As we recover from last year’s election and prepare for a second Trump presidency, Democrats are facing an identity crisis. And while my party is debating meaty questions about branding, messaging, and a generational power shift, we also need to start having serious conversations about building and maintaining infrastructure.
The starting point for that conversation should be a recognition of a simple fact: The boom-bust cycle is killing us.
The infrastructure of the Democratic Party isn’t just one thing. It covers everyone from the local county volunteer coordinator to the national chair, and encompasses thousands of people working for committees, campaigns, outside groups, and a constellation of small to large consultancies servicing those groups.
And while I can’t speak to every piece of this complex ecosystem, I have firsthand experience with what this looks like for small and midsize consulting shops.
I co-founded a digital advertising agency and, along with my co-founder, managed it for eight years. I’ve also been a freelance strategist and worked for other small, midsize, and large digital agencies in our industry going back to 2012.
Every firm in the space is ruled by the feast-or-famine cycle of political spending. Staffing plans depend on the work you have booked for the cycle, including big contracts that often aren’t even put out to bid until March of the on-year.
Seasonal hiring frenzies, spurred by a deluge of contracts and funding coming down at once, are as common as flooding in springtime. Companies who under-hire are put in the position of having to turn away late-breaking contracts. And post-election layoffs and hiring freezes are routine.
To be sure, balancing cost and revenue amidst market unpredictability is a challenge for every business. And I’m not asking you to pour one out for the founders and entrepreneurs — taking risks, and dealing with the fallout, are what we signed up for. But the political cash cycle (one high-revenue quarter every two years) is especially turbulent. More importantly, this boom-bust pattern is not a healthy environment to develop and retain excellent talent.
Recruiting, hiring, and training new digital talent is expensive and time-consuming. An entry-level digital advertising employee hired in May of an off year will spend months in training, followed by a crucible of high-stress, fast-paced on-year work. One departure — whether it’s being laid off, pursuing a lower-stress job in another industry, or that old standby, going to grad school — is a write-off on a significant investment in that hire. And while that may be an acceptable loss for one shop, it represents an incredible waste of money across the industry.
There’s no silver bullet for this problem. I personally believe Democrats should pursue year-round messaging, which would provide some crucial stability for media staff (not to mention pay dividends in brand equity). But even smaller changes, like awarding contracts earlier, and offsetting commissions with retainers, would help smooth out some of the bumps.
People who raise their hands to work in Democratic politics are a special crowd. Working in a space where wins are rare and hard-fought, they are naturally resilient personalities. And they’re willing to trade stress and salary to do work that’s interesting and meaningful. Figuring out how to stop the brain drain is the least we can do for them.
Brian O’Grady is a freelance Democratic media and messaging consultant and the co-founder of Clarify Agency.
