Watch the full Democratic Election Briefing above ⬆️ and the Republican Election Briefing below ⬇️
Since the historic switch at the top of the ticket, Democratic fundraising has surged. Vice President Harris’ campaign is heading into the final stretch of Election 2024 with a big money edge over former President Trump, but how much of what’s happened at the top of the ticket has impacted fundraising for down-ballot candidates?
And what approach should down-ballot campaigns be taking to optimize their fundraising operations in the final month before Election Day?
As part of our 2024 Election Briefing Series, C&E spoke to two Republican fundraisers and two Democratic fundraisers about what’s working for their campaigns down the ballot and where fundraising teams should focus to make the most of the next few weeks.
On the Democratic side, Fiona Cahill, director of fundraising and advocacy at Assemble the Agency, and Audrey Glaser, email director at Middle Seat, emphasized the importance of being agile in the final weeks of the campaign — ensuring fundraising teams are ready to take advantage of major news events for rapid response fundraising.
On the Republican side, Carter Kidd, president at Campaign Solutions, and Liz Ring, political account director at Direct Persuasion, agreed that one of the keys for GOP campaigns in the final month is be as optimized as possible — know what’s bringing your campaign the most ROI and hone in on it.
Here are four additional things for campaigns to think about as they work to raise dollars between now and Election Day:
Don’t Be Afraid to Hit the Send Button…Within Reason
Volume is always a big question when it comes to email fundraising efforts. How much is too much, and how can campaigns get the balance right, especially at a moment of such high enthusiasm?
“There’s just massive, massive donor enthusiasm right now [on the Democratic side]. And it’s not zero sum. It’s sort of a tide that’s lifting all boats,” said Audrey Glaser, email director at Middle Seat.
Glaser said Democratic donors are generally ok with seeing a high volume of donation asks coming through during the final stretch of the ’24 campaign. It’s something her firm has tested this cycle, looking at the effect of increasing volume on things like attrition and engagement.
“We don’t really see those downsides very often when we test,” she said. “So for us, the volume is really more limited by it still being humans that write and produce this content and only being able to do so much in a day.”
On the Republican side, Carter Kidd characterized the current small-dollar fundraising environment as “harder than it’s been in a long time.” That’s down to a number of factors, including the fact that even hotly-contested Senate contests — the kind of races that would get at least a bit of national attention in cycles past — are getting drowned out by what’s happening at the top of the ticket.
“We have two people at the top of the ticket in both parties that are capturing a lot of the air,” said Kidd. “It’s hard to break through without a doubt. And you just have to be consistent and tireless. The big numbers are not there, but it is certainly picking up, I think more so this month than ever. This is when it should take off.”
Urgency is Still Driving Donations When Done Well
Yes, urgency and deadlines still work for fundraisers, so does negativity and bad news. Deadlines — whether real, like end-of-quarter, or self-imposed, such as internal fundraising goals — are still driving quick action from donors.
“We’ve done a lot of content focused on creating that narrative of urgency that isn’t necessarily tied to end-of-month or end-of-quarter deadlines,” said Liz Ring. “Using polling or other internal deadlines is content that works really well … Creating that immediacy is critical, because we’re here. This is the final stretch. And so the more you can authentically drive that home to your supporters, the better.”
On the Republican side, down-ballot campaigns have also seen success tying fundraising asks to the news cycle, whether it’s national news or state-specific issues like border security.
On the Democratic side of the aisle, creating a sense of urgency around reproductive rights, voting rights, and other key policy issues has been highly effective. For campaigns down the ballot, adding a touch of personalization to these messages, explaining to donors how their contributions will make a material difference in the short term, can help those late asks breakthrough.
With Email, Keep It Short and to the Point
Volume is high when it comes to any kind of political messaging this cycle, so when you’re asking donors for money, getting efficiently to the ask is even more important. How long on average does the typical person spend reading an email? Platforms that have looked at that question have generally found the average is around 10 seconds or less, noted Glaser.
So what does that mean for strategists who are penning fundraising emails in the final weeks of the campaign?
“More than ever we are focused on writing content that’s still authentic and quality, but that gets to the point. You shouldn’t need to scroll down to read and find the ask,” she said.
For Democrats, optimism is also working and it’s something fundraisers say down-ballot campaigns can trust a bit more with email messaging than in the past. One big difference from last cycle, according to Glaser, is that a key for driving Democratic donor enthusiasm down-ballot then was invoking former President Trump. If he had a planned rally, for example, in the state or district of a down-ballot Democrat, “we would be building a huge fundraising cadence around that before, during and after because it did so well,” she said.
Now, that backlash effect for fundraising has diminished a bit, in part because of how enthusiastic grassroots donors are about the new look Democratic ticket.
When It Comes to Texting, Work to Find the Best Moments to Breakthrough
One reality of texting this cycle is that overall volume continues to ramp up. Part of that is because list sizes have grown and campaigns have found new ways to acquire additional numbers for their lists. So with larger list sizes naturally comes higher send volume. One way to cut through that noise on text, according to Fiona Cahill, is to look for opportunities in the news cycle that can be made very specific to your campaign.
“One thing that we’re seeing is that at times when everyone is texting, it can be more difficult to break through,” said Cahill. “Looking for campaign news moment opportunities that are very specific to your campaign can be really critical in helping you find times that aren’t just the same Sunday that everyone else is sending a text.”
Another thing for campaigns to consider when it comes to text vs. email, according to Kidd, is to not just assume a message that’s successful on one channel will work on the other, too, which points to the importance of consistent message testing.
