Breaking Down the Silos: The Digital-Field Integration Imperative
"No longer will digital and field teams operate in silos" ~ Ken Martin DNC Chair - AND we need to build a robust media ecosystem!
In my previous issue I dove into why I firmly believe we as a party need a culture shift and now I want to point out several more factors why this is needed and necessary if we want to save democracy - the time is now. The field of play has changed so we must evolve with it.
When I set out to share my professional experiences and thoughts on Substack, my #1 goal was and is to use Indiana as a prime example of what happens when we as a party put all our eggs in one basket. As Democrats we need to shift our culture - it is not an either/or, it is a both/and strategy. Play everywhere. Growth happens in the uncomfortable spaces if we are willing to lean into the uncomfortable.
Why Voter Turnout is the Real Victory
When you only focus only on "winnable races" - as you can see from the chart below - you go from a purple state to a deeply gerrymandered state leaving voters feeling isolated and disenfranchised. Indiana and many other "rigged" states have become the petri dishes for the egregious legislation we see at the national level. As
has vocalized time and time again, states are no longer the "laboratories of democracy" but they have become "laboratories of autocracy." Additionally, enter stage left: Josh Hawley, JD Vance, and Indiana's own Jim Banks as prime examples of what happens when we buy into a scarcity mindset.
But more importantly, there are other elements that happened in the dark that are no longer only confined to "rigged" states - they control the narrative:
Restricting reproductive rights under the mask of "pro-life".
A shift in labor laws hidden under the banner of "educational work experience"
Book bans under the notion of “parental rights” (and as a former teacher - a right parents have always had).
The reclassification of wetlands as a way of "easing" permits for construction projects.
The explosion of school vouchers under the guise of “school choice” - but rather privatization of public schools.
“The GOP is really good at messaging” ~ echos across many Democratic conversations. But is it just about messaging - nope - is it the delivery system they're good at too.
How did we get here?
One could argue many factors, but I want to discuss the rise of the right-wing media ecosystem and how it relates to the challenges candidates face when trying to win an election. I 100% agree with the series
has produced laying out "How the Right Wing Won the Media War - And What We Can Still Do About It" - Part Four is coming soon. Take a moment to read his series.Breaking Down the Silos: The Digital-Field Integration Imperative
In order to course correct, the Democratic Party needs and must begin playing the entire field. I believe Ken Martin, our new DNC Chair, is moving in that direction as can be seen in his rollout - "DNC Chair Ken Martin Lays Out Vision for Organizing Everywhere." What I want to zone in on in his plan is part three: "We Integrate Digital and Field Organizing as One Strategy."
Martin states: "No longer will digital and field teams operate in silos. Our organizing will treat digital outreach, relational organizing, influencer engagement, and social media as essential parts of one strategy. By integrating these elements into a cohesive program, we will reach voters more efficiently, adapt faster to emerging narratives, and build a more dynamic and resilient organizing infrastructure.”
Let's examine why this statement matters. What is it about breaking down these silos that has the potential to begin addressing some of our most challenging obstacles going into the 2026 election cycle?
The separation between digital and field operations has been a fundamental weakness in Democratic campaigns for years. While Republicans have built an integrated ecosystem where their online messaging, news media, radio, podcasts, influencers all reinforces their ground game and vice versa, Democrats have often treated these as separate domains with different priorities, metrics, and leadership. Democrats candidates can not break through the noise to voters at the doors, when they are over run by GOP narratives that hit like hail storm on every modern communication channel available to voters.
But I have hope —> Here's what this integration could accomplish:
Consistent Messaging Across All Touchpoints: When a voter sees an ad online, hears from a canvasser at their door, and receives a text message from a campaign or candidate they should experience a rather coherent narrative and or brand understanding of what Democrats stand for rather than disjointed or even contradictory messages. Keep in mind what branding is.
