Jessica Piper
David Pepper
Jonathan Zucker
Michele Hornish
Membership in the only grassroots community that’s focused on making sure every Democratic nominee for Missouri state legislature has resources to run a campaign.
If you’re a member at the $10/month level or more, you’re automatically invited to participate in our members-only monthly Team Blue Missouri calls with former state legislative nominee and current Blue Missouri Executive Director Jessica Piper.
Knowledge – backed up with data – that you are boosting the vote share for the top of the ticket and local turnout, while helping reach the millions of Missourians who were left behind in 2022. (See our Washington University study results!).
Pride that no matter what else you have going on, you’re doing something that’s meaningful and impactful.
Peace of mind that you’re fighting for a better future for yourself and your loved ones.
Satisfaction that just by being part of our community you’re telling the Missouri GOP that you’re on to them. You’re not letting their corruption and lawlessness slide, and you won’t let them sell out your democracy without a fight.
Gratification that you play a role in holding people in
the statehouse accountable.
Think of us as crowdfunders – for Missouri’s Democratic nominees for state legislature.
We make it easy for you to join thousands of other people and crowdsource democracy – supporting our nominees for a few dollars a month (which, these days, is less than you might spend on a fancy cup of coffee). And, as a monthly program, you just set it and forget it, knowing that you’re doing your part – no matter what else you have going on.
Since 2017, our Blue Missouri community (formerly known as It Starts Today-Missouri) has raised and distributed over $350,000 to Missouri’s state legislative nominees.
By joining Blue Missouri, you’re making sure every down-ballot Democrat across Missouri has support – without breaking a sweat. Kicking in a few bucks a month is doable, and powerful, over the long term.
After the primary, Blue Missouri distributes 100% of the community funds directly to the Democratic state legislative nominees, who desperately need your help. And you rest easy, knowing that you are part of the solution. Job done.
Running Nominees Matters
Just having a nominee for state house on the ballot increases the vote share for the top of the ticket by 1.5%.
But in 2022, 66 of Missouri’s 163 House Districts had no Democratic nominee on the ballot.
The nearly 2.5 million Missourians live in those 66 districts didn’t have the option to vote for a Democrat for state house … because there wasn’t one on the ballot.
Funding Nominees Matters
There’s more: Funding nominees boosts turnout, too. In fact, funding a challenger at $0.36 per eligible voter increases turnout by 1%.
But in 2022, another 22 Districts were underfunded – averaging just $4,857 to reach over 37,000 people.
Those 22 Districts include another 832,480 Missourians, who probably didn’t hear from their cash-strapped Democratic nominee.
That’s over 3.9 million Missourians left behind – either because they didn’t have the option to vote for a Democrat for state legislature, or because the nominee didn’t have what they needed to run a real campaign.
If we don’t run supported nominees in every Missouri district, we are leaving votes on the table.
Here’s the good news:
Reaching those forgotten Missourians is as simple as running and supporting Democratic nominees for Missouri state legislature.
You can help make that happen.
In 2020, we ran a study and found that having a Democratic nominee for state legislature on the ballot increased the vote share for the top of the ticket by 1.5%. We know from a peer-reviewed study of 20 states that funding a challenger at $0.36 per eligible voter adds a whopping 1% boost to voter turnout!
So there’s a potential 2.5% bump for the top of the ticket if we run and support a Democratic nominee. Statewide, that leads to massive gains up and down the ticket! Bottom line: we can elect more Democrats. We just need to work together. Ready to get started? We’re glad to have you on board. Click here to join>>
Blue Missouri uses a “bathtub” method of funding, where the community funds are used to lift the nominees from the bottom up. After the primary, we’ll look to the Democratic primary winners’ most recent campaign finance filings, and distribute community funds until the nominees all have at least $1,000. Then we’ll raise the “water level” to $2,000 … then $3,000 and so on and so on until the Blue Missouri community funds are exhausted. Only nominees (the Democratic primary winners) are eligible for funding. We do not fund candidates in the primary or make endorsements – this is a project to make sure Democrats have support to fight fiercely in the general election.
