GOP comms shop ColdSpark is continuing to make moves, announcing this week it’s brought on long-time campaign pro Phil Valenziano as a VP. Earlier this year, the Pittsburg, Pa.-headquartered firm unveiled Citadel Communications as a separate shingle to handle its public affairs work.
Now, one of the things that Valenziano wants clients to focus on is developing a personal brand — something that’s worked for Republican candidates in the Northeast where association with the national GOP is a drag. He pointed to Rep. Tom Kean, Jr.’s close win in New Jersey’s 7th House district in 2022 as an exercise in personal branding by a candidate.
“Congressman Kean spent the better part of two decades establishing an independent brand as a bipartisan problem solver for his constituents,” said Valenziano, who previously served as executive director of the New Jersey Republican State Committee. “Establishing an independent brand insulates you from other political factors, whether it’s top-of-the-ticket or down-ballot issues,
He also advises clients to make sure “you’ve just got a rock solid plan for the mechanics of the election.”
“More and more that includes pre-Election Day voting,” noted Valenziano, a former regional political director for the RNC.
Valenziano believes the buy-in is now there on the Republican side to start investing early in a banked-votes program. “I do think that the tide has turned on that,” he said. “You are absolutely seeing more buy-in on that from folks all across the Republican ecosystem.”
He added: “This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I’ve been working on growing Republican voting in pre-Election Day methods, either through mail or in-person or early voting since 2013. And it’s something that you see sort of ebbs and flows, but generally speaking, more and more Republicans are embracing it as time goes on.”
Bottom line, said Valenziano, this cycle will be about getting the details right. “Making sure that they’ve got the mail being delivered on time and in the right way to the right people, that the volunteer voter contact operations [is] being directed to the right voters, that they’re using data assets in the most effective way,” he said. “In many cases, it’ll be the difference between winning and losing.”
