Member-only story
Lessons learned from Conor Lamb’s big win in PA-18 last night
3 min readMar 14, 2018
- EVERY DISTRICT IS DIFFERENT and we ignore those differences at our peril. When our Vetting Committee started vetting Conor, we did what we always do: look at the district first. What’s the Cook PVI? What is the voting history of the district? What are the district demographics? Then we look at the candidates and choose the most progressive candidate that the district will bear. Sometimes that means we pick a Justice Democrat like Randy Bryce. Other times, that means we pick a moderate Democrat like Conor Lamb.
- LISTEN TO THE CAMPAIGN: Conor Lamb’s campaign knew his district. He grew up there, lived there all of his life, and understood the people. He knew that constantly bashing Trump was not going to get him elected. He knew that talking to national press was not going to get him elected. He knew that help from movie stars was not going to to get him elected. He knew that social media was not going to get him elected. (Social media played a HUGE part in fundraising for him so he could mobilize on the ground, though. That’s all you guys.) It was boots on the ground, knocking on doors, talking to voters, finding out what their fears and anxieties were that did it. This is why we always try to get campaigns on board when we do #COTD’s and Twitterstorms. It’s important to follow the campaign’s lead. For instance, if a candidate doesn’t want to…
