Republicans are no longer playing catch up when it comes to early voting strategy and are using advanced digital targeting to turn out their more unreliable voters this cycle – at least that’s the message from some GOP strategists.
The confidence projected by some practitioners in recent weeks is in contrast to years past when many grumbled the party simply wasn’t prepared for the shift to early and mail-in voting that started during the pandemic.
“People are adapting,” argues Wesley Donehue, CEO of GOP shop Push Digital Inc.
“It’s a misnomer that the GOP is lagging behind the Democrats when it comes to tech. Our targeting capabilities are spot on. On the Republican side, we’ve got some of the best modeling companies in politics. … We are 10x ahead of where we were four years ago.”
Donehue said while his side’s linear TV creative might still be focused on persuasion, other channels are shifting to GOTV mode, including mail, digital, text, volunteer and paid phones, and canvassing grassroots activity.
“GOTV is definitely happening [at this stage],” he said. “It’s just not seen because it’s so much more targeted.”
When it comes to fundraising in the final stretch Donehue is less enthusiastic about the kinds of specific asks that other practitioners prescribe. Instead, he says, it’s about showing donors that you’re closing the gap — hence the presence of persuasion creative despite early voting windows opening in many states.
“When we show that you’ve closed the gap between nine to two points and you’re two points away, that’s the need, right?” he said. “That’s what’s moving [fundraising] numbers right now. Whole numbers that show you’ve closed the gap, that this is where the money is needed — that moves numbers.”
Now, the challenge Donehue sees is getting media attention in a cycle when voters’ interest is firmly centered on the White House race. “That’s the ultimate problem that we’re having right now,” he said. “Donald Trump is sucking the oxygen out of the room — that part is true — but not from an email or text standpoint.
“It’s that Republicans give when they see a need to give … and the Republicans have seen no reason to give to anybody other than President Trump this entire cycle, right? We can’t cut through. Nobody in South Carolina knows who [Ohio Senate candidate] Bernie Moreno is or who [Montana Senate candidate] Tim Sheehy is, or who [Wisconsin Senate candidate] Eric Hovde is.”
As a result, Donehue explained, “it’s like they get these emails and they get these texts and it’s just falling on deaf ears. “There are going to be workarounds, but they’re not gonna happen in the next month.”
