The Campaign HQ

06/13/2026

Grammar matters. So does paying attention in the Oval Office. One of these men knows his stuff. The other one knows how to nap through a meeting. We'll let you decide which is which. Your vote in 2026 is the difference between competence and a guy who treats the People's House like a recliner.

06/13/2026

Here's how a partisan fishing expedition works. This week, the GOP-controlled House Administration Committee held a hearing titled "preventing fraudulent donations." They subpoenaed ActBlue's CEO. They demanded answers. They brought the cameras. And they flatly refused to ask a single serious question about WinRed, the Republican fundraising platform facing nearly identical allegations. When Democrats moved to subpoena Ken Paxton over his own ActBlue lawsuit and unanswered questions about GOP fundraising, Republicans tabled it on a party-line vote. A hearing on fraud that won't even glance at your own side isn't oversight. It's theater. Hypocrisy, thy name is the GOP Congress.

ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones did not answer questions from lawmakers at a House Administration Committee hearing Wednesday, invoking her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Wallace-Jones and the Democratic fundraising platform have been under scrutiny for years, as House Administr...

06/13/2026

Happy 🐾

06/13/2026

Here's a race worth watching closely. Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee in Maine, has faced such a steady stream of accusations that there's something in there for almost every part of the coalition to dislike. And yet, somehow, he remains viable against Susan Collins. It raises a real strategic question: Is this evidence that Democratic primary voters are rethinking what "electable" even means, or is Platner fatigue setting in slowly enough to eventually cost the party a Senate seat it could have won? Either way, Maine is going to teach the political world something this cycle.

How Maine Democrats feel about their scandal-plagued Dem.

06/12/2026

Voters used to Google a candidate and decide what to click. Now many just ask an AI and take the one answer it gives. If your campaign is not shaping that answer, outside sources or your opponents will. Campaigns and Elections offers five practical moves: put facts where AI can crawl them, stop hiding key info in heavy formats, write the way you want it repeated back, source and link every claim, and rethink your press operation for how AI pulls information. Good advice for anyone trying to stay visible in AI search.

If your campaign isn't shaping AI search answers, someone else is — outside sources or even your opponents.

06/12/2026

The 2026 midterms are about to break every record on the books. AdImpact now projects $11.6 billion in political ad spending, more than the 2024 presidential cycle and nearly $3 billion above 2022. Broadcast, CTV, cable, digital, all revised upward. Even downballot and state legislative races are hitting all-time highs. Here's the thing: when everyone's shouting, volume stops working. The campaigns that win this cycle won't be the ones who spend the most. They'll be the ones who reach the right people with the right message.

The updated estimates project that political spending this year will reach $11.6 billion, according to new estimates from AdImpact.

06/11/2026

Career counseling, condensed. 😏 Tag someone who needed to hear this.

06/11/2026

The DNC's long-delayed 2024 autopsy is out, and many Democrats came away frustrated. The findings, campaign earlier, talk more about the economy, build the kind of permanent operation Republicans have, are things party strategists have been saying for two years. The committee even added disclaimers saying it could not verify some of the claims. Campaigns and Elections digs into whether the report taught anyone anything new.

The report echoed many of the truisms and diagnoses that Democratic strategists had been spouting for the better part of two years.T

06/10/2026

Trump is putting his self-described "bad cop," James Blair, in charge of defending the GOP's congressional majorities this fall. The plan: zero in on 30 to 35 House races, deploy nearly $400 million in coordinated super PAC money, and run on fear of Democrats retaking power. CNN's profile is a revealing look at the operation taking shape ahead of November.

James Blair has six months to defend Republican power in Congress — but first he needed to send a message to his party.

06/10/2026

We say it all the time around here: whether it's a stump speech or a piece of campaign mail, you're telling a story. So it was good to see Stacey Abrams put it even better. She writes thrillers that smuggle in real policy, because, in her words, she wants readers to "feel smarter about the world they're in and not outmatched by it." That's exactly what good campaign communication does. You don't win people over by drowning them in talking points. You win by meeting them where they are and giving them a story worth their time. People first. Always.

Stacey Abrams joins LPM’s “Race Unwrapped” to discuss the power of storytelling.