WEBSITE, DIGITAL ADS
For the 2022 midterms, the Minnesota Senate Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) caucus was up against the odds to flip control of the chamber, which had been in Republican control since 2016. While the DFL only needed to gain one senate seat, the path to victory was going to be difficult given the newly-drawn Republican-favored districts that went into effect earlier in the year.
Judy Seeberger, running to represent the east Minneapolis/St.Paul metro area, had a particularly critical fight ahead. Not only did her district have fewer than 25% of its voting population registered for the DFL, Judy was also facing Tom Dippel, a far-right extremist who vowed to take away all abortion access, denies the climate crisis, and sought protect corporate interests above the good of the people.
To aid Judy’s campaign, two Tech for Campaigns teams worked to educate and persuade voters by building Judy’s website and executing a multi-faceted ad campaign. They highlighted the rich experience Judy would bring to the role while combating the misinformation spewed by her opponent with facts about her values & ideas. It was also imperative to not alienate independent or conservative voters, and they found that consistently messaging Judy’s support of women’s reproductive freedom and public safety were successful in winning over those voters.
Judy Seeberger successfully flipped Minnesota’s 41st Senate District, in east St. Paul, in 2022, which was crucial to flipping the chamber to Democratic control. A highly competitive seat in a red-leaning district, Judy defeated her extremist opponent by 321 votes. Her predicted chances of winning were 1 in 10.
Judy is a public school teacher, paramedic, lawyer, member of her local fire department, military wife, and mother of two boys. Now that she has been elected, Mrs. Seeberger is focused on protecting women’s access to reproductive healthcare, growing the economy, creating great public schools, supporting veterans & military families, and strengthening her community by making them safer.
Given Minnesota’s low campaign spending limits, the Seeberger campaign could not afford to hire a traditional digital vendor to achieve its digital needs, so leveraging expert volunteer teams to build a website, inform their paid digital media strategy, create digital ads, and execute the campaign allowed precious campaign dollars to be spent furthering voter outreach efforts.
“I cannot thank you enough for all of your incredible support for my campaign through Tech for Campaigns. To have a team of talented and reliable volunteers managing my digital ad program and website rather than a paid firm enabled me to focus my budget on voter outreach and trust that I was delivering the right messages to the right people.”
Websites are an extremely important asset to a campaign, as they are typically the first or second point of contact with voters. As a first-time candidate in a new Senate District, it was all the more imperative to ensure constituents could get to know Judy and her priorities. Being able to tout her endorsements helped voters gain more clarity on her values and built credibility. Outside of providing information, the site also allowed folks to get involved with the campaign either by volunteering, attending an event or donating.
Facing off against a far-right extremist opponent, with outside money supporting his campaign, the team wanted to ensure constituents heard the truth about who Judy is and what she will do if elected. To achieve this, they executed a holistic digital strategy inclusive of Social Media, Display, Search, Online Video, Connected TV, and Digital Audio. Not only did this diversified strategy allow for varied storytelling opportunities, but it also efficiently increased the campaign’s reach so when knocking on doors, people were already familiar with who she was. This team tested images, messaging, video lengths, and GOTV tactics to increase Judy’s name recognition and drive voter turnout.
The campaign served more than 3.8M digital ad impressions in a district with under 90k people. Digital ads played a significant role in increasing awareness across the district and persuaded voters that Judy was the candidate that best aligned with their values. Outside of Facebook & Instagram, highly-targeted programmatic solutions were leveraged to place video ads on premium content in a TV-like format (Connected TV/OTT) and reach voters with audio ads while they were listening to podcasts or digital radio; mediums typically out of reach for state legislative candidates. A women’s right to choose was the most successful message and Judy’s selfie videos were engaging and efficient.
This win was critical for Minnesota, helping flip the Minnesota State Senate blue with a narrow margin of 34 D - 33 R, and creating a Democratic trifecta in the state.
