DownWithTyranny!: New Campaign Videos

Campaign videos don't have to be expensive to be effective. I asked Mike Siegel what this one cost him. I caught up with him just as he was headed out the door to meet Beto for a rally in Elgin. He told me the video was part of a package that includes 12 clips and some mailers, but that if you break down the package, you could say the video cost around $1,500. "This is what a resistance campaign in 2018 looks like," he told me. "Focused messages targeted at specific segments of voters. Our goal is to let the Texas 10th know how the current representative has betrayed their interests, and how specifically I will fight for them."

Nate McMurray is running against indicted Republican crook (and Trumpist) Chris Collins in the part of western New York between suburban Buffalo and suburban Rochester. Nate's campaign is very grassroots-oriented and very DIY-- and this pretty effective video cost them... exactly nothing (other than a donated ancient TV from somebody's basement).

It sure would be great if they had the money to put it up on the air in the two relatively inexpensive media markets in the district. If you'd like to help Nate-- and any of the other congressional candidates on this page-- they all happen to be Medicare-For-All supporters, so you can find them on this page and contribute to their campaigns.

This brand new Randy Bryce ad (above) starts running on TV this week. With Bryan Steil and his allies pouring over $2 million into a vicious personal smear campaign against Randy, he's sticking to the issues that southeast Wisconsin voters care about and hitting back by showing his opponent's record in the private sector.

Bryce's campaign manager, David Keith, thinks this video is going to have a strong impact on voters. "The standard Beltway Democratic formula is to ignore Trump his (and Ryan’s) horrid policies," he told us, "and just about anything else that motivates working class folks. The belief is that if you present yourself milk-toast on steroids, you win in this 'wave' environment. That may be so in Democratic seats currently held by Republicans, but it’s not so in swing seats. In Wisconsin-1 we are doing it much, much differently. We are drawing a bright blue line between Trump and the decent people of southeast Wisconsin. Those that stand with Trump, good for them. We believe southeast Wisconsin has a good bullshit meter and a whole lot more voters will stand with the true working class candidate, Randy Bryce. Let’s not forget what is on every voters mind in a mid term: Trump, who in this case, is a buffoon who represents neither working class values nor aspirations, but rather those of Wall Street, K street and... the Kremlin."

Andrew Gillum is on the top of the ticket in Florida. Democrats are counting on him to win the governor's seat, save Bill Nelson's Senate seat and drag a bunch of sub-par DCCC recruits over the finishing line and into Congress. This ad is exactly the kind of thing that could help. Andrew makes the crucial connection between the state's environmental catastrophe and special interest money that has turned Florida politics into a sewer. In a non-wave cycle an ad like this might make voters think not just about Ron DeSantis, Andrew's crackpot Trumpist opponent (currently hiding under his bed and refusing to come out), but also corrupt Democraps like Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Alcee Hastings, who take as much money from the same shady special interests that help Republicans.

It's an extraordinarily good ad and I sure hope Andrew's campaign gets it out widely in this state, which is one of the most expensive in the country for TV. You can help Andrew do that here.

Brave New Film's produced two high quality videos for two high quality progressive candidates, Kara Eastman (above) and J.D. Scholten (below). The top guy at the studio, Robert Greenwald, told me today that they "decided to get involved directly in the Kara Eastman and J.D. Scholten races because it seemed that:

1- They were good progressive candidates who would benefit from video
2- What we do well at Brave New Films is tell stories, and both campaigns embraced and understood value of story telling. The narratives are about character... rather then just 30 second lists of facts or information
3- Both campaigns seem committed to multiple and wide use of the videos.