November 26, 2025

Trump's Billionaire Class Wants You Under Their Control. This Changes That.

Every one of the 435 House seats is up for grabs. 36 governors. Tens of thousands of local races. Billionaire-owned media, now the so-called mainstream media, will drown out the truth with overload, spin, and selective silence, just as they did in 2024. We're forging direct connections between independent journalists and writers, podcasters, and fresh progressive candidates to syndicate their unfiltered stories nationwide, and we need $35,000 in the next 30 days to launch the first wave.

Winning is the Point

Our goal isn’t just to write: It’s to win elections, up and down the ballot.  We’re realistic about it, so our top priority is putting in the work to tell the very best, hardest-voter-connecting stories of progressive and democratic socialist candidates. When we help connect the hearts and minds of voters to the men and women candidates across the country with fresh, timely policies and plans to achieve them, we'll have made a dent. On election day, we want that "dent" to be a sweeping wave, millions of points of light winning across America.

Here's What We're Doing, and Need Your Help

1. The Bridge: (What We're Building) In a media landscape controlled by billionaires who profit from division and distraction, progressive candidates like NYC's Zohran Mamdani or Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed are locked out, their bold plans for affordable food, affordable housing, medical care reform, and pragmatic climate action buried under regime propaganda. Lift Up Democracy changes that. We've assembled a network of 44+ independent outlets to syndicate high-quality stories directly from these candidates, backed by journalists and podcasters who fact-check and amplify. No more echo chambers: Real interviews, researched deep dives, and candidate voices reaching millions in battleground districts. This is the necessary infrastructure for flipping the House in 2026.

2. The Cost: (Full Transparency) $35,000 secures our first 6 months—no more, no less. Here's the breakdown: • $18,000: Fair pay for the first 30 pieces ($600 average: $300 op-eds to $1,600 video interviews) • $8,000: Part-time coordinator salary (me bootstrapping now; scales to a dedicated role) • $5,000: Legal defense reserve (regime lawsuits against press are real, we countersue) • $4,000: Syndication tools, research support, security tools, and internet hosting.

Every dollar is tracked publicly, so you see where your donation goes. No overhead bloat.  From top to bottom, people are paid for what they do and the work they invest.

3. The Leverage it Creates:  Your support scales exponentially: Every $1,000 funds roughly 1 million additional views in key 2026 districts, to progressive hubs like The Nation and Mother Jones. That's candidate stories hitting Substacks, podcasts, and newsletters, with 133 million American households making up a willing audience for alternatives to billionaire-funded spin.

4. The Deadline:  House primary filing windows open as early as March 2026 in battleground states like California and Texas, giving progressive candidates just weeks to build name recognition before corporate media starts trying the same narrative-controlling tactics. Candidates need their stories syndicated now and through the 2026 elections, or they’ll be sidelined from day one. Fund us in the next 30 days, or we lose the launch window entirely.

Contribute today, and come here to read the stories, see the coverage, and track the fundraising and expenses. Questions? Please reach out to donate@liftUpDemocracy.org. Let's put progressive wins on the board in 2026.

Time is short. The work is hard. Together, we're ready—step up with us.

Wishing you a great Thanksgiving Weekend

The LiftUpDemocracy.org Team

Rick Herbst, Founder & Managing Director

rick.herbst@liftUpDemocracy.org

Lift Up Democracy LLC

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