Why Democratic megadonors poured millions into blue New York and California

The nation’s largest network of left-leaning megadonors poured millions of dollars into California and New York House races this year to build a get-out-the-vote operation in states so blue that Democrats have not bothered to build much political infrastructure, revealing previously unknown details about the effort to NBC News.

Many Democrats credit failures in New York with costing them the House of Representatives in 2022. This year, analysts think the battle for the narrowly divided chamber could come down to New York and California, which between them have at least 17 contested congressional races, including more than half of the most expensive contests in the country.

After the 2022 losses, the Democracy Alliance, which funds a vast array of left-leaning causes and advocacy groups, decided to wade deeper into electoral politics than it typically does by partnering with unions to fund massive field organizing efforts in two states that will get practically zero resources from the presidential or Senate campaigns.

“2022 was a wakeup call,” Democracy Alliance president Pamela Shifman said in an interview.  “The reality is that blue states like New York and California often get overlooked by national organizations and national donors because they’re not presidential battlegrounds. But the reality is that the road the House runs right through New York and California.”

The Democracy Alliance said it raised over $11 million for its Battleground NY effort, which went into building what Shifman called was the largest field operation in the state. The group said its canvassers have knocked on 370,000 doors and registered more than 24,000 voters, which it notes is larger than the win margin of targeted GOP candidates who won in 2022.

“In 2022, Democrats lost in New York because we simply didn’t do the work to turn our own voters out — there was no effective state infrastructure or coordinated strategy to support Democrats in tough races,” Shifman wrote in a memo shared with NBC News. “In 2024, Battleground NY is going beyond the ads and the noise to reach voters where it matters the most — at their doors, their block parties, their grocery store.”

The group targeted six House races in New York, looking to defend Democratic Reps. Pat Ryan and Tom Suozzi, who won a February special election to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos, and hoping to oust Republican Reps. Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, Anthony D’Esposito and Brandon Williams.

In California, the Democracy Alliance and California Donor Table, a state-based network of left-leaning contributors, funded a similar effort with unions aimed at flipping six seats currently held by Republicans.

In a massive state that campaigns often prefer to contest through ads and mailers, Battleground CA says it hired more than 150 canvassers to knock doors six days a week and 100 phone bankers who follow up with calls and texts four days a week. The group says that effort produced more than 1 million phone conversations, 200,000 door knocks and 70,000 face-to-face conversations. 

The targeted lawmakers include Republican Reps. John Duarte and David Valadao of California’s Central Valley, in addition to Mike Garcia, Ken Calvert, Michelle Steel and Scott Baugh, who represent Southern California districts.

The approach is unusual for a national outside group funded by large donors, which typically pump money into TV ads.

But Shifman said that with other groups on air, Democracy Alliance saw a need to build on-the-ground infrastructure in these blue states that she says will last beyond the election, hoping to “put an end to Democrats’ political complacency” in these deep blue states.

“This is not something that can be solved in one election cycle,” Shifman said.