Grassroots Fundraising
Fundraising to Win
For several years, Indivisible Yolo has encouraged our community to invest in voters over candidates. This has been most clearly expressed in our support of the grassroots organizations in the Central Valley. This investment in voter engagement and capacity building this year and in past years in Congressional District 22 remains important. Indeed, it is these investments that have helped us get to this moment where we have a district-born, progressive candidate that will be the first-ever Latino elected to represent this 70% Latino district and who is closer to the median age of his district (30) than the median age of US House members (59).
Meanwhile, the climate for money in politics is even more sinister than it was in 2024. According to this NY Times article, How AI Money is Flooding into the Midterm Elections, “AI companies, groups tied to the industry and top executives of both donated at least $83 million in 2025 to federal campaigns and committees”, according to a New York Times analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. That figure, combined with a $65 million push by the tech giant Meta at the state level, reveals about $150 million and counting that is flowing from A.I. interests into the midterms.” Most of this money is flowing to Republicans and serve the interests of an industry that wants less oversight and regulation of AI.
The crypto industry is also spending millions to influence elections as this New York Times article explains. The Crypto Industry Makes Its Biggest Midterm Bet Yet.
These facts force us to reckon with added urgency to support grassroots candidates with our donations to help us win back the House and the Senate.
This election season we are adding the urgent need to support the candidates we are working for directly, along with the organizations in district through Central Valley Matters with fundraising in addition to the voter outreach work.
Flipping the House - Winning CD-22
Randy Villegas is an excellent progressive candidate, who accepts no corporate PAC money and is entirely funded by grassroots donations.
Randy has been endorsed by Indivisible National: “Randy’s emphasis on making life more affordable for working families while also fighting the Trump regime’s corruption and the go-along-to-get-along status quo are clear indicators that he’s the bold challenger his future constituents need in Congress.” And he stands in stark contrast with the Republican incumbent who has consistently voted against the interests of the working people in that community. As an example, he has voted to cut Medicaid in a district where two-thirds of the population is on Medicaid, which is one of the highest rates in the country.
Many of us will be canvassing for Randy and we urge anyone who can commit a day or a weekend to do so. Yet, for man, that’s just not possible and even a couple hours on a phone bank is also not feasible. Donating is another form of critical support to help these candidates fight back against all the corporate PAC money flowing into these campaigns.
Winning the Senate - Flipping Alaska
We are also asking our community to support Mary Peltola, the candidate from Alaska who can help us win back the Senate. The Cook Political Report has identified her race as one of the four toss-up races and we plan to
She is a strong candidate to represent Alaska in the Senate; having won statewide elections twice. Mary Peltola was a member of Congress from 2022-2025.
We will also be calling and canvassing in CD 22 and calling into Alaska; our newsletter will have updates about these opportunities.
Fundraising for these candidates is an important part of Indivisible Yolo’s strategy this election season. Donating is activism, and smaller donations from a larger segment of the community demonstrate people power in a way that a few large donations cannot.