Real-Time Feedback Loop: Field organizers encounter objections and questions that digital teams need to address immediately in their content. Digital teams spot emerging narratives that field teams need to be prepared to counter on doorsteps.
Resource Optimization: In our "red" districts where field resources are thin, digital organizing can fill gaps and reach voters who would otherwise never encounter our message. Conversely, high-touch field tactics can reinforce and validate messages voters see online.
Authentic Local Voice: When local candidates and volunteers are empowered to create content for their communities (with appropriate guidance), it creates authenticity that centralized digital operations can't match. This matters especially in places that feel "talked down to" by national Democrats.
But more importantly an integrated approach would and can increase Democratic BRAND visibility!
During the 2024 election cycle, Democrats had huge amounts of dollars flowing in and the energy from Harris and Walz was electric, but what happened? We need to keep asking this probing question at every turn. There are many layers to that answer - as to why voters who supported Biden but stayed home in 2024 - but an honest understanding of what the field of play looks like is necessary to tackle the challenges ahead if we want to reclaim our democracy.
As Jose Cornejo and Lucy Ritzmann pointed out in FWIW:
“Campaigns are faster, more data-driven, and more tech-enabled than ever. But the strategies we’re scaling haven’t kept pace. Too often, our tools help us do more – but not better.
That’s the heart of what I call the strategy-tech gap – and the cracks we saw in 2024 threaten not just our effectiveness today, but our ability to win future cycles.”
In 2024, Democrats broke records in fundraising and voter contact, continuing the expansion of tactics that have become standard across cycles. But beneath the surface, something isn’t working: despite the scale, many organizers reported lower engagement with traditional tactics, knocking on the same unanswered doors over and over.
The same theme keeps pointing back to our need to build a robust media ecosystem - not just for campaigning but for yearly community engagement and advocacy work. The beat of this drum is beginning to sound pretty loud. But it not just about building a media ecosystem.
“And Democrats’ digital media problem runs deeper than content or platforms – it’s about how we identify, produce, and distribute content at scale. Most Democratic media investment flows toward short-term paid tactics because they’re easy to measure. We lack the infrastructure – technology, production models, analytics – to build the sustained, impactful media operations we need to reach an electorate that’s increasingly tuning out political news.”
As we work to a solution, we must ALSO keep campaigns and candidates involved in this process - one of the key end users.
Why is this so vital?
News Deserts - fertile grounds for the spread of disinformation and misinformation.
“Donald Trump won the 2024 election with one of the smallest popular-vote margins in U.S. history, but in news deserts — counties lacking a professional source of local news — it was an avalanche.
Trump won 91% of these counties over his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, according to an analysis of voting data by Medill Journalism School’s State of Local News project. While Trump’s national popular-vote margin was just under 1.5%, his margin in news deserts was massive. He won these counties by an average of 54 percentage points. In the few won by Harris, her margin was a comparatively slim 18 points, the analysis shows.” (1)
So how do we break through?
In order for us to work towards a solution, we need as a collective to understand the "pitch" as they say in soccer 😉 or rather the playing field.
Understand where voters are consuming media.
I am sharing this graphic again from Resonate - keep in mind this was captured the week of March 25 - media views fluctuate week to week. Which leads me to my next point.
~ Source: “Resonate Elements Data, 2024”
According to research by Way to Win - we need to be everywhere and meet voters in their space. Podcasts!! 🤦🏻♀️
Educating candidates and campaigns on HOW digital works.
Reaching voters is no longer solely about knocking on doors, phone calls and potluck suppers. While a piece of the equation, candidates and campaigns need to implement a highly strategic digital campaign and interjecting themselves into the podcasts and youtube world.
The Challenges We Must Address
In the current political landscape, when we do not run and support candidates in every district, disinformation and misinformation wins because we have provided the opportunity for the right wing to own the narrative.
