In February 2017, weeks after Trump’s inauguration, the DCCC began investing in field programs focused on building lasting partnerships with progressive organizations at the local level and engaging and turning out Democratic base voters, including millennials, Hispanics, African Americans, and women. This unprecedented engagement in the Democratic base has continued throughout the cycle; from Spanish language Medicare focused ads in 2017 to a massive GOTV TV ad campaign in last 7 days of the election, and everything in between.
DCCC INVESTMENTS AT A GLANCE:
- In 2017, the DCCC launched an unprecedented, long-term $30 million investment to turn out diverse voters, women, and millennials.
- The DCCC has been on the ground organizing in competitive congressional districts, especially in districts with notable Hispanic and African American populations, for more than a year.
- The DCCC has built a pipeline of diverse, local field directors and organizers from the district that look like the district and understand their communities. This includes constituency organizers, like local faith leaders and trusted members of college campus communities who are urging their neighbors to vote.
- The DCCC has conducted extensive focus groups with voters of color and millennials in targeted districts across the country, since 2017.
- The DCCC has been on air with district-specific Spanish-language television ads across the county, and has invested in robust and highly personalized digital ads, mail, African American & Hispanic radio, African American newspapers, text message and traditional field programs.
- In week one, the DCCC launched its first ever Spanish-language GOTV television ad campaign to get out the Hispanic vote.
- Between the DCCC’s efforts on the ground and through paid media, these base voters will hear from Democrats more than 100 times in the final 60 days.
**Please reach out for additional details on the DCCC’s unprecedented Democrat base engagement program**
Take a look at some of the coverage we have garnered over the last two years:
NBC News: Democrats launch first multi-state Spanish language TV ad to turn out Latino vote
Democrats are hoping to pump up Latino turnout with the release of a new Spanish-language television ad Tuesday that is airing in five states.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent more than a half million dollars to run the ad on Univision, Telemundo and other stations in eight large media markets, according to a DCCC aide. The ad, which the committee says is unprecedented for the committee, runs from Wednesday to Election Day on Nov. 6.
“This multi-state Spanish-language television ad will reach hundreds of thousands of Spanish-speaking voters and features real voters, real stories and their real aspirations for the future,” DCCC spokesman Javier Gamboa said in a statement.
[…] DCCC officials said the ad is part of its unprecedented $30 million effort to register and turn out Latinos, African Americans, Asians and other key voters in swing districts.
It is not the only Spanish language ad the committee bought and released.
The committee’s first Spanish-language ad ran in California Congressional District 39 in the state primary on behalf of Gil Cisneros, who is now in a tight race against Republican Young Kim. [10/30/18]
Mic: In New Move, Democrats Launch Multimillion Dollar Campaign To Turn Out Minority And Young Voters
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a new campaign to turn out minorities and millennials in the midterm elections, spending multiple millions of dollars to help push these groups who often don’t turn out in midterm elections to the polls.
The ads are specifically targeted in more than 40 House districts across the country to two key voting groups that often don’t turn out in midterm elections: 18 to 39 year olds and black and Latino voters 18 and older.
[…] A DCCC aide said the ads “come from tried and true voter research methods, including extensive focus groups across the country,” but “are produced by people outside of traditional politics.” They feature young Americans and people of color discussing their life stories. [10/15/18]
AP: Democrats’ not-so-secret plan to fight midterm malaise
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s arm focused on House races, is spending more than $25 million in 45 battleground districts to mobilize female voters, millennials, African-Americans and Hispanics, officials said. That’s a far more significant investment than past cycles.
The committee is putting an emphasis on turning out African-American women, including running advertising focused on black women ages 18-39 in more than 40 districts. The DCCC has also run Spanish-language TV and radio ads across the country.
Between field efforts and paid media, voters of color in targeted swing districts will have heard from the DCCC more than 100 times in the closing 60 days of the election. And in a twist, some of the outreach this year will be facilitated by local community leaders instead of anonymous politicos. [10/17/18]
NBC: Latino Voters can ‘really have an influence’ for Democrats in over two dozen House districts
The district is one of the 111 congressional districts where Democrats are waging their battle to win control of the U.S. House and one of 29 where Latinos make up 10 percent or more of the eligible voter population.
They are the districts where Latinos “can really have an influence” on which party controls the House, said Dan Sena, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, (DCCC), whose committee raises money and works to get Democrats elected and re-elected to the House.
[…] But Sena said there has been a “complete cultural shift” at the DCCC, which has been doing more in this year’s election than in previous midterms.
“We are spending an unprecedented amount for communities of color,” Sena said, adding that the spending is about $25 million.
Five days after Trump was elected, DCCC launched its “March to 18” effort that put locally hired organizers in 21 of the most vulnerable Republican districts, including in the 10-percent plus Latino districts.
“The truth is we made the community a priority. It’s why we put people on the ground a year and a half out before Election Day,” he said.
The DCCC put money into several of the campaigns and has emphasized to candidates that the help comes with an expectation that they would be doing connecting with Latino communities and working to turn out Latino voters.
“It’s a function of making sure we are putting our candidates in front of the Hispanic community,” Sena said. [10/16/18]
Politico: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has poured $25 million into heading off a Latino turnout problem, investing the money into turnout efforts targeting unlikely voters who would support Democrats if they participated, including Latinos. The committee — which is led by two Latinos, Chairman Ben Ray Lujan and executive director Dan Sena — has aired dozens of Spanish-language TV and radio ads on districts across the country and supported Latino field directors in 29 House districts.
