset your margins to do more or less:
- How much of a margin or increase could you push above baseline (if you have capacity)
- How much below baseline could you live with yourself if we fail.
Baseline – emails & texts. Your plan may not include being engaged every day, but it could. Start with one day of identifying senders of emails and text that are action oriented rather than donation requests. Some may ask for both, but learn to treat them separately.
Focus the majority of your reading/responding time on Actions you can take. Civic Shout makes signing petitions and email letters easy; and if you link through to their website and take action you can access a dozen action causes in about 5 minutes-time well spent. Occasionally, Common Cause will also have email letter occasionally, as will Chris Bowers, and a number of others, albeit less frequently. You can use your email search function to search “Letter” to identify who has templates to assist writing to your Senators and Representatives. Keep notes of what causes you support, so you don’t duplicate effort responding to multiple requests.
Donations – If you have criteria for who you want to support financially, then only open donation requests you want to support, and ONLY when you can afford to send the donation. DELETE THE REST and have no guilt about. No one can support everyone who asks.
Once you spend your allotted message time for the day (or if you run out of time that day), DELETE all remaining messages. Don’t worry. If they need you, they will message you again. Feel free to block the causes you can’t afford to address. They will steal time from your priority causes, making your overall efforts less productive.
Activism – Set goals for your virtual and live event times. Virtual events are low hanging fruit. You can do them from home in your jammies. Live events, especially ones further from home should be planned for high value efforts. As we get closer to the Midterms, make your effort count. Remember that the goal is to get the most votes. Try to focus the bulk of your live event time where you will have the greatest potential to influence or assist a Blue Wave. This will be a personal choice, based largely on your comfort level and confidence in your efforts. If your life does not afford you much time for Live Activism, identify and schedule a few event where you can have the most impact: Registering Voters, speaking at rallies, driving people to their polling place.
Preset your margins- At the end of the day, and at the end of the Midterms, we need to realize none of us are perfect. We just do the best we can. Than might mean doing more or less that we plan. There will be ample pressure for us to do more than we think we can do. We should present some limits so we don’t arrive on Elections Day broke and physically depleted. We should also understand ourselves well enough to know what levels of contributions should be our minimums… in case we do start to burn out, or if circumstances require more personal expenditures. Don’t let the process defeat you regardless. Know yourself and your limits.