Let’s Do This: How the Scales of the Universe Tilt in Your Favor in an Upcoming Georgia Election

Photo by Juskteez Vu on Unsplash

You have probably seen those emails close to election time that promise you a match of two, three, or even four times the amount you donate.

Even though I have sent literally thousands of fundraising emails, I have never sent an email of that sort. Further, I have to be honest that I don’t really know how those matches work, or even if they are real.

Either way, I have something much, much better than all of that for you today.

Over the weekend here at Wolves and Sheep, I wrote an article called “The Scales of the Universe Hold an Important Lesson That You Won’t Soon Forget.” In the article, I discuss the range of sizes in the universe—and American politics—on a scale of exponents of 10. One important point I hope people draw from this article is that while the most visible electoral campaigns, like the ones for president or competitive U.S. Senate seats, cost between 10⁸ dollars (hundreds of millions) and 10⁹ dollars (billions), less visible campaigns for state legislature cost more like 10⁵ dollars (hundreds of thousands). That means the more visible, prominent campaigns are 1,000 to 10,000 times more expensive than the less visible ones.

No donation match can ever hope to compensate for a difference in cost of that scale.

Despite this enormous difference in cost, less visible elections can really matter. Back in August, at Bowers News Media and Wolves and Sheep we helped Democrat Catelin Drey defeat a right-wing conspiracy theorist by double digits in an Iowa state senate seat that Donald Trump won by double digits. This ended the Republican supermajority in the Iowa state legislature. Further, shortly after this election, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst announced that she would not seek re-election, giving Democrats a real Senate pickup opportunity in the Hawkeye state next year. Because the election was so cheap, it cost 1,992 Bowers News Media and Wolves and Sheep readers an average of only $11 each to pull this off! Good luck getting two drinks at Starbucks for that price.

One of the ideas behind my Scales of the Universe article is that sometimes, if you look close enough, you can use those scales to greatly increase the impact of your activism, even by multiple orders of magnitude. Next month, in Georgia, I believe there is another election where you can do exactly that, and in a southern swing state to boot. I am talking about the upcoming statewide elections on November 4 for two Republican-held seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates public utilities in the Peach state.

This is a really inexpensive campaign. As of mid-September, according to an email newsletter I received from Politico, only $40,000 in ads had been reserved among all four candidates (there are two Democrats and two Republicans running for the two seats). That actually puts this campaign at only 10⁴ dollars (tens of thousands) in terms of magnitude, although by election day it will probably inflate to 10⁵. Even so, this is microscopic compared to the hundreds of millions that will be spent on every major U.S. Senate race next year. Forget about double, triple, or quadruple matches: any donation you make here is like a 1,000 times match, or even a 10,000 times match.

Here are some important facts about this election:

• The Georgia Public Service Commission regulates utilities for the state of Georgia.

• Two of the five seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission are up for election this year.

• Even though the seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission are divided into districts in the state, all seats are voted on statewide (that is, everyone in Georgia votes for all seats on the commission).

• Both of the seats up for election this year are currently held by Republicans.

• Both elections are competitive.

• The Democratic candidates are Alicia Johnson (link goes to her campaign website) and Peter Hubbard (link goes to his campaign website).

Why should you care about these obscure elections? A double Democratic victory here would show that one of the most important swing states in the country—and a southern state at that—is rejecting Donald Trump’s presidency. That would result in numerous Republican incumbents in the House of Representatives announcing that they will not run for re-election next year, and increase the number of Republicans in Congress who are willing to criticize Trump publicly. It would also discourage stronger Republican candidates from entering any 2026 campaigns, and solidify the narrative that voters around the country are rejecting Donald Trump. In short, it would weaken Donald Trump’s hold on Republicans—and thus on power overall—and make it easier for Democrats to win back Congress next year.

We can and should win both of these elections. Last month, the Democratic candidate in the special election for the deep red 21st state Senate district in Georgia did 11 points better than Kamala Harris’ performance in that same district last November. That 11-point swing is very similar to the pro-Democratic swings of between 13 points (on the median) and 15 points (on the mean) compared to 2024 that we have seen in the 42 special elections for state legislative and U.S. House of Representatives seats held so far in 2025 (click here for the data on these elections). That is important, because Harris only lost Georgia by two points last year. Any double digit, pro-Democratic swing, just like we saw in Georgia last month and as we have seen in election after election this year, would comfortably turn the Peach state a nice shade of blue.

To make supporting the Democratic candidates in the Georgia Public Service Commission election easy for you, I have created an ActBlue page with both Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard on it, and also Bowers News Media, the email-based grassroots activism organization associated with Wolves and Sheep. The amount you give to each candidate, and to Bowers News Media, can be adjusted on the page. To find out more about the Democratic candidates, you can visit the campaign websites of Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard by clicking on the links on their names. You can also donate to them directly on their websites.

Please, split a $10 contribution between the Democratic candidates for Georgia Public Service Commission, Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard, and also to Bowers News Media. Let’s prove to the country that even southern swing states like Georgia are rejecting Donald Trump, and send a wave of Republicans in Congress into early retirement.