The headlines will tell you it’s over. They did in 2022, too. Different direction, same message. The wave was coming. Start packing your office. What happened? Our side believed it. We measured the drapes. We stopped running through the tape. Didn’t knock the last door. Didn’t make the last call. Didn’t ask for the last donation. A wave turned into a trickle. Seats we should have held slipped away. Four years later, Nate Cohn’s article about “Wave Elections” in the New York Times is worth a read. All designed to tell our side the race is already lost, so start licking your wounds before you’ve been wounded. Here’s what polls get wrong: they overcount the voters who respond. And our voters don’t respond. Abdul El-Sayed polled 10+ points ahead in his Michigan primary. He won by a hair. The gap between what polls say and what actually happens is where close races get decided. Here’s what 25 years of running phone programs has taught me: the team that feels like it has nothing to lose fights the hardest. We have 13 days. Keep working. nytimes.com/2026/09/20/upsho…

If you’re running down ballot, are you just assuming turnout at the top will be good enough to push voters out in your race too? I want to push you to reconsider that. Voters need to know YOUR name and why your race matters to them. youtube.com/watch?v=9e73A98W…

Our client had $10,000 left to spend, one more GOTV message to deliver, and a voter universe that had already been heavily texted. We used Live Ringless Voicemail to reach more than 48,000 targeted voters. They won. Same voters, just a different way to reach them. campaign-headquarters.com/li…

Some of your voters have opted out of texts. You still need to get your message through. That is exactly what Live Ringless Voicemail is for. Real people leave real voicemails, all delivered directly to voters’ phones. Shows up on the lock screen. No carrier delays. youtube.com/shorts/Ld1Q4Xa-h…

We have reached the part of election season when everyone needs this. You’re welcome. youtube.com/watch?v=3uf2ysHr…

Cell phones, landlines, it doesn't matter. A telephone townhall lets us call targeted voters directly and typically gets 8-12% on the line to hear from your candidate and ask quesitons. You can reach thousands of voters and have a real two-way conversation without renting a room, building out an event, or hoping people show up. This is one of my fav campaign tools for a reason. youtube.com/watch?v=cz-9MaA7…

Heads up: Phones are filling up earlier than usual this year. If live calls, texts, telephone townhalls, or Live Ringless Voicemail are part of your plan, now would be a very good time to tell us. (If they aren’t, we should also talk.)

Every campaign has a moment when the plan changes. For this one, it happened at 10 p.m. the night before the election. We got to work. More than 50,000 voter contacts later, the candidate won by just over 2,000 votes. Calls made the difference. campaign-headquarters.com/la…

Gotta brag on my team for a minute. They can handle anything. Not too long ago during one of the primaries, we got a call at 10 p.m. the night before Election Day. By the next day, they’d made 50,000 voter contacts. Relentless Drive isn’t just something we put on the wall. This team has your back, and they do not quit.

Winning campaigns don’t wait until the last minute to turn on the phones. Live call conversations now give you the info you need to target swing voters, remove those who aren’t voting for you, and make a plan to turnout those who are. It makes every penny you spend on digital, mail, and TV more effective. campaign-headquarters.com/po…

This caught my attention: Voters who received the campaign’s video texts were much more likely to remember the ad messaging. Ad recall jumped from 8 percent to 30 percent in the test market, a 22-point increase. Texting helps the rest of your media plan stick. impressionstoballots.com/p/4…

Every. Single. Election.

Everyone thought this race was going one way. @JRKennellyGOP at @CapStrategicLLC wasn’t convinced. Before his client spent $120,000, he asked CampaignHQ to run a quick Pulse Check Survey and find out whether the race was actually winnable. Our live phone results showed Ryan Elijah ahead by 13 points. The other public polls had Cory Mills winning by 16 and 6. Elijah won by 12.9. That’s why you check your assumptions before you start spending money. CSP took the data and ran a smart, disciplined campaign. We were proud to help them see what everyone else missed. Read the full case study: capstrategicpartners.com/cas…

Appreciate Public Affairs Trends including my recent piece on why companies need to identify supporters, test messages, and prepare for a public fight before they’re in one. Don’t wait until all hell breaks loose. Read the roundup. linkedin.com/pulse/first-fri…

With Congress back and a compressed timeline, I don't have to tell you how insane things are going to get. Best way to get your message heard is with phones. campaign-headquarters.com/pa…

Wow, Dallas. That was a lot of fun. The best part of these conventions is always the hallway conversations, and boy, did I have some good ones. Made new friends, shared some great meals, and talked shop with so many of you. Now, if you need me, I’ll be chained to my desk until Election Day.

Eight weeks is plenty of time to move a race, if you use it. I wrote about three things campaigns can do in September that will pay off in November. None of them require reinventing your strategy. They do require starting now. campaign-headquarters.com/po…

Happy Monday, friends. Coming in hot with an important message as we hit eight weeks until Election Day. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Happy Friday, friends. May your afternoon be free of “one quick touch base calls.”