Particle Electron blinking blue

I’m currently using my Electron as a way to record the energy produced by a small solar array I built. A few weeks ago when I was first started figuring out how to get the Electron to read data from the panels, I had some trouble with flashing my code OTA where it would constantly time out until I did a hard reset, but everything had worked fine until today when I finally started setting up the whole project (this is for my Science Fair this year). When I first turned on my Electron today, it had trouble finding the cellular tower signal until I reset it enough/took out the SIM card and put it back in. It worked fine the first time I fixed the green blinking, but after I got the green blinking to stop the second time, it entered an endless cycle of slow, blue blinking. I’ve looked through the documentation and the forums and learned that it is attempting to locate the WiFi Credentials, which could mean there is a problem with the SIM card. I’ve taken it out and put it back in numerous times (I also noticed that it was slightly bent while I was doing this) and it still has not been fixed. I’ve tried flashing through USB but to no avail. I’ve tried deactivating and reactivating the card three times, again, to no avail. The code I am using is a very minimally edited version of the Publish example app that adds another event for my second panel and treats them like the photoresistor that came with the Electron kit. The only reasons I could think of for why this is happening is that either the SIM or the antenna is damaged, but please correct me if I’m wrong, thanks.

Not quite sure what's going on, but it's certainly not looking for WiFi credentials, since the Electron doesn't have a WiFi module to begin with.

Any other colors present while it's blinking blue?

Blinking blue usually indicates a hardware problem with the SIM, not with the antenna and (normally) not with the activation of the SIM.
Do things change when you press on the SIM during power-up and connection?

After resetting a few times while pressing down on the SIM card, it was able to connect. For my project, I plan on leaving the Electron on and recording data once a minute for 24 hours. Do I risk losing data if I do not replace the damaged SIM or should it be fine as long as I press down on the card when it boots?

If this cures the problem temporarily, you may want to remove the SIM and carefully bend the contacts of the SIM holder up with a needle slightly push down the holder bracket to get better contact between holder and SIM.