Case studies
Started 18 months later, finished at twice the pace.
The race
A. J. Ryan ran for the Broward County Commission against an opponent with the incumbent’s endorsement and a long head start. She had been raising money since April 2024 and averaged about $11,200 a month. Ryan got in 18 months later, and for his first 6 months he raised on his own, about $4,446 a month.
What we did
We built his donor lists, sized every ask and ran call time with him every week. We wrote his emails and texts in his voice around the issues his district cared about, and put his endorsements from the firefighters, the PBA and 15 local elected officials in front of every donor we called.
The result
$167,090 in 7 months. That is $23,870 a month, more than 5 times his pace on his own and twice the pace of the opponent who started a year and a half before him.
Broward County
Commission, D6
2026
$167,090 in 7 months
A statewide California race with 2 million members and no playbook.
The race
CalPERS manages $584 billion for California’s public employees and retirees, and its board is elected by members voting by mail across the state. Jose Luis Pacheco won his seat in 2021 as the only elected Latino member of the board, raising $108,875 from 27 contributions. When he ran for reelection in 2025, the establishment unions that usually decide these races lined up behind another candidate.
What we did
We trained him on the ask and built a call time program he held to every week. Then we went to the unions that respected his record on the board. We tracked which boards met when, got him on their agendas and had the questionnaires answered before the meeting. Construction trade unions alone gave more than $54,000.
The result
$184,000 in direct contributions, more than any candidate in the board’s history and more than twice the next highest fundraiser, as CalMatters reported 10 days before voting closed. The campaign finished higher still, with 112 contributions, more than 4 times his first race, and an average of $20,201 a month against $12,097 the cycle before.
CalPERS Board of
Administration
2025
$184,000, a board record
12 weeks to fund a race.
The race
Jim Brenner was a first time candidate for Florida House District 100 with no fundraising experience. He hired us on August 13, 2024 with $20,194 raised, 12 weeks until Election Day and a campaign that needed at least $125,000 to compete. Mail to early voters had to be paid for within weeks.
What we did
We trained him on the ask and set a call time schedule he kept. We worked his personal and professional network back through decades of contacts, asked every donor to open the next door and built a finance committee to do the same. We ran events in person and on Zoom, including one with former Secretary of State John Kerry, with email and text running alongside call time.
The result
$110,971 from 413 contributions in 12 weeks. That is $40,214 a month against the $11,598 he had managed on his own, 3.5 times the pace, and it carried the campaign past its $125,000 target. The median gift was $100 and 138 came in under $25. The mail reached early voters on time.
Florida House
District 100
2024
$110,971 in 12 weeks
14 years since a Democrat was on the ballot.
The race
New York’s 53rd State Senate District had not had a Democrat on the general election ballot since 2010. The Republican incumbent ran unopposed 6 straight times, and no Democrat who ran in the district had ever raised more than $2,000. James Meyers was a first time candidate with $4,051 raised when we started on February 19, 2024.
What we did
New York matches small contributions from district residents with public funds, so we built the plan around gifts under $250. We used donor data to find the Democrats most likely to give, trained James on the ask and ran call time and events aimed at small donors. By July he had more than 300 donations from 250 people. The incumbent reported 30 individual contributions from October to March.
The result
$43,814 more over 8 and a half months, $5,129 a month against $1,787 before, and the public match maxed out at $375,000. $422,865 in total paid for digital, mail and field in a district that had gone 14 years without a Democratic campaign.
New York State Senate
District 53
2024
$422,865 raised and matched