who, how, & why "move the goalposts" is endorsing in 2022

It goes without saying that the 2022 elections this November will greatly shape how the next two years (and beyond) will go. The margins are really narrow at both the federal and state level: In Washington, Democrats hold razor-thin majorities in the Senate and House.  Here in New Hampshire, Republicans hold very thin margins in both the State Senate and State House.

There is an understandable focus of attention for the media, activists, and donors on the highest-profile races. Holding and expanding majorities in the U.S. Senate and House, and success in our gubernatorial races, are critical.

However, what happens here in New Hampshire, especially in the Executive Council, State Senate, and State House really impacts your life. Democrats currently are in the minority in all three of those bodies in New Hampshire. In fact, the only two legislative chambers in the country that flipped from Democrat to Republican in 2020 were New Hampshire's House and Senate...and barely. 

But because of the highly-disciplined coordination of Republican legislators on many critical issues, and the willingness of Governor Sununu to largely go along with their priorities, very narrow GOP majorities translated into a very significant lurch to the right on many issues, including reproductive rights and the redirecting of public education dollars to private and religious schools.

A flip of three seats in the State Senate, two seats in the Executive Council, and about 14 seats (out of 400!) in the State House would have stopped so many negative actions from happening in the last two years, and would allow Democrats to better project our positive alternative vision for New Hampshire's future. 

In 2020, we were able to financially support 109 targeted down ballot candidates, thanks to the generosity of a wide base of grassroots donors.

Now, in 2022, I've been able to analyze the new districts just completed by Republicans during the redistricting process. I've taken a deep dive into these districts across the state, and identified about 100 seats in the House, as well as key Senate and Executive Council districts, where focused, strategic support could make the difference between winning and losing. This includes vulnerable Democratic incumbents, as well as promising new Democratic non-incumbents.

You can find our regularly-updated list of endorsements here!

The majority of these targeted candidates are in the most competitive districts in New Hampshire - typically, those communities that are within about four percentage points of the state's overall partisan leaning. In other words, these are largely the districts where the outcome depends on the quality of the candidates, and the level of resources and attention they are given.

It is exciting to identify and support these candidates, because we know many of their races will be decided by 100 votes or less. This means every $100 we get to them makes a real difference. And that's great, because they will make a real difference for New Hampshire once they are elected.

As we continue to raise money, we will expand our list of financially-supported candidates. Keep checking back to see new additions to the list, as well as new information about who they are, what they are doing, and how you can help them.