‘Today, for the First Time, I Donated Money to a Campaign’

This will be my first time voting in a midterm election. I live in Texas and, whether or not it will actually happen, getting Beto into office feels like it’s something we’re so close to accomplishing. The campaign sent me an email asking for a minimal donation, and with all of the hyperbolic, fear-inciting rhetoric that Trump and the G.O.P. are spouting, I felt it was the least I could do to move the needle back toward reason.

— Riane Cretney, 25, Dallas, donated $3 to Mr. O’Rourke.

I decided to donate this year because Beto O’Rourke is running such a positive, clean, stellar campaign. His town halls are friendly and inclusive, and that right there resonates with me. While his town halls have grown in size of late, my favorite one was held out in West Texas with about a dozen people at a doughnut shop, pulling tables and chairs together, a woman rocking a toddler to sleep, everyone lowering their voices just a touch, and continuing to discuss things like immigration and farming. Pure Texas.

— Gabe Arnold, 64, Texas, donated $50 to Mr. O’Rourke.

‘I’m 22 now and working full time, so I can actually afford it’

I decided to donate because I turned 18 this year and I felt that, with my new responsibility to be a part of our democratic process, I needed to support my political views more than just sharing them with others.

— Wade Atkinson, 18, Amherst, Mass., donated $10 each to Senator Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, the state representative candidate Mindy Domb in Massachusetts, the Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona, Senator Bill Nelson in Florida and Senator Dianne Feinstein in California.

I’m 22 now and working full time, so I can actually afford it. I was in college the past two elections and was dirt poor. I can still only give between $10 and $20 to a few candidates whose races I know are very tight. But I know small donations like that do make a difference and it speaks volumes when campaigns are receiving a large chunk of their money from small donors instead of PACs.

— Ana Moylan, 22, Suwanee, Ga., donated $10 to $20 to Stacey Abrams for her governor’s race in Georgia, Beto O’Rourke for his Senate race in Texas, Phil Bredesen for his Senate race in Tennessee, Senator Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, Andrew Gillum for his governor’s race in Florida and Carolyn Bourdeaux for her congressional race in Georgia.