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By now I think everyone knows that Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ-10) has been charged with assault for being present when a police riot broke out at a detention facility near Newark. The video clearly shows that she was being pushed around in a crowd that included federal agents, and she pushed back. Nobody was injured.
Anyway, I got this fundraising email from McIver yesterday afternoon:
Larry,
The Trump administration just charged me with crimes for engaging in congressional oversight. This is a first—and it’s a flashing red light for our democracy.
I went to an ICE facility in my district to conduct oversight because that is my job and my lawful right as a member of Congress. It’s clear: Trump and his administration don’t want transparency or oversight, and they want to punish any person who dares to speak up.
These baseless, politically motivated charges against me make that even more obvious. We must stand up together against an administration that weaponizes law enforcement to persecute its opponents before it's too late. Democrats stand ready to fight back against the Trump administration’s overreach, and protect democracy and our Constitutional separation of powers.
My real name isn’t Larry. I think someone mistyped their email so I’m forever doomed to get infinite fundraising messages from Democrats.
Andrea Salinas represents Oregon’s 6th district, a D+6 district in northwest Oregon (biggest city: Salem). They aren’t on any of the same committees, so I’m not sure exactly why Rep McIver decided to do some fundraising for Rep Salinas. I have no idea whether how many other fundraising letters McIver sent out. She’s in a D+27 district, so absent a primary challenger, her campaign budget should be roughly zero. (She raised $637K but only spent $473K of that in 2024.)
I have some beliefs about fundraising and what’s spent on campaigns that are just that, beliefs. Here they are:
Most campaigns spend too much money.
Money spent on mass media (TV ads, especially) is mostly wasted. There are many, cheaper ways to spend money that can help a campaign.
Campaigns don’t spend enough getting free media. It’s harder to get now that local media is diminished, but it’s still there. The best way to get free media is to have a press person pushing out releases, social media, etc. all the time.
Money spent early is way better than money spent later. Primaries disrupt this. They’re mostly held way too late. Primaries should be held in the Spring, not the Summer.
Most campaigns could be financed with small-dollar donors approached honestly.
Anyway, looking at Andrea Salinas’ fundraising, she’s, frankly, what we want to see in a Democrat: mostly donations from individual donors. She did spend $5.5 million to win by 6 points in 2024. Would she have won by that margin if she spent $2.5 million or $3.5 million or $1 million? Nobody knows. She’s clearly a good candidate and seems to be a good representative for her district. We just all take it on faith that it takes millions to win a contested congressional race. Nobody talks about spending money smarter, just spending money.
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