District Funds

Swing Left is launching a fundraising initiative called District Funds to provide Democratic nominees in the general House elections with a financial head start. Choose a Swing District to donate to its District Fund.

What are District Funds?

District Funds are pots of money, raised in advance, for the eventual Democratic nominee in each Swing District. Democratic challengers to Republican-held seats will get the money the day after they win the primary. Democratic incumbents will get the money immediately.

This model—raising money for the eventual Democratic challenger in a House race—is new for the 2018 midterm elections and has the potential to be a game changer in swinging individual seats and the House at large.

Choose the Swing District you want to support, and make a donation today to help win back the House this year.

Don't know your closest Swing District? Go here to find out.

District Funds are a key component of our fight to win back the House. Here's why:

• Candidates often emerge from primaries cash poor. Challengers tend to spend most of their available funds in the primaries. Their incumbent opponent, on the other hand, has been hoarding cash for two years and can start attacking the new Democratic nominee right when he or she is least able to respond.
• The earlier candidates get money, the better. Hiring new staff, buying ads, etc. is more effective when it's done six months as opposed to six weeks before the election. (Closer to the election, ads cost more, for example.) This is especially critical for challengers, who have far less name recognition and infrastructure than the incumbent. Also, by giving money directly to the campaigns, we'll be supporting the very people Swing Left volunteers will be working with from the time of the primaries on, in the lead up to Election Day.
• The promise of a waiting pool of funds has the potential to attract more diverse candidates to join the race. Research shows that campaign fundraising is a major deterrent to entry into higher office for women and minorities. Imagine what we could accomplish if we gave well-qualified candidates a running start.
• Democratic organizations supporting the campaigns are limited in how much money they can give to each nominee. PACs, for instance, (including Swing Left) can only give $5,000 to each candidate. But through this innovative model, your donation counts as going to the candidate directly, not as coming from Swing Left, even though we hold the money until after the primaries. (Your donation does count against your individual $2,700 limit to that candidate).
  That means there's no limit to the amount of money we can raise for candidates. This is presidential campaign-style fundraising on a congressional level.

Donate to your local District Fund today, and let's give our Democratic candidates a running start in 2018.