The Campaign Workshop Blog

Hal Malchow has over thirty-five years of experience in politics, having worked for four Democratic presidential nominees and a long list of Senate, congressional, and gubernatorial candidates. Hal Malchow’s pivotal role in introducing data science to American political campaigns and measuring the impact of voter communication tactics changed the way campaigns are run. In his latest novel, No Popes in Heaven, Hal Malchow draws upon his experience to highlight the absurdities of our political system and the negative consequences of well-meaning reforms for our democracy. We sat down with him to hear all about his new book.

There are so many campaign tools out there it can be hard to choose which one to use. Here are a few questions that you should ask before you lay down money for a campaign tool.

Seth Masket is a political scientist based at the University of Denver who specializes in political parties, campaigns and elections, and state legislatures. In 2016, he authored The Inevitable Party: Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy. Seth Masket writes a weekly column with Pacific Standard.

Campaign fundraising is on everyones mind. A candidate calls a frequent donor and asks for help. The donor asks the candidate, “What is your cash on hand?” The candidate answers, “I have raised a total of $350,000 dollars.” “Great,” the donor responds, “but what is your cash on hand?” “$35,000” says the candidate. “Umm. Let me get back to you,” the donor replies and hangs up. Ouch.

CEO Alex Niemczewski runs BallotReady an online voter guide for local, state, and national elections. In 2015, BallotReady started with a test run in Chicago’s 2015 mayoral runoff election on a budget of only $180. This year, BallotReady will be available in all fifty states.

Since President Obama’s use of social media revolutionized modern campaigning, sites like Twitter have become hotbeds of political activity, discussion, and advocacy. For political candidates, maintaining an engaging and active Twitter account has become one of the most effective ways to connect with voters and expand campaign awareness. While headlines are plagued with news of erratic and inaccurate Twitter updates, succumbing to Twitter mistakes can turn your account into a detraction instead of a tool. Here are a few of my tips to ensure that you’re ready for Twitter domination.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is, in brief (hold on tight, this may take awhile) legislation covering any organization that holds personally identifiable data about EU citizens. It forces these organizations to manage and control this data in a clear and transparent way.

The process for finding good political candidates doesn’t involve filling out a job application. When a candidate decides to run for office, they may not realize that the time commitment requires hours of work and many more hours in the day. Sadly, the time commitment it takes to be a political candidate is not changing anytime soon.

We always try to ask the political pros we interview in our “7 questions” blog series what they’re reading. As a result, we’ve gotten some great recommended reading ideas from these folks. Some of these reads help shed light on the state of the American electorate; others will give you the break you deserve from the state of our politics. Behold, our latest recommended reading list, brought to you by experts in Democratic polling, messaging, political science, decision-making, fundraising, and beyond. Happy reading!

Meg Ahern is a social and behavior change expert working in international development, and author of the new guide, The Science of Influence: Harnessing Neuroscience and the Social Sciences for Effective Democratic Campaigns. She focused her dissertation at Michigan on the role of emotion and social context in perception, cognition and memory, and did her postdoc in the sociology of knowledge at The University of Chicago.

Any time you work with a digital strategist to craft a digital ad campaign, they’ll want to know 5 things to build the right plan for you. Your digital strategist will want to know your goal, budget, targets, timing, and the geographic area you want the ads to run in. It can be helpful for you to think about these things ahead of time so you and your digital strategist can get on the same page and build a campaign quickly and efficiently.

When you get into politics, it’s hard to resist the all too common tunnel vision of focusing only on politics. But be careful – binge watching Veep or The West Wing is not going to help you run a better campaign or organization; nor will reading solely political books. So Here are some of our favorite non-political books. 

In this day in age, social media is essential to any advocacy or political campaign. Every successful campaign in the past few years has implemented social media to win over voters' hearts and minds. Integrating social media properly into your communication strategy is particularly useful when you're trying to reach young voters in an authentic way.

When candidate fundraising, there are several tools that you can use to diversify your techniques.  It is important to diversify in order to keep your asks fresh and to raise the most money possible. This post will go over each tool in detail, explain their importance, and show how to utilize them to their full effect.

The 2018 election cycle is here! Everyone has a renewed spirit of social justice and resistance. Lots of activists are looking for ways to get involved in the new wave of change. Are you thinking about becoming a grassroots organizer?

For any brave souls that have dared to take on scheduling for a political candidate or even on a professional level, you’ll truly appreciate this post. Political Scheduling isn’t easy—it’s an art form and not for the faint of heart or the disorganized. Most people think, “Well all you do is just put events on a calendar, so it can’t be too hard.” Well, truth is, it is way more complex than it appears.