New Mexico State Representative Sarah Silva

The Challenge: Democratic Candidate Passed Away Just Months Before The Election.

In New Mexico House District 53, Dr. Jon Hill beat longtime incumbent Willie Madrid in the Democratic primary. Given the district was a border district with Mexico with a moderate to right lean, Republicans smelled blood in the water for the general election.

Shortly thereafter, tragedy struck. Dr. Jon Hill’s cancer returned through an aggressive brain tumor. Within a month, Dr. Jon Hill passed. Before he passed, he and his family endorsed Sarah Silva to replace him on the ballot. Sarah Silva, an even more progressive Democrat than Dr. Hill, had never run for office before. There was no time to train her up. Silva did not become the official candidate–one who could raise and spend money on a political campaign–until August 28.

Initial polling had her down 3 points, Trump up 2 points, and the Republican Congressional challenger up 2 points. Unfortunately, polling indicated the number one issue was immigration, and Ms. Silva had a number of inflammatory social media posts on immigration that were immediately and regularly communicated to the voters through Republican paid media. As a result, in the tracking poll–taken between October 10 – October 15, she was further down despite Harris and the Democratic Congressional incumbent now being ahead in her district.

With her opponent defining Silva successfully and negatively on immigration and with only three weeks remaining, Silva was now in the difficult position of trying to both redefine herself and her opponent under very dire circumstances in a very short timeframe.

Our Solution: Creating Messaging Based On Top Polling Issues. We ran a compare/contrast video and static ads on education–the #2 issue in the baseline poll, utilizing our opponent’s own language favoring private schools over public schools and having Sarah speak direct-to-camera to help rebuild positive engagement with the voters.

Ensuring our final set of digital was delivered effectively and efficiently became difficult because the legislative district was located in the 2nd Congressional District–a top targeted national Congressional race. The sums of money being spent on political advertising in the 2nd Congressional district made Silva’s resources relatively meager.

We made sure the digital creative was delivered to those who needed to see them most by using our Geofenced Addressable technology. Unlike IP- and cookie-matching, Geofence Addressable technology was able to target homes at a 90% match rate ensuring an effective and efficient message and targeting plan for the digital creative. We utilized the video audio on radio to reinforce the video districtwide.

The Result: Comeback Victory For Democrats. Sarah Silva won 51% – 49%. Despite Silva’s late entry into the race, lack of experience being a candidate, and harmful social media posts on immigration, Silva pulled victory out of the jaws of defeat in the last three weeks of the campaign. Not only was Silva able to protect the seat for Democrats, but she was able to honor the legacy and trust that Dr. Jon Hill put into her before his passing. From no candidate at all with four months to go to victory for the Democrats, it was quite the comeback victory.