Hi John.
One day, we really hope emails like these won’t be necessary — not just for the sake of your inbox, but for our democracy.
That day comes when campaign finance reform finally passes, and young, working-class leaders don’t have to fight uphill just to get on the ballot.
We’re not there yet. But with your support, we’re electing the leaders who can make it possible. If you’re ready to help build that future, please chip in whatever you can today.
Running a competitive campaign today means hiring staff, running ads, field organizing, traveling, TV spots, and so much more. Candidates are expected to raise thousands and millions of dollars before a single vote is cast.
For teachers, nurses, farmers, service workers, and young people ready to serve their community? That price tag shuts them out.
For millionaires, corporate-backed insiders, and the well-connected? It’s pocket change — and it’s how they keep control over the system.
It's why our government still looks nothing like the country it represents. Sure, it’s technically getting better (yay, the average Senate age went from 67 to 65!). But when half of Congress are millionaires, it’s obvious why the minimum wage is still stuck at $7.25 and why programs like Medicaid and SNAP are the first to get cut whenever corporations want another tax break.
If our leaders don’t know what it means to struggle — and their donors oppose even the simplest reforms — everyday people fall off the agenda. And so the cycle continues:
→ Working people know what their communities need,
→ But they can’t afford to run,
→ So wealthy, out-of-touch politicians stay in power and pass policies to protect the 1% and hold working people back
None of this is by accident, there's a reason why it costs so much to run. There's a reason in many states like Texas and New Hampshire legislators are paid FAR less than $10,000 annually. It’s not a flaw. The system was built this way, and it’s built so that the only way working people can finally gain power is by abandoning their values and communities to please corporate PACs and extremely wealthy donors.
But here’s what the system never planned for: Grassroots donors.
Because when thousands of small donors chip in, they give our candidates and us something priceless: independence.
At Leaders We Deserve, we call it F-You Money. Not yacht money, but the kind of money that lets young, working candidates break the rules of a rigged system, and answer only to the people they serve.
It’s how an ER nurse and community organizer like Molly Cook won her race by just 74 votes. It’s how we build a pipeline of leaders who will actually fight for their communities, and one day, will finally fix our broken campaign finance system.
But until the day comes when public service doesn’t have a million-dollar price tag, we rely on people like you to chip in $5 or $10 when you can to give our candidates the F-You Money they need to break through and deliver real change so one day groups like Leaders We Deserve don’t need to exist anymore because we actually built a government by and for the people and not just those wealthy enough to get elected.
If you’re able to, please chip in today to level the playing field for young, working-class leaders.
Thank you for everything you do. You truly power this movement.
— Leaders We Deserve
