Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan (CT)
Case Study
Connecticut’s second State House district is the swing district of all swing districts. It stretches across suburbs ranging from affluent to working class and with the majority of voters being fiscally conservative and socially liberal.
Representative Allie-Brennan ran for the seat unsuccessfully in 2016, losing narrowly to a Republican incumbent. He then eked out a victory in the Democratic wave year of 2018. His 2020 re-election was one of the most hotly contested races in the state, drawing record levels of outside spending from conservative organizations.
As a publicly financed candidate, Representative Allie-Brennan did not have the resources to combat the relentless wave of attacks from Republicans. Instead, he ran a smart, targeted, and efficient digital campaign, pushing a positive message to a targeted universe of voters he needed to win.
Strategically we had three goals: address voters’ fiscal concerns, connect on an emotional level around issues, and, most important, authentically convey who Raghib is on a personal level.
We broke the ads into two flights. The first addressing pocketbook issues around business, cost-of-living, and education. The second highlighting the Representative’s work on health care and to combat the opioid crisis and gun violence.
Both sets of ads broke through the chaotic political environment, resulting in above average Click Through Rates (CTR) and a high level of positive comments and post shares. The latter evidence shows that voters were truly engaged with the messaging.
In the end, Representative Allie-Brennan staved off the wave of outside spending and won re-election with 53% of the vote.