What are some of the "soft benefits" of running a supported Democratic nominee in every Missouri district?
Just by supporting the Democratic nominees that are running for state legislature, Missouri Democrats can build a bigger bench, build up local Democratic infrastructure, make Republicans fight (and spend) everywhere, and spread a progressive message through a local lens.
If we’re serious about reaching voters across all 163 Missouri House Districts (and we are), then supporting the Democrats already doing the hard work is the most efficient and effective way to do it.
The average is just over $14/month. As an added bonus, everyone who contributes at $10/month is eligible to join our monthly team call with Jessica Piper! They’re always informative and often entertaining – and a great time to ask any questions you have about Missouri politics.
What do I get for contributing?
Most importantly, you know that you’re part of the solution, and you’re doing something really powerful every single month. And – if you’re contributing at $10/month or above, you’re also added to our monthly Blue Missouri Team call, where we get together on Zoom with our Blue MO family (including Democratic firebrand and Blue Missouri Executive Director Jessica Piper) to talk about recent events, progress, and all things Missouri. All donors are added to our Blue Missouri Update email.
100% of your donation to the nominees goes to the nominees. Blue Missouri does not take a percentage. We rely upon tips revenue to grow this movement, and those tips are greatly appreciated! (Hint: Please leave one if you can!)
We’re also completely transparent about credit card processing fees. You may not realize it, but entities like ActBlue deduct credit card processing fees from your donation before sending it to candidates. So the candidate you’re supporting is getting less than you intended! Not with us – 100% of your donation goes exactly where you intended it to go. So if you want your donation to be $10/month, it is $10/month; the $0.57 in processing fees is added to your donation total for a monthly charge of $10.57. If you want your monthly charge to be a flat $10, no problem – just enter $9.44 into the donation field, and together with the processing fees that will all come out to $10/mo.
We also use a processor, Democracy Engine, LLC, that charges a lower percentage in processing fees. While ActBlue collects 3.95% and Kickstarter keeps 5% on top of processing fees, Democracy Engine collects a 3.75% + $0.20 processing fee.
No. While we support the efforts of the collection of national, state, and local organizations that make up the Democratic Party, we do not coordinate with them. Our goal is to break radical Republican control, support and elect more Democrats, and preserve democracy.
sYes! We have active project in Ohio and Texas, and are hard at working bringing this project to other states that could use the same short-term electoral benefit and long-term investment. (The states on our short list of expansion projects include AZ, GA, MI, NC, PA, IN and WI. If you are interested in discussing any of those states, we’d love to hear from you. Just send an email to info@bluemissouri.org.)
Fundraising is one of the toughest, and most detested, parts of running for office. It’s even worse for nominees who are in challenging, conservative districts. Eliminating the fundraising barrier means more people are willing to run, which makes recruitment much easier.
How can I help?
Glad you asked! First, you should join! (Do that HERE.) Second, we need people like you from all over the state (and country) to help spread the word. If everyone who asked this question could get five friends to join, we’d be well on our way to amassing the power that Missouri Democrats need.
Also: if you would like us to speak to your local group or organization, just reach out to us at info@bluemissouri.org.
When will my subscription end?
Democracy is a long game, and we’re in this for the long haul. So unlike most Democratic organizations, we’re not focused on any one cycle. Your subscription will continue until you tell us to stop. Just contact us at info@bluemissouri.org at any time. We’re very approachable!
How do I stop or change my recurring donation?
Easy! Just contact us at info@bluemissouri.org at any time. We’re very approachable! (A tech build to create a software application that would allow user-modifiable donations runs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and right now our focus is on fundraising for the nominees rather than fundraising for technology. It was a priority call of ours, and we think it’s the right one. Still, that sort of platform is on our radar and wish list for future cycles.)
How do I contact you?
You can contact us at info@bluemissouri.org at any time. We’d love to hear from you.