Open Source Digital Strategy Guide for Democrats Could Change the Game
"I wish these strategies had been in place for a long time."
A new, open source how-to guide for digital campaign outreach by a Gen Z organizer has hints and tips for Democrats—if they follow it.
Welcome to The Flashpoint.
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On Monday, I reported on the effort by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) to assume the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair in January after Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who was defeated in his primary in July by Jamaal Bowman, leaves office.
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More work coming at a number of outlets—and at The Flashpoint. We have big things in store.
Now to today’s article.
Caleb Brock is a digital associate for the Wisconsin Democrats and his organizing document is helping Democrats around the country scale up their digital outreach.
The 19-year-old’s guide has been viewed by hundreds of people since it went up online in September, from members of state Democratic parties to small and major campaigns alike.
“I wrote this guide with all campaigns in mind,” said Brock. “Big and small, state race and national. I want someone running for school board to be able to implement this just as well as someone running for president.”
And keeping it open source is essential.
“I want this to be accessible to everyone,” said Brock. “That's why it's free, and that's why it's in a Google Doc.”
The doc shows volunteers how to scale up digital organizing by using social media DMs. According to Brock, success is seen immediately.
“Any campaign that implements these will see straight away the response is crazy,” he told The Flashpoint. “Instagram mentions result in shifts, young people get excited that a candidate, even if it’s a staffer, is DMing them. It really adds a whole new level of excitement to the field. It's new, it's interesting, and it's not a pandering technique. It's just people using what is already available.”
On the front end of a digital revolution
Brock had his first brush with political fame two years ago when his trolling of Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick by tricking the GOP politician into holding up a piece of art reading “Abolish ICE” went semi-viral.
He spent the summer as a fellow with the Ed Markey campaign during the hard-fought primary against Rep. Joe Kennedy III where a cohort of youth supporters nicknamed the “Markeyverse” were instrumental in getting the incumbent 74-year-old Markey over the finish line in a 55%-45% rout.
“We were on the front end of a digital campaign revolution,” Brock told The Flashpoint. “We were constantly changing the game and I personally got the feeling of a campaign office with the team, that energetic, community driven aura that floats around offices.”
That revolution in digital campaigning exploded into the public consciousness with Markey’s improbable late career reinvention as Zoomer icon. Brock and other young members of the campaign were given a broad level of freedom in their work—for Brock, that involved working the Markey team’s social media DMs.
While managing the campaign’s DMs, Brock found a number of tactics to increase engagement in the digital space.
“So I start answering DMs, I see how we have a process for it, and I follow the process,” Brock said. “I'm liking peoples mentions of us on Instagram, I'm replying to messages of support with our encouragement saved replies, and I'm just thinking, you know, we can scale this. I'm thinking, there's so many ways to get people more involved using these avenues.”
Putting the strategy together for the Markey team
The campaign fellow pitched some ideas to Paul Bologna, the Markey campaign’s digital operations leader. Bologna was on board immediately, he told The Flashpoint in an interview Wednesday.
“He had great ideas to scale up and reach people,” said Bologna. “Some were things we had been doing, but he made them more efficient.”
The plan involved using phone settings to create shortcuts, allowing the campaign’s official channels to quickly motivate and activate supporters. And it worked. The campaign was sending thousands of messages to supporters on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in the final week of the race to get out the vote.
Being given the freedom to develop a strategy shows the trust the Markey campaign had in its youth volunteers, Brock said.
“It was just: you had this cool idea: go for it. That is what a lot of campaigns fail to do,” said Brock. “They are so stuck in the stringent guidelines of campaigning, but those guidelines just aren't meant to be the norm anymore. Those guidelines cut out young people, and they cut out people who need more access to the political process.”
“I see campaigns using programs that cost thousands and thousands of dollars that attempt to replicate this.....but at the cost of thousands and thousands of dollars,” he added. “Couldn't that money be spent better elsewhere? Maybe, I don't know, pay an intern? They'd be surprised at what non-burned-out young people can teach their campaign.”
To Bologna, giving the campaign’s younger supporters the green light was a no-brainer.
“What Caleb has, and young people have, is that the all grew up on the internet,” said Bologna. “They’re comfortable in digital spaces and online.”
The path forward
Brock said the Covid-19 pandemic has made digital organizing more pressing in 2020.
“I always knew the importance of it, but the necessity of it was never immediately placed in front of me, if that makes sense,” he said. “In this world, there is no (shouldn't be) person to person campaigning, so that requires us to be creative in how we reach people.”
For Bologna, the surge in digital organizing is as much about the realities of the modern world as it is about the disease that’s upended life over the last year. With people’s attention shifting from television and newspapers to devices and computers, the real way to get through to people is to meet them in online spaces—making efforts like Brock’s essential for campaigns.
“We have to meet that demand as progressives and organizers,” said Bologna. “We cant knock on doors and cant get on newspapers. So we have to have fun online, we have to build a community online, because that's where the people are.”
The response to the doc has been overwhelming, said Brock, and a little surreal. He’s had feedback from around the country from campaigns delighted for the opportunity and guidance from the strategy plan—and some of the reaction has the young organizer wondering what the party has been missing.
“There were messages of support and thanks coming from races all the way as far as Rhode Island, from Senate Races to State Legislature races, to field organizers to interns to state directors,” said Brock. “Personally, my feelings towards these reactions nationwide are a mixture of warmth, earnest surprise, and panicked shock. I wish these strategies had been in place for a long time.”
“It's crazy to try and put into numbers how many volunteers we've missed, but I'd have to guess somewhere in the million range for every single Dem campaign for the past 4 years,” he continued. “Look at the success of youth led movements. Imagine if we had better digital outreach strategies in place to bring those movements to more people.”