The question of what could possibly happen next has lingered over almost the last decade of unprecedented political times. The answer arrived Thursday in the form of Donald Trump’s 34-count guilty verdict in a New York City courthouse, a historic first for a former U.S. president.
Now, the question is how do campaigns and even firms react? Without hesitation, some firms leaned into the marketing opportunity. HaystaqDNA was out with a quick post-verdict email offering campaigns a way to target voters around the news.
“Our Trump Indictment Score is a metric that analyzes voter sentiment in response to the legal challenges faced by former President Donald Trump,” the Democratic data shop said in the marketing message. “Contrary to what you may have heard, our data suggests that this group is sizable enough to sway the election in some swing states.”
Meanwhile for campaigns, there’s an opportunity to drive fundraising contributions — if handled correctly.
“Donald Trump being convicted by a jury of his peers is way more consequential to voters and donors than end-of-month deadlines and fake donation matches,” said Alesa Mackool, president of Democratic fundraising shop ACM Strategies.
But Mackool stressed that it’s not something campaigns should take lightly when they’re messaging on it. “It’s not a normal political situation,” she added. “As always, it’s the job of comms and fundraising professionals to put the news into context. How does this apply to your specific campaign or cause? What outcomes will come from someone giving you money right now?”
Nick Daggers, an Illinois-based Democratic fundraising consultant, said whatever approach campaigns take, don’t think of the verdict as something that’ll work in a persuasion effort.
“Very few voters are going to be changing their opinions of Donald Trump after this verdict,” he said. “I would use this moment to demonstrate how high the stakes are and remind donors that an early investment in your campaign can help you beat back Trump and his allies this fall.”
On the Republican side, Trump himself was fundraising vigorously off the verdict — despite some early hiccups on his WinRed page. But for down-ballot Republican campaigns, the verdict is a more complicated topic because any fundraising send that includes the former president has to rev share with his campaign, complicating the calculations on any post-verdict messaging strategy, which already came with political pitfalls in some geographies.
Still, even for fundraisers, Thursday’s news wasn’t just about bringing in campaign donations.
“For down ballot candidates in battleground states, I’d recommend using today’s news to emphasize the importance of turning out voters in key states and how critical it is to get voters energized,” said Kalani Tissot, a Nevada-based Democratic consultant.
“Supporting down-ballot races is a powerful way to turnout voters that will also help vote for all other parts of the ticket.”
