Paul Tuss

The Challenge: In Montana, the newly drawn state legislative maps were initially released by the Independent Redistricting Commission in December 2022. Because the Montana State Constitution requires the state legislature provide comments on the new maps, the legislature was unable to provide comments until 2023. As a result, the final state legislative maps were not set until the 2024 election cycle. The new state legislative maps created new opportunities and new challenges for both parties.

A specific challenging race for the Democrats was Montana State House District 27. Incumbent Democrat State Representative Paul Tuss had earned his first term in 2022 and was now up for his first re-election campaign. Under the new maps, Tuss’ district was very Republican. Specifically, Trump won it in 2016 by fourteen points. By all accounts, having been in office for only one term in a district that was now very solidly Republican, Rep. Tuss appeared dead in the water.

Our Solution: To win, Rep. Tuss would need to persuade the electorate that he truly worked in a bipartisan fashion on the issues that mattered to a solid Republican district.

The static ads mimicking the same images, slogans, and design as the direct mail pieces were produced and placed. Additionally, in the last three weeks, a thirty second video utilizing the same content as the mail was created. In all three platforms–mail, static and video–we included Rep. Tuss in a signing ceremony with popular Republican Governor Gianforte to emphasize Tuss’ bipartisan work. And the issues that we focused on through all mediums were almost exclusively on bipartisan economic issues.

The digital media was placed using Geofenced Addressable technology–targeting the same homes included in the mail program–at the same time that the mail was being received. Unlike IP- and cookie-matching, Geofenced Addressable technology was able to target the homes that were receiving mail at a 90% match rate. We were also able to provide the list of unmatched addresses, so the campaign knew which addresses might need additional contacts–field, mail, or texting.

Given the meager resources of the campaign, integration between mail and digital was essential. The Montana US Senate campaigns and allies spent over $30 million. Tuss’ campaign had less than $25,000 total for paid communications. This made effective and efficient digital integration with mail essential. Without integration, Tuss’ paid communications would get overwhelmed by the US Senate race.

The Result: Due to our effective messaging and integration with direct mail and digital, many voters actually believed Tuss was the Republican in the race, helping Tuss win by 5% in a district that Trump won by 22%.