I can understand why people worried about AI want to support Zach Wahls, but in the spirit of the rest of the post I don't think that's a good idea. Yglesias recommends his primary opponent Josh Turek, and I think it's for electability reasons rather than general moderation. It's worth noting that Wahls' state senate district is heavily blue, whereas Turek's state house district is moderately red (and notably had several Republican representatives before Turek won) but he won there anyway.
It would help if someone could write a better blog post for each candidate that explains who they are and makes the case for donating to that specific candidate - sort of like a book review, but for a candidate.
By "better," I mean written for people who have never heard of them, and who also aren't Rationalists or effective altruists. I'd like something high-quality that I can share with a general audience.
(You'd think that the candidates themselves might write posts like that, but I don't remember seeing one that did.)
The hard money vs soft money distinction is underappreciated here. The fact that direct candidate donations level the playing field between high earners and billionaires is something I hadn't fully thought through before. Also the point about candidates having to fundraise dues from hard money for party influence adds another layer to why maxing out direct donations matters more than people realize, especially on niche issues like AI regulation.
I'm from Utah and Ben McAdams might not be the best choice for progressives to donate to. He's a moderate running in a new district that went for Kamala Harris by 20 points. Yes, it's crazy that Utah has such a blue district, but the new map packs all our most liberal urban areas together into one district. I'm not sure that means we will get a very left-y candidate, but it probably means you can support your conscience during the primary because the democrat should actually be somewhat safe, I think? This district is new so who knows.
I can understand why people worried about AI want to support Zach Wahls, but in the spirit of the rest of the post I don't think that's a good idea. Yglesias recommends his primary opponent Josh Turek, and I think it's for electability reasons rather than general moderation. It's worth noting that Wahls' state senate district is heavily blue, whereas Turek's state house district is moderately red (and notably had several Republican representatives before Turek won) but he won there anyway.
It would help if someone could write a better blog post for each candidate that explains who they are and makes the case for donating to that specific candidate - sort of like a book review, but for a candidate.
By "better," I mean written for people who have never heard of them, and who also aren't Rationalists or effective altruists. I'd like something high-quality that I can share with a general audience.
(You'd think that the candidates themselves might write posts like that, but I don't remember seeing one that did.)
The hard money vs soft money distinction is underappreciated here. The fact that direct candidate donations level the playing field between high earners and billionaires is something I hadn't fully thought through before. Also the point about candidates having to fundraise dues from hard money for party influence adds another layer to why maxing out direct donations matters more than people realize, especially on niche issues like AI regulation.
I'm from Utah and Ben McAdams might not be the best choice for progressives to donate to. He's a moderate running in a new district that went for Kamala Harris by 20 points. Yes, it's crazy that Utah has such a blue district, but the new map packs all our most liberal urban areas together into one district. I'm not sure that means we will get a very left-y candidate, but it probably means you can support your conscience during the primary because the democrat should actually be somewhat safe, I think? This district is new so who knows.
See here: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/17/utah-democrats-got-a-gift-now-comes-the-headache-00653575