A DCCC aide also pointed to the June primary results out of districts like California’s 39th as evidence showing that their investment has paid off already. Latinos there made up about one-fifth of the vote share in the primary for that seat, a top Democratic target, just slightly down from Latino turnout in the 2016 presidential primaries and nearly doubling the group’s participation from the last midterm year. The DCCC launched its first Spanish-language ad there to boost Democrat Gil Cisneros in May. [10/13/18]
Washington Post: The effort to turn out Democratic votes in Latino communities is being led by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which for the first time is helmed by a Latino chairman, Rep. Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), and a Latino executive director, Dan Sena. The group has set aside $30 million to turn out base voters, who include Latinos alongside African Americans, Asians, women and millennials.
The DCCC has been honing its outreach since the 2016 elections, using a series of special elections to perfect its messages — delivered via broadcast media, mail, text message and social networks — that it hopes will persuade voters who are unaccustomed to showing up in midterms to vote.
A coming digital campaign is targeted at voters under 40, featuring messengers with local cachet — a pastor, for instance, or a sports coach — who can speak with more credibility to potential Latino voters. [10/12/18]
The Hill: Latinos are positioned to help decide key races in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Florida, where Democrats need to notch victories in order to take back the House and Senate. And while female voters on the left are extremely fired up, it’s unclear whether women alone are enough to power a blue wave in November.
That’s why the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) launched an unprecedented effort last year to galvanize the Hispanic electorate that has included targeted ads in Spanish and deploying at least one Latino field staffer in more than two dozen districts. [10/11/18]
Bloomberg: “It takes time for new candidates to break through, and we are investing record amounts in outreach,” said Dan Sena, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “There will be very few Hispanics in the country who won’t get multiple messages.” [9/30/18]
McClatchy: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, for instance, has undertaken a $25 million plan to reach out to the party’s core constituencies, including black, Latino, and Asian-American voters, according to an aide with the group. The effort includes on-the-ground voter contact and paid media, such as digital ads.
A DCCC aide said the group started researching how to reach these voters in 2017, during special elections in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District and South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, along with gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. The group has also conducted focus groups with Latino and African-American voters in a half-dozen states. [9/10/18]
NBC: Democrats’ new ads slam GOP on health care. Will it get Latino voters’ attention?
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced the launch of a new digital campaign attacking the recent declaration by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the Department of Justice would no longer defend key parts of the Affordable Care Act — including the highly popular provision that prevents insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions. Millions of Americans were able to access more affordable health insurance coverage after that signature change.
Democratic leaders in Congress are hoping the ads resonate ahead of the crucial midterms, especially among Latino families, who made the most gains in coverage under Obamacare than any other ethnic group in the country.
[…] The DCCC announcement targets 20 competitive Republican congressional districts across the country that the DCCC feels is within their grasp, several with significant Hispanic populations that can tip the balance to the Democrats’ favor. [6/12/18]
Al Dia: Gil Cisneros: The independent promise in California
Organizations such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) have put all of their efforts into raising funds and promoting campaigns of the candidates that are able to concentrate support that lagged behind in the 2016 presidential elections—especially the minorities—taking advantage of the general discontent of the country.
[…] In addition, the DCCC has announced the launch of its “first Spanish-language midterm TV ad” in favor of the candidate of Latino origin.
USA Today: Democrats ramp up efforts to turn more red seats blue in the South in the wake of recent successes
Less than six months before midterm elections, national Democrats said they are ramping up their efforts in the South working with the Congressional Black Caucus and local grass-roots groups to pick up more seats, even in traditionally red districts like Allred’s.
The DCCC and the caucus say the South is key to a Democratic takeoverof the House.
The shift in focus comes in the wake of recent Democratic victories in the South, including in Alabama where Doug Jones pulled off an upset in the Senate race last December.
“We have a lot of important work to do down that way,’’ said New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, chairman of the DCCC.
[…] The DCCC also set up a national program sending 25 “constituency organizers” to work with candidates and build relationships with communities of color, including grass-roots groups and churches.[5/20/18]
The Hill: House Dems launch Spanish-language Medicare ad
The House Democratic campaign arm Monday launched a Spanish-language digital ad targeting Republicans on Medicare.
The ad, released by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will show up for a week, starting Monday, on Google and Facebook for users who’ve set their primary language to Spanish.
It will target vulnerable Republicans and open seats in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas. [10/09/17]
The Hill: DACA recipients to star in House Dem ads
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is launching a series of paid Twitter ads to recruit undocumented immigrants to participate in Democratic campaigns ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
The DCCC will run the ads in vulnerable Republican districts with large populations of recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. [8/15/18]
UNIVISION: Los demócratas huelen sangre y entran en campaña contra los republicanos que votaron para derogar Obamacare
Faltan 18 meses para la elección de medio término de 2018 pero los demócratas ya están inundando los medios con publicidad de campaña. El órgano de campaña demócrata del Congreso, el DCCC, ha redoblado su ofensiva aprovechando un voto que podría ser fatídico para los republicanos: la aprobación en la Cámara Baja del Congreso del proyecto de ley que revocaría Obamacare. [5/8/17].