Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio:
A Smarter Way to Give

Here are details about this quarter’s recipients:

House of Representatives:

In California, Randy Villegas is running to unseat six-term Republican incumbent David Valadao, who won the state’s 22nd Congressional District by nearly 7 points in 2024. California’s 2025 redistricting law will make it easier for Villegas to flip this seat this year, but CA-22 is still considered a toss-up, where the Republican is way ahead in fundraising.

In Colorado, U.S. Army veteran and former political staffer Jessica Killin is running to flip the state’s 5th Congressional District. The first-term GOP incumbent, Jeff Crank, won this historically red district by almost 14 points in 2024, but demographic shifts, recent polling, and local election results all put this seat within reach for the Democratic nominee.

In Iowa, state representative and Presbyterian pastor Lindsay James for the open seat in the state’s 2nd Congressional District. The district voted Republican by over fifteen points in 2024, but voter dissatisfaction with Congress, amid difficult economic conditions, has made this race a promising flip opportunity. 

In Michigan, former county prosecutor Christina Hines won the contested August 4th Democratic primary in the state’s 10th Congressional District. Her campaign needs to replenish its coffers to prevail against a better funded GOP nominee in an expensive media market. While the district voted Republican by a six-point margin in 2024, the race is now rated a toss-up in 2026.

In Ohio, ironworker and union organizer Brian Poindexter is going up against Republican incumbent Max Miller in the state’s 7th Congressional District. While the district went for Trump by ten points in 2024, in July this year the race shifted abruptly when Miller’s ex-wife accused him of spousal and child abuse. Poindexter is far behind the incumbent in fundraising and needs support to win this now toss-up race. 

In Virginia, county prosecutor Shannon Taylor won the contested Democratic primary in the state’s 1st Congressional District on August 4th. Her campaign needs to replenish its funds for the battle with a much better funded fifth-term GOP  incumbent. While the district voted Republican by almost 13 points in 2024, Democrat Abigail Spanberger won here in the 2025 governors race, putting this House seat in play this year.

Organizations:

Michigan Alignment Table is organizing a durable rapid response network with four state-wide partners to mobilize public protest against election subterfuge at the local or state level. They rely on trusted organizations with millions of members and an elaborate strategy to monitor election sabotage efforts, pre-test mobilization this fall, and designate responsibility for communication among the partner groups. 

The Comms Exchange works to ensure that low- and moderate-propensity voters do not throw away their voices and votes by failing to cast their ballots. With 60 million social media views per month, amplified via 2,000 political and cultural creators, activist networks, and high-reach accounts, their messaging cuts through lies about our elections (e.g., that votes won't count, that the outcome is rigged, that polling places are not safe, etc.) aimed at discouraging voters from turning out. The Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio is supporting the Comms Exchange via its fiscal sponsor, Community Change Action.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Recount Fund supports an expansive ballot cure program to secure every legal and eligible Democratic vote -- and close the margin in close elections -- to win competitive congressional seats and flip the House. As Republicans threaten to use undemocratic tactics to entrench themselves in power, the DCCC is fighting against election subversion and planning for election scenarios to counter any Republican efforts to steal the election.

Crimson Goes Blue organizes members of the Harvard community to elect Democrats, ensure the integrity of our elections, and fight authoritarianism.

For more information on the current Portfolio, see this reference document.

Throughout the election cycle, new official Democratic nominees emerge on a rolling basis in our targeted federal and state-level races. Aligning Crimson Goes Blue’s Portfolio updates with this primary calendar, as well as quarterly campaign finance reports, allows us to fill funding gaps at critical points throughout the electoral cycle.

Additionally, changes to the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio’s overall allocation—or the weightings of federal races, state races, and civic organizations—alter the recommended balance of funding among candidates and organizations. These adjustments respond to the number of targets within each strategy as well as the needs of voter registration, protection, and mobilization work at that point in the cycle.

We may update the races in the portfolio during the quarter when new information comes to light — new campaign fundraising and expenditure data, new probabilistic forecasts, etc. — indicating that other races fit our Portfolio criteria better than ones selected for the previous update. Throughout the campaign season, we remain focused on directing Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio donations where they can be put to the best use at the current time.

For information on the Portfolio selection process, as well as the campaigns and civic organizations included in the current quarter’s Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio, see this reference document.

In partnership with both national experts and successful on-the-ground organizers, we identify civic organizations for the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio each quarter.

To support election security and litigation against abuses of power, we look for organizations with a reputation for independence, credibility, a track record of winning cases, a dedicated budget  and defined budget gap for this specific area of work, no reliance on pro bono support from major law firms, and a focus on filing lawsuits that protect the democratic process, the role of Congress, and/or a free press.

For organizations engaged in voter mobilization, we employ the following analysis:

Stage 1: A set of peer-validated parameters such as geographic focus, scale, and cycle experience.

Stage 2: A robust set of criteria, including but not limited to impact metrics, strategic clarity, leadership and staffing, community-rooted programs, and funding need.

On the candidate side, our goal is to drive dollars to where they will have the greatest marginal impact on electoral outcomes. Our return on investment (ROI) model integrates the research and meta-analysis of leading experts, including probabilistic forecasting, electoral data, fundraising performance, campaign expenditures, and qualitative inputs from state-based partners.

