Keeping Calm and Partying On
Keeping Calm and Partying On
Resonating with swing voters to win up and down the ballot in November
We are obsessed with learning how to win.
But today continues to be a day to emphasize gratitude - another day to thank the President and praise the Vice President - to reflect on unconditional love (and lovers of Irish poetry).
So we’ll be brief. There will be time in the future to soak in the lessons from the over-performing outliers like Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Adam Frisch and Jared Golden - although it’s never a bad day to support those red-district dogs, and all on the Win The Middle slate here.
Back in November we Calmly Freaked Out - bringing a clear-eyed perspective to the reality of our situation so we could “all freak out collectively, calmly and productively.“ The last part is key: a freakout is fine, as long at it is calm and leads to productivity. And it’s surely been a productive 24 hours.
So let’s channel both gratitude and the right attitude, with a focus on strengthening a party that wins.
Who are we trying to convince, anyway?
Resonates With Who?
One practitioner we’ve looked to for lessons is the architect of the successful Kansas campaign for abortion rights. How did she persuade so many Republicans?
“I am not looking for a messenger that resonates with me,” says Ashley All, who helped run the campaign that defeated the (abortion) measure in Kansas and advises others, including in Ohio. “I’m looking for messengers that resonate with the people I’m trying to persuade.”
Polling shows that Democrats mostly do not need to be convinced about the legitimacy of the presidential nominating process. But independents will be getting pummeled by misinformation on the process, and quick action is essential.
Where are these persuadable voters? Surprising to some, many are among 1.2 million viewers of “Fox & Friends”. Roughly a third of moderate Independents and Democrats get news from Fox News each week, and nearly 6 in 10 younger independents watch.
Biden announced he was withdrawing yesterday at 1:46 PM (the background on this is fascinating). Delegates Are Democracy announced a Zoom a few minutes later, before Biden endorsed Vice President Harris with a tweet and then donation link at 2:19 PM. By 5:00 PM, there were 200+ delegates and activists on the zoom sharing information and experiences. By 6:35 AM, the founder was on Fox News directly countering the misinformation coming from Republicans:
Fox News was looking for a “Democrats in Disarray” narrative on delegates. Instead they got a straightforward, sober analysis of the situation from a source that had gained credibility over the last ten days: the delegate nominating process is open and democratically legitimate - even if it is not competitive.
House Party
With all the focus on the top of the ticket, it can be easy to lose sight of the battle to retake the House. But party-building does not only happen at the top of the ticket, it happens when a faction of candidates focused on their voters doesn’t just preach democracy, but practices it. Here’s a story on winning over a Republican from a recent Politico profile of Gluesenkamp Perez:
“Patrick Reynolds, a lifelong Republican, told me he’ll vote for her in November — after voting for a third GOP candidate in the 2022 primary and then abstaining from the general. With one daughter in the trades and another hoping for a military career, he likes where Gluesenkamp Perez stands on those issues. He also was impressed with her as a person, saying she once left him a voicemail based on a Facebook comment he made.”
Read on for more updates on the most dynamic Democrats winning swing voters, and support the Win The Middle slate here:
Rep. Mary Peltola (Alaska) - has been focused on her top priorities: fish and freedom. Check out her latest ad, an upbeat piece featuring the Willow project and Rep. Peltola standing in front of a gas pipe. Her other ad is a softer direct-to-camera focused on freedom and the right to privacy. While spending time in Alaska storing away fish for the winter, she also found time to raise a cool $2.1 million, leaving her with more than $3.3 million for the final stretch.
Will Rollins (CA-41) - continues to crush fundraising, pulling in $2.2 million in Q2 and has $4.7 million on hand, while incumbent Ken Calvert raised $1.4 million in Q2 and has $3.6 million on hand. With Republicans starting to roll out ads, now is a great time to support Will.
Adam Frisch (CO-03) - will be facing Attorney Jeff Hurd in the general election after Hurd won the June primary 41-28. Frisch continues to have a massive fundraising advantage (raising $1.6 million to Hurd’s $288k), which he’ll need in this Trumpy district. Check out our new endorsement of Frisch!
Rep. Jared Golden (ME-02) - has been at work protecting rural post office service and Maine lobstermen. Golden has managed to keep up the fight for blue collar Mainers and raise $1.5 million, enough to enter the final stretch with $3.2 million on hand, while his opponent Austin Theriault raised $733k and has $899k on hand. Along with Marie Gluesenkamp Perez he will be joining the WelcomeFest in DC on July 30th from 1pm-6pm. We’d love to see you there!
John Avlon (NY-01) - for Independence Day, Avlon wrote a compelling op-ed in The East Hampton Star about reclaiming the flag.
Janelle Stelson (PA-10) - has kept the pressure on incumbent Scott Perry, and things just keep getting worse for this terrible incumbent. He’s being investigated for his role attempting to overturn the 2020 election and now, he’s under fire for sharing an anti-Semitic meme. While Perry is sharing memes, Janelle Stelson is getting down to business. She announced she raised $1.3 million in Q2 and has over $1 million on hand.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) - has been fixing cars and fixing DC, creating bipartisan coalitions to help blue collar America. A recent New York Times profile discusses her unique hiring strategy: asking staffers about their cars, not their careers. Meanwhile, MAGA election denier Joe Kent has an internal poll showing him tied with Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (42-42), while another poll shows Kent barely ahead 46-45. Kent is up on TV with a new ad hitting Marie deceptively on the border. Marie has kept her foot on the gas when it comes to fundraising, pulling in more than $2 million, while Kent raised a paltry $302k. A recent Politico profile highlights her ability to win over Republicans like Patrick Reynolds, a life-long Republican who plans to vote for her in November.
Rebecca Cooke (WI-03) - released her first ad of the cycle about the family farm she grew up on and how big agricultural companies have made life so hard for family farms. Cooke also announced her campaign raised $600k in Q2 and the latest polling shows her in a close battle with Rep. Derrick Van Orden (50% Van Orden, 46% Cooke).
Cooke also makes an appearance in the New York Times Gluesenkamp Perez profile. Check it out!