In a Democratic primary race that broke all turnout records, Delawareans chose Jack Markell as their likely next governor. The Markell campaign and Winning Connections put together a telephone voter contact effort that paid off in a narrow victory– ultimately winning with a 1,700 vote margin. The Delaware News-Journal called it a “stunning victory”.
In a historic alliance between unlikely allies, the Sierra Club held nationwide Tele-Forums in early September with Executive Director Carl Pope and energy entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens. Winning Connections helped the Sierra Club reach out to over 200,000 voters nationwide. The 12,000-15,000 voters nightly who chose to participate had the chance to submit questions to the moderator and hundreds signed on to the Sierra Club’s clean energy petition to Congress.
Last week the League of Conservation Voters worked to stop the Republican “drill-only” proposal racing its way through Congress. Winning Connections recruited over 7,000 constituents to contact Congress and demand that Congress stand up for renewable energy. At the end of the day, with most Members voting along party lines, LCV’s intensive grassroots lobbying efforts flipped 9 of the 15 Republicans who eventually voted for the Democratic “all of the above” bill.
In cooperation with Professor David Nickerson from the University of Notre Dame, Winning Connections tested two different methods of mobilizing voters for the presidential primary in Pennsylvania. An analysis showed that a long GOTV script utilizing principles from behavioral psychology achieved a 5% increase in turnout over the control group. We’ll share full results when the study is published.
One of my closest friends, Michael Skelly, is running for Congress in Houston. It’s been a good couple of months for the Skelly campaign: The DCCC recently added Skelly to their list of Red-to-Blue races. And a poll has him within six point of the incumbent. In this energy-obsessed election, Michael’s record of building a small wind farm company into a billion dollar industry sets him apart from his contenders. Winning Connections looks forward to helping expand the Democratic majority in Congress by adding Michael to the Texas delegation. He has the perfect profile to turn his red seat blue. Check him out at www.skellyforcongress.com.