Breaking Through With Old School Methods

A New Old Way to Win Back the House

Steve Schear is a free-lance activist and organizer from Oakland CA who writes and edits for The Grassroots Connector.

MAGA dominates the social media world where most people get their information. X, Facebook and Instagram are owned and operated by tech billionaires who have pledged allegiance to MAGA. The owners of TikTok recently aligned with Trump as well. Penetrating the Right-Wing Propaganda Machine’s social media platforms is extraordinarily difficult.

Fighting in Key Congressional Districts

We can use old school methods to reach people: billboards, radio, lawns signs and pamphlets.

We can target the 15 Congressional districts where Republicans won by the smallest margins, listed here. They are the most vulnerable in 2026. We can start exposing MAGA schemes to further enrich and empower the billionaire class now, with simple messages. For example, U.S. Rep David Valadao won reelection by just 8,000 votes in a low-income rural district in California’s Central Valley where many people rely on Medicaid for their health care. We can buy billboards that say:

We can buy 30 second radio ads that say: “Call Congressman Valadao and tell
him, no Medicaid cuts to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Call 559-560-6070 and
tell him don’t vote for Medicaid cuts. That’s 559-560-6070.” We can make lawn signs and pamphlets with the same message. We can drop pamphlets at every door, asking residents to put up a sign.

Tell Kiggans

VA-CD-2, in southeastern Virginia, is the home of lots of veterans. We can do the same campaign there with a message tailored for the district:

You get the idea. To satisfy Republican deficit hawks, MAGA intends to pay for an unhealthy portion of Trump’s $5 trillion tax cut for the rich with cuts in popular social programs. We can expose MAGA’s true colors by campaigns that ask House Reps in purple districts to oppose cuts in social programs. Then, when they vote for them, we can do another campaign. Something like: “Valadao voted for Medicaid cuts that will hurt our community to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”

How Much Does It Cost?

In Valadao’s CA CD-22 district, billboards cost between about $1,000 to $10,000 a month. Thirty-second radio ads can cost as little as $5 to $100 in smaller markets. 100 lawn signs cost about $10 each, and 10,000 pamphlets can be $100 to $500. Implementing this program is simple. Any group can execute it by picking a district, finding a popular government program on the chopping block and then asking the Congressman not to vote for it using billboards, radio, lawn signs and/or pamphlets.

We only need to gain 3 seats to take the House in 2026. By exposing Republicans’ true colors, the colors of greed and capitulation, we can go a long way toward winning back the House. And, if we do it well, we might even be able to stop or limit some of the worst cuts to the programs that working people need.

If you or your organization wants to help fund or organize a campaign in one of the 15 vulnerable GOP districts, let us know by writing to thegrassrootsconnector@gmail.com