If you feel mentally and emotionally exhausted by the political headlines right now, you’re not alone. But there are ways to take action during this moment, and they do matter. State legislatures are the front lines for democracy, which matters now more than ever. Here are three ways that early money raised by our community of Giving Circles can make a difference, right now.
1. Help win critical special elections.
In the Pennsylvania House, where we successfully helped defend the 102-101 majority in November, the death of a lawmaker has created a tie in the chamber. We’re working closely with our partners on the ground and investing to defend this seat — and, by extension, the majority — in a March 25 special election.
There is an open seat in the Michigan Senate, but Governor Whitmer has not yet set a special election date. In the meantime, the pro-democracy House majority that Giving Circles helped to fuel in 2022 is still in power.
2. Fuel our work to defend Virginia’s House of Delegates.
The States Project was the largest national funder in Virginia’s 2023 state legislative elections, flipping the State House and defending the State Senate to protect the one-seat majority in each chamber. While there are no Senate elections this year, we are preparing to play a leading role again in the 2025 fight for the Virginia House of Delegates. There will also be a competitive gubernatorial contest, creating an opportunity to secure another pro-democracy trifecta!
3. Lay the groundwork for 2026.
Early money raised by Giving Circles can build early campaign infrastructure for our in-state partners well ahead of the 2026 election year.
To determine which states have a path where we can be impactful in building or defending power, we do a 99-chamber analysis of every state legislative chamber in the country. We expect our first 2026 states to be announced this summer. Throughout 2025, early money raised by Giving Circles helps to fuel effective, early tactics like:
- Recruitment: In 2025, the most impactful thing we can do is ensure that strong candidates are recruited in potential tipping point seats. Our in-state partners need political staff to do the actual recruiting. Leadership must be in place to hire staff with the capacity, skills, and research they need to do strong recruitment, especially in potential tipping point districts. We want our 2026 states to have that staffing structure, and — in places where our in-state partners don’t have it — we want to make investments to build it.
- Local Press Project: Last year, we helped our in-state partners run a Local Press Project in several of our states. We provided resources for in-state partners to hire staffers focused on securing additional news stories about candidates in local media outlets, helping to build name recognition for these candidates. This year, we are looking at how to help our partners retain or hire press specialists who can be on hand in 2025 to draw attention to incumbent lawmakers and state legislative news, helping to shape the narrative before we get into election season.
Your Giving Circle is working to build power in the most strategic spot. We got this!
