Five years ago I read a

post

on the EA Forum arguing that "election campaign

contributions might be a way in which you can have a substantial

impact as a small donor". It struck me as weird but plausible: a

combination that you

see

a

lot

of

on the Forum.

A few months later I read another post, a case

for Carrick Flynn in particular. It made a lot of sense, but

while I don't remember my specific reservations I do remember not

being convinced initially. After a lot of talking with Julia and

others, however, this campaign did seem like a really promising

opportunity. Six days later we made the donation:

We hadn't donated to a political campaign since college, but Julia was

impressed with this candidate's work on pandemic preparedness, which

is an area we've both thought was important for a long time. In

general, we prefer to donate through funds because they are

able to put a lot more time and attention into identifying excellent donation

opportunities, but campaign finance rules mean this

model doesn't work for political donations.

Flynn lost, and not for lack of funding. People took away a range

of [...]

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June 6th, 2026

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/5CNEgYtqqY44ZNkT7/coming-around-to-political-donations