The Campaign Workshop Blog

Answering Your FAQs about Early Voting in 2020

Due to the ongoing pandemic, we’ve seen a lot of talk recently about early voting in 2020. But early and absentee voting can be very, very different depending on where you live. While there are states that continue to limit absentee voting, early voting, or both, the trend across the country in recent years has been to make it easier for voters to cast a ballot. For instance, some states like New York and Michigan opened up access to early and absentee voting for the 2020 election cycle pre-COVID-…

What To Do When Third-Party Candidates are in Your Race 

With a lot of talk about third-party candidates lately, you may be wondering if they can really affect a political race. Well, whether it’s bringing specific issues to the forefront of the race, syphoning off votes from a major party candidate, or even winning the race themselves, third-party candidates can have real impact.  What happens when a third-party candidate runs against you? Republican operatives in a number of states have been working to get Kanye West on the ballot as a third-…

Common Mistakes that Local Candidates Make

Campaigns for local candidates are different than those for bigger races. While you will still have to work to raise money, local candidates will depend in large part on the community for the resources and volunteers that they need. Local candidates also tend to go without the aid of consultants or those with expensive experience working on a lot of campaigns. Thus, there are often people running local campaigns where it will be their first experience doing this type of work. With that said, here are a…

Traits for Political Campaign Staff and Tips to Hire Great Staffers  

Whether you're running for city council or congress, hiring your political campaign staff is an essential part of the electoral success. Managing budgets, raising money, running social media, building field programs, prepping candidates for public appearances, and implementing campaign strategies; the political campaign staff is the backbone of every campaign.  To save yourself from unnecessary stress down the line, it's crucial that you hire a capable staff to run your…

Grow Your Email List if You Want to Win

If you’re running for office, you need to grow your email list, no matter how small the race. Building your list will take a long time, so it’s important to start as early as possible. If you’ve run for office before, you can start by reengaging your old list. If you’re new to campaigns, you can start with your friends and family, but where do you go from there?  How do I add people to my list? Begin with the lowest hanging fruit by ensuring that your website includes an easy way for people to sign up for…

Get the Most Gang (Printing) for Your Buck!

Let’s talk about gang printing and economies of scale. And—lest you think that “economies of scale” sounds boring—let me assure you that there is nothing boring about saving money. As campaigns get off the ground and start building out their plans, they often want to do several pieces of mail, segmenting their targeting universe (because, crosstabs!) and customizing messages across multiple mailers. But then they get the budget and think, “Welp, I forgot about postage and shipping. And oof, the cost…

How to Use Opposition Research and Self Research in Your Campaign

Opposition research, or “oppo” for short, is something that every campaign needs to think about even if it as simple as doing a message box exercise or using Google.  Opposition research can be done by a specific type of political consulting firm. They specialize entirely in finding things out about people that a simple Google search would not turn up. (Though they can definitely get details on all Google-able offenses, too.) Opposition research political consulting firms…

Challenges and Opportunities for Women Running for Office 

Since Donald Trump was elected in 2016, we have seen women running for office at all levels of government at an unprecedented rate—and winning. We’ve written ultimate guides for running for office in the past, but running for office as a woman comes with a unique set of challenges and opportunities.  Before we jump right into the challenges and opportunities that come along…

*Credit to The Campaign Workshop for the postal graphics

Planning for U.S. Post Office Delays and Slow Direct Mail Delivery in the 2020 Election

What is going on at the US Postal Service (USPS)?  Have you experienced post office delays? Beyond the current political dysfunction, USPS has fallen victim to inconsistent funding, under-capitalization, ill-timed cost cutting measures and a lack of respect for the system and its workforce. On top of the ongoing pandemic, USPS will be facing an unprecedented influx of absentee ballots. Some of these…

State Legislative Races, COVID-19, and the 2020 Election with Ben Lazarus

Pollster Ben Lazarus is currently the Director of Research Solutions at TargetSmart. He is a specialist in state legislative races and works as a principal pollster and analytics consultant for the New Jersey Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus, and the Indiana House Democratic Caucus. We asked him 7 questions on polling in state legislative races.  1. What has changed in the world of political polling since you started working in…

How to Go About Writing a Great Advocacy RFP

The goal for your advocacy RFP should be to compare apples to apples and make the best decision for your organization. Check out our Advocacy RFP Template to determine what questions you should be asking your advocacy consultants. At The Campaign Workshop, we fill out a ton of advocacy RFPs and have seen a lot of good ones and some not so good ones. The RFP process can often be riddled with unintended errors that…

Alan Rosenblatt and Craig Johnson on Virtual Canvassing and Digital Communications

Craig Johnson and Alan Rosenblatt are both a part of Unfiltered.Media, where Johnson is the co-founder and Rosenblatt is a partner. Together they have more than 35 years of experience in digital communication. Now, more than ever, virtual canvassing has become essential for the success of campaigns. Here are the 7 questions we asked them to gather their insights on virtual canvassing during COVID-19: 1. What…

*Credit to Lalo Alcaraz for the book cover

All About Chuck Rocha’s New Book, Tío Bernie, and Latino Outreach

Chuck Rocha has been doing ground-breaking work from the start. At 29, he was the first person of color named National Political Director of the United Steelworkers of America (USW). In 2010, Rocha left USW and founded Solidarity Strategies, a Latino-owned and operated political consulting firm. In 2016 and 2020, he worked…

Make Sure to Include a Timeline in Your Advocacy RFP Template

Using an advocacy RFP template can help streamline the process of hiring the right partner for your next project. The exercise of filling out the template should help you identify your goals, any constraints on the project, and strengths and weaknesses in your organization that you’ll need to be aware of to get your project out the door. One critical area to think through at the outset is your…

Political Direct Mail Starts with Paper Stock

Any printer can give you paper—commonly referred to as “stock”—that is lying around the shop. But when it comes to what paper stock is available for your political direct mail, there are as many choices as there are types of drinks at your favorite coffee shop. Each paper type has specific characteristics that influence printability, color, texture, and price. So, don’t order a pumpkin spice…