This email explains exactly how I’ve spent every dollar so far and why I need you to donate. If you’re already in, click here and get right to it.
We’re 25 days away from election night, and we’ve got momentum building and an arsenal of new tools we can deploy to make sure the Democratic victories we expect lead to the kind of real, no-more-bullshit change that’s needed to get us out of this mess. You’ve helped build this momentum, and now is the time to double down!
Help us build a stronger Democratic Party focused on delivering, not playing politics.
A Fight Worth Having has been leading the national call for Democrats to replace their tired, corporate-infused leadership with folks with fire in their guts, ready to vote for bold policy changes.
Together with Zack Exley and Saikat Chakrabarti’s think tank, New Consensus, AFWH has advanced a detailed, coherent set of steps the new Congress can follow, much like the New Deal Congress of the 1930s did, to respond to the needs of the American people in tangible, meaningful ways, improving their lives year after year.
Since February of this year, with your help, AFWH has built a national reputation for no-nonsense, authentic, constructive insight through our media strategy, and a set of high-impact, low-cost political tools. With your help, AFWH is going to spend the next 25 days on a handful of projects to put ourselves, and therefore you, in a position to have an outsized influence on what happens over the next two years. These next 25 days will shape how much impact we can have on which Democratic Party shows up in ‘27 and therefore in 2028.
In-house polling: We’ve built our own polling system, and we’re raising money to prove it’s as good as anything out there. Your donation helps make that proof positive. Then these results will show the popularity of our movement’s big ideas and help stiffen the backbone of the politicians still waffling.
TV and media: With me as the spokesperson, AFWH has racked up millions and millions of views since February on Fox News, Newsmax, NewsNation, MS NOW and CNN, and the pace of appearances keeps getting faster. Since October 1 alone I’ve done ten TV hits. Our messages on TikTok and Instagram have drawn millions of views too. We’ve gotta talk to people where they are. These trips are very productive, but they cost a lot of money: hotels, planes, eating while I’m out.
In-house ad buying: We’ve already run a few ads and will run many more on TV, radio, direct mail and in newspapers, promoting the solutions and the folks backing them. Doing it all in-house saves 10 to 20% and makes us much more nimble.
Newsletter: Over the last 18 months our newsletter has received about 100 million reads. We’ve sent out over 130 essays and been published in national and regional magazines. Our readers range from elected representatives to Hill staff to media and voters.
Alternative infrastructure: We’re building alternative infrastructure that we will only sell and provide to allies: voter files for 27 states with full vote history covering 162 million voters, a TV monitoring system that has recorded 22,000 hours across 31 channels since June, and DVR and clip tools. It strengthens the movement and brings in income we can use to expand our staff.
Sounds like a lot? That’s because change is going to take a lot of work. The moment we are in has an expiration date. Time is of the essence.
Where your money went: I want you to know where your money went and that we’re not wasting it. This is what we’ve raised: $485,070. This is what we’ve spent through October 8, and what we’ve spent it on:
My salary ($60,000 a year)
$34,615
The rest of the team: Daniela, Jonah, staff and contractors
$73,837
Building our systems: computers, cameras and audio, AI, software and infrastructure, voter files, etc
$105,928
Polling and research
$72,759
Ads, mail and media, including $32,889 in independent expenditures
$50,677
Travel to get on TV
$34,053
Office rent
$7,200
Legal and accounting
$18,998
Everything else: phones, utilities, bank fees, fundraising costs
$38,209
Total spent
$436,276
Cash on hand, October 8
$48,861
We bought cameras, microphones, audio equipment, built servers and workstations. We’ve spent less than one year of just the voter file access would cost, and we’ve built so much.
To give you a sense of scale: in 2024, two of the DNC’s biggest vendors, MissionWired and Scale to Win, were paid $32.6 million and $21.4 million. We’ve shown we can have real impact for a whole lot less.
But I need you to dig deep: $100.
A lot of good work is lost for the lack of a little more. I am putting in the time. From morning to night, I am building this with more focus and dedication than I’ve ever mustered. This is the moment I’ve been working towards. It started with Bernie’s campaigns and Justice Democrats, and now the pieces are coming together. With massive amounts of effort and money, we have a shot to make this moment swing our way.
So please, dig deep, and support the work we are doing.
This will not be the last time I ask, and I hope it won’t be the last time you deliver. By 2032 you’ll be glad you did.
Corbin
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