Coming soon to a U.S. Senate race near you (CNBC):
The activist network backed by libertarian billionaire Charles Koch is dropping big bucks into the Kansas Senate race as polls show the contest beginning to tighten.
Americans for Prosperity Action, a super PAC that’s part of the larger Koch network, is backing Republican physician and congressman Roger Marshall in a state that’s historically been a GOP stronghold.
Yup, there’s more:
At least seven Republican-held Senate seats are up for grabs. The Cook Political Report has marked races in Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Montana and North Carolina as toss-ups. The Arizona race between Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Mark Kelly has been deemed “lean Democrat.”
Of those toss-up races, four of them are seeing activity from the Koch-linked super PAC. The committee plans to launch a new $5 million digital ad campaign targeting swing voters in support of Marshall and the other Senate candidates it’s backing. The ad campaign will start this week and go into November.
Expect it to get ugly. We saw that here in just a state senate race ten years ago. I use the example in my webinars to illustrate the importance solid get-out-the-vote organizing in rural districts.
John Snow was the last Democratic state senator standing in North Carolina’s far west. Jane Mayer wrote about his 2010 reelection race in a New Yorker piece titled “State for Sale.” Conservative N.C. kingmaker Art Pope served on the board of Americans for Prosperity founded by David Koch in 2004. Pope poured almost a million dollars into that one state senate race. His PACs sent two dozen attack flyers into John’s district. One echoed the infamous 1988 Willie Horton ad.
Now, John lost that race. BUT … even after all the money spent against him, John lost by 161 votes in a district then spanning 8 counties with an average population under 30,000. That 161 votes was less than the undervote in his race in his two largest counties, i.e., the number of people in those counties who cast ballots but didn’t vote in John’s race. If those counties had the kind of program we run here, John might have held that seat and denied Pope his prize.
Having a vibrant GOTV program is also important for building your county organization long-term. Your professionalism will attract higher-caliber candidates, inspire your volunteers, and bring them back again and again. It will fuel your fundraising efforts when donors see yours is an organization that’s got “game” and deserves their support.
It’s Labor Day weekend. Please get busy.
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For The Win, 3rd Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV mechanics guide at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.