Swing Left facilitates grassroots activism in support of Democratic candidates running in swing districts. Swing Left created Blueprint as a mechanism to help grassroots donors set up “giving circles” to pool and channel their donations for the greatest impact.

Crimson Goes Blue works with Swing Left to manage the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio, giving Crimson Goes Blue members (and their friends and family members) a way to make high-impact donations to candidates and civic organizations in line with Crimson Goes Blue’s overall political strategy.

ActBlue provides the on-line software platform that most Democratic campaigns and non-profit organizations, including Swing Left, use to process individual political donations. Donations to the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio go through the ActBlue platform. Along with handling the monetary transactions, ActBlue takes care of Federal Elections Commission reporting requirements.

Both avenues give donors access to rigorously vetted portfolios. However, the recommended allocation for the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio typically sends a larger share of each donation to grassroots groups than Swing Left’s default portfolio. Also, when possible, we prioritize competitive races in states where large concentrations of Crimson Goes Blue members live, in line with our overall political strategy.

Another reason we encourage Crimson Goes Blue members--and members of their networks--to donate through the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio is that it allows us to gauge the overall impact of our members’ political donations. Furthermore, our Portfolio gives our members and Harvard affiliates the option to contribute to Crimson Goes Blue, supporting efforts to expand the pool of activists and donors who can help win elections.

Over the 2020 cycle, 85% of the funds raised for candidates through the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio went to races decided by single-digit margins—a testament to our team’s ability to pinpoint competitive races with promising candidates.

In the 2022 midterm cycle, the Portfolio excelled at targeting the very tightest Congressional races, helping prevent a “red wave.” Every one of the U.S. Senate races and 84% (31 out of 37) of the U.S. House races in the Portfolio were decided by single digits. In contrast, a third of all individual donations to Democratic Senate candidates and almost 60% of donations to Dem House candidates went to races decided by more than ten points.

Our targeting of close races improved in 2024, helping Democrats grow their U.S. House caucus and limit the GOP House majority to only three seats.  98% of funds donated to 2024 Congressional campaigns through the Portfolio went to races decided by less than 10 points.  In contrast, only 42% of all individual donors' funds given to Democratic House campaigns went to races decided by less than 10 points; the other 58% went to sure bets or lost causes.

You can learn more in Swing Left's End-of-Cycle reports for 2024, 2022, and 2020, as well as their Donor Story on Crimson Goes Blue from 2022.

No. Swing Left’s Blueprint is free to use—and, aside from ActBlue’s 3.95% credit card processing fee, all of your contribution goes to the high-impact candidates and organizations in the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio.

By default, each donation includes an allocation of 10% to support Crimson Goes Blue’s operating expenses. This allows us to organize for each campaign and promote the political activism of Harvard alums and their networks, while building a model for alumni activism. You can adjust the allocation for Crimson Goes Blue (and other funds in the portfolio) and even zero it out if you prefer, before finalizing your donation.

If we’re able to determine that you’re a member of the Harvard community, you’ll become a member through your donation.

However, we may not be able to track down your affiliation. Therefore, we encourage you to take less than five minutes before or after you contribute to fill out our short membership form and join Crimson Goes Blue. You can join here.

No. As with any political campaign donation, contributions to candidates through Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio and Swing Left’s Blueprint are not tax-deductible. Blueprint funds civic organizations through 501(c)(4) vehicles, which are not eligible for tax exemption either.

Our process gives donors a choice to opt out of receiving communications from recipient campaigns and organizations. After ActBlue processes your donation, keep an eye out for a pop-up window asking whether you want to share your contact information in order to “stay up-to-date.” If you don’t want communications, click on the “not now” button.  (If you don’t see the pop-up, don’t worry! It doesn’t appear every time, and ActBlue will not share your email address or phone number without your consent.)

Then you’ll receive only periodic emails from Crimson Goes Blue and Swing Left with need-to-know information, including periodic Portfolio updates, strategy insights, and impact reports.

However, to comply with Federal Election Commission (FEC) requirements, ActBlue reports individual contributions to candidates and political action committees to the FEC, and those donations will be visible in the FEC’s on-line database.

While there are limits to how much a donor can contribute to any one candidate, there is no limit on donations to the overall Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio. When you enter your donation amount on the portfolio page, the generated ActBlue link will automatically cap your contribution where a limit is reached and redistribute remaining dollars to unrestricted portions of your portfolio. This only applies for one-time donations, as individual campaigns are responsible for tracking contributions over time to ensure donors do not exceed limits throughout the electoral cycle.

If you plan to give over $50,000 at once or have concerns about contribution limits due to your previous giving, contact the managing director of Crimson Goes Blue by clicking here.

Your donation will show up as ActBlue on your credit card receipt. In order to comply with legal requirements, your donation may be split into more than one entry; in that case, the total amount of the split entries will equal the donation amount you selected.

Your email receipt will also come from ActBlue. The body of the email will show that you have donated via the Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio, and it will indicate the amounts you donated to organizations and candidates. For the civic organizations, the receipt may list only the name of the relevant fund, not the groups that are included in that fund. For example, in a given quarter the Blueprint Voter fund could benefit four civic organizations working to get out the vote in four different states, but only “Blueprint Voter Fund” will appear on the receipt.

See this reference document.