If you’re 5 minutes early, you’re on time. If you’re on time, you’re late.
Many advocacy teams plan to sit out the midterms and the lame duck, then get their programs together in January. By then, you’re playing catch-up.
Speak4 CEO Joe Mansour told Campaigns & Elections what he’d have every advocacy team doing before January:
- Start building now. Run GOTV in a supportive lawmaker’s district and grow your list in target areas, so you have people to mobilize when bills move.
- Protect your flank in the lame duck. Anything can pass in those final weeks. If your issue isn’t on the calendar, bank messages now and schedule them for when it is.
- Get in front of new lawmakers early. Have advocates from their district brief the member or their staff before their views on your issue are settled.
The interview also dives into how to pitch a pilot when your team pushes back, why video testimonials are working right now, and how agencies keep clients engaged between cycles.
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week.”