A little bit about this FEC deadline at the end of the month.

Each day since our primary victory in August, this campaign has been growing.

Thousands of folks across Missouri’s Second District, the state at large, and the country have started to pay attention to this race for the first time in over 30 years.

No Democrat has been able to win this seat since 1991. But because of Democrats’ surging popularity nationally, Trump’s cratering approval ratings, and a few federal and state court rulings, this district is once again “in play”.

JOIN THE FIGHT

So many of you might not be aware that the Federal Election Commission’s mandated deadline on September 30 is the single most important deadline of this entire campaign. And with how high the stakes are, this will either pull us ahead to victory or end this race for us.

I’m going to be asking you for a contribution before then. But let me explain a few things first.

WHAT IS AN END-OF-QUARTER DEADLINE?

Established by Congress in 1971 with the Federal Election Campaign Act, all political action committees, candidates, and organizations are legally required to file quarterly financing reports disclosing all of their contributions and expenditures.

This includes everything from a $5 donation or a $20 Uber ride paid for by a campaign. No transaction is too small to be reported. But, depending on who contributes and how much, contribution totals are either considered “itemized” or “unitemized” contributions.

From day one of this campaign, I promised to be 100% grassroots funded. I haven’t accepted a single dime from corporate PACs and you won’t see them in our finance reports. What you will see is a growing sum of small-dollar donors who are ready to have a voice in Washington.

WE NEED TO PROVE WE HAVE MOMENTUM HERE

I don’t need to prove to you that this campaign has momentum. If you read my Substack or listen to my podcasts regularly, you most likely support my campaign for Congress and know how well we’ve been doing. Same goes if you’re on the ground here in Missouri’s Second District: you see the lawn signs, the rallies, and canvassers supporting us all the time now.

But not everyone is in the loop. Plenty of people outside of our district don’t know about this race and how winnable it truly is for Democrats. One way we can prove it to them is through this end-of-quarter filing report.

They’ll have our numbers for the first time since the primary and they will be blown away by how many small-dollar, unitemized contributions are in our report. We’d have tangible proof to show folks across the country that we have enough money and support to flip this district, and with that, our momentum will build up.

Pundits will watch our race even more closely. National figures will step into the race. This will draw more attention to us and, in turn, help us raise even more to take back this seat, causing the polls to move even more in our favor! It will be a positive feedback loop that will snowball this race into the biggest mobilization campaign Missouri has ever seen.

But this could also backfire on us if our numbers seem disappointing.

THE STAKES ARE TOO HIGH

With just weeks until Election Day, everyone is going to be looking at our totals. That includes Ann Wagner and her MAGA allies.

If they see that our numbers are much lower than they should be, they’re going to use this as an opportunity to pin us as weak and vulnerable.

DONATE NOW

Ann Wagner is sitting on over $4 million in the bank. Alongside that, millions of dollars of outside spending could be spent against us over the final few weeks of this campaign. That includes negative ads on TV, in mailers, and across social media. And if our numbers look disappointing, no one is going to come in and save us. All the momentum we’ve built for the past year will come to a complete halt.

I’VE COME BACK FROM CHALLENGES BEFORE, BUT I NEED YOUR HELP

So it’s all or nothing these next few weeks. But I’m not scared. I’m not going to cave under the pressure. I’ve never given up when things got tough because I was surrounded by people who had my back every step of the way.

Whether it was after the loss of my first wife and child, or when I lost everything again during the pandemic, I got back on my feet because I knew I wasn’t done yet serving the communities that raised me. As much as I relied on them to support me, they relied on me to keep fighting for them.

I don’t doubt people power. It allowed me to rebuild my life. Twice. And I don’t want to take that opportunity for granted.

So I’m making a massive fundraising push before September 30 so we can take back Missouri.

I’m calling on everyone who is able to: can you chip in $5, $10, or $20 before the end of the month so we can have our strongest FEC report and build on our momentum through November?

CHIP IN BEFORE THE DEADLINE

Thanks team.

— Fred

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