There are only four more weekends between now and Election Day 2020. The day that once felt a lifetime away is now right around the corner. While the stakes in the presidency and U.S. Senate are made clear whenever we see the news, who runs the states will continue to have huge ramifications for all the policy issues we care about, in addition to how the COVID crisis will be managed. Just this week, the Republican leadership in Wisconsin, one of our focus states, is going to court to try to undo Governor Evers’s common-sense restrictions while the Badger State suffers through arguably the largest COVID surge in the country.

It is no small measure to say that lives are literally on the line over this final month. As we turn to the waning days, we’re focusing our fundraising on the candidates and races that need it most. Over the next week, we’re doing two things: launching our Final Four, the final four weeks of our Top Ten program, and our Crunch Time Report, an assessment of where the race stands, using our unique data resources. First, we start with the Final Four program.

Final Four: The Resources Where They Really Need it the Most, Right Now

We have tabulated the latest competitiveness, demographic, polling, and fundraising data to chart out which of our candidates would most benefit from your hard-earned dollars in these final weeks. These candidates don’t represent everyone we would like to win – that’s all of them – nor do they represent the people most likely to win. These are the on the bubble candidates where that next dollar will make the most difference. These candidates also have the campaign infrastructure to carry them over the finish line if they have those dollars to run that next digital ad or send that additional mailer.

How do we determine it?

In addition to our Legislative District Index, we’ve also been closely studying fundraising numbers, private polling, and demographic trends. The direct information we get from candidates and caucuses of data that has yet to be released publicly allows us to drive investments before others have a lay of the land.

As we’ll describe in our Crunch Time Report, we are cautiously optimistic about the state legislative landscape. Democratic candidates are better funded than in 2016 or 2018. The polling landscape is highly favorable in college-educated suburban districts. We are able to use our understanding of the demographics of these districts, which we first documented 14 months ago, to identify where Biden’s strong performance with women, college-educated voters, and seniors can make a difference. Click here to learn about our Week 2 candidates.

The Weeks Ahead

Now is the time to maximize our gains, to leave it all on the field, and to get as many Democratic candidates elected as possible. Bigger majorities for Democrats mean more can be accomplished next year. Fewer Republicans in office means less voter suppression and less anti-science paranoia. Over the final few weeks, let’s start to make that change happen with these candidates.