Digital strategy, Email strategy
Every Dollar Counts: A 2022 Midterms Case Study in Digital Fundraising
The Democrats will keep control of the Senate. Immediately following Election Day, Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory in Nevada clinched the all-important 50th seat, and after a crucial runoff victory for Raphael Warnock in Georgia, that majority has even expanded, defying traditional midterm performance expectations for the sitting president’s party.
In this election cycle, Democrats held four vulnerable Senate seats – in Nevada, Arizona, New Hampshire and Georgia – and we at MissionWired are honored to have been trusted to partner with the campaigns of three of those four senators to run cutting-edge and record-breaking digital fundraising programs. And in our partnership with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, we helped them defend every seat necessary to expand the Democratic majority in the Senate.
MissionWired worked alongside Catherine Cortez Masto’s team in Nevada and Maggie Hassan’s team in New Hampshire, and we were thrilled to congratulate them on their well-earned victories – and, after continuing to work tirelessly with Raphael Warnock’s team in the Georgia runoff, it was an honor to play a role in his win on Dec. 6.
As we look back on the path to secure so many hard-fought victories in tight races across the country, the results prove that every single dollar raised for these critical campaigns counted.
Here’s what we accomplished together in our work with the Warnock, Cortez Masto and Hassan teams, as well as our work alongside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee:
Sen. Raphael Warnock
After no candidate surpassed 50% of the vote on Nov. 8, Georgia once again took center stage with a runoff election — this time between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. This was our second runoff campaign partnering with Team Warnock, so we were ready to hit the ground running from the start.
By leveraging the senator’s unique personal story, making smart and aggressive investments in acquisition and ensuring we communicated with donors across every profitable channel, we were able to help Sen. Warnock secure a 6-year term — and with it, a true Senate majority for Democrats.
Race Results:
Warnock wins the seat by roughly 96,000 votes.
Final Raised Numbers:
$130 million raised across digital channels.
[Warnock] is likely to have raised more directly into his campaign account than any U.S. senator in history.Huffington Post
Catherine Cortez Masto
In Nevada, the race for a Senate majority-clinching seat came down to just 8,000 votes. Our partnership with the Cortez Masto team began nearly eight years ago, and the off-cycle program we built together propelled our fundraising and advocacy work to new in-cycle heights over the past year, making victory in such a tight race possible.
Race Results:
Masto wins the seat by roughly 8,000 votes.
Final Raised Numbers:
$32.3 million raised across digital channels.
Cortez Masto, who helped flip the chamber as chair of Democrats’ Senate campaign arm in 2020, had an overwhelming fundraising advantage in the race.– Politico
Maggie Hassan
New Hampshire incumbent Maggie Hassan’s race to defend another of the Senate’s vulnerable seats was targeted heavily by Republican groups, who poured millions of dollars into Don Bolduc’s campaign. In our work with Hassan’s team, we helped build a grassroots campaign over the course of our partnership, an effort that drove the support needed to shore up Hassan’s victory over her Trump-backed opponent by 9 points.
Race Results:
Hassan wins the seat by 56,000 votes.
Final Raised Numbers:
$12.2 million raised across digital channels.
While Mitch McConnell’s super PAC and national Republicans are pouring in nearly $60 million attacking Senator Hassan, our campaign’s grassroots support from every corner of our state shows that Granite Staters are ready to re-elect Senator Hassan.– Aaron Jacobs, Hassan’s campaign manager
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
When control of the Senate was in jeopardy and a number of Democratic seats were vulnerable, the DSCC trusted MissionWired as a partner – and we helped them defend every one of those seats, from Election Day through Raphael Warnock’s runoff victory in Georgia. Politico reported that “the four-week blitz could break spending records,” and as the digital partner for both the DSCC and Raphael Warnock’s campaign, we fought hard to win another tight race where, once again, every single dollar counted.
Overall Results for DSCC Candidates (so far):
Democrats retain Senate control.
Final Raised Numbers:
$112 million raised over digital channels across the cycle – a 3X increase over the 2018 midterm cycle.
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