Secondly, when we do have candidates running in hard-to-win races, they are not fully supported. Let’s work to change this culture. Campaigns are like 12-month start-ups with a hard end date. We are asking candidates to be community leaders and experts in running a business. While candidate training is essential for their success, we need to acknowledge that reaching voters has become, well, complicated - next level. Marketing manager next level. Digital expert next level. Data expert next level. All candidates need our support.
And finally, supporting only winnable races whether on the national or state level does not provide enough brand awareness, message penetration and energy for Democrats to rebuild our political power. It goes back to redefining what winning looks like in each state, district, and county.
📢 I end my Substack today with a bold call to action - as a leader in this space, I know that if we want to win back the House in 2026 and gain power in our state houses, we need to be playing on the entire pitch with all our players, building a media ecosystem that gives Democrats the megaphone to shape the narrative, and equipping candidates with the skills and support to execute high-level digital strategies that leave Republicans in the dust. Let's get ready to take back our country in 2026. The work starts now!
The Comments are OPEN - we need to be ideating - brain storming - having zoom calls together. 📢
(1) https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/in-news-deserts-trump-won-in-a-landslide/
I know that for some, this is an unpopular opinion, but I LOVE that Pete Buttigieg is going on podcasts with primarily conservative male audiences. We don't need more podcasts. We need more Dems and democracy-minded Independents going onto these podcasts to break through the noise. I want to see WAY more of that.
We have atomized our media ecosystem. People live in information silos. We only break the silos by entering them.
And those of us living in Red states are already doing that in our daily lives. Our political leaders need to do the same.
As a Texas Democrat, I can attest to the veracity of the author's points about Red states.
What would have happened to this country had Texas not become a particularly vile laboratory of autocracy? MAGA Republicans in Texas providing Trump with incredible amounts of support did not need to be. This outcome was not set in stone. National Democrats set it in stone because they only cared about the presidential race and abandoned Texas in the 90's.
Political parties should not be using the same strategy as corporations. Elections are not an amoral competition where votes are equivalent to profits. Corporations make ruthless decisions that certain endeavors are unprofitable, so they don't compete in certain markets. Government is about public service. Political parties likewise are about service, not profits. And votes are not profits.
Therefore, Democrats should never make decisions to abandon people because the vote-to-investment ratio does not work. It should never be abandoning people because their votes aren't enough on paper to ensure a presidential election win. These 'unwinnable' states are where we should be fighting for voters the most. Voters deserve alternatives to Republicans. Besides, it profits democracy in general to fight in red states. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, remember?
1. MAGA Republicans and (Real) Texas Republicans are in a war. MAGA is winning. As usual, business Republicans thought they could control MAGA politicians. They couldn't. When they tried to claw back power via impeaching Paxton, Patrick closed his iron fist on rank and file Republicans and let Paxton off the hook. Now normal(ish) Now, MAGA is systematically eradicating pragmatic, business-oriented Republicans in their primaries. This means Austin is pumping out even more extreme legislation. Get ready for this BS to be exported to the nation via a Trump EO.
2. Unless and until Democrats win everyday Republican voters over to our side, MAGA Republicans will keep exploiting the news deserts in rural Texas. We are now at the competitive autocracy stage here in Texas. Representation of real world voter interest is now pretty much nil. It's all just one big MAGA fantasy now.
3. We Democrats used to be able to vote for a Republican in our local community and feel completely safe. We would know this person. We could count on this public official taking their job seriously and working at service - i.e. they wanted everyone, even Democrats, to have ballot access, clean water, safe schools, etc. But MAGA Republicans, with their focus on the national narrative, have set about destroying all the good government things we built.
Had Democrats been in the arena here, Republicans might have kept Texas red overall. But our insertion of a different perspective into the conversation would have moderated Republicans and kept them from falling into this avoidable autocratic cesspool. Republicans in Austin used to collaborate with Democrats to get the job done until Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick came on the scene. Voting with a Democrat, even if it is in the best interest of Texans, is severely punished by Dan Patrick. The fact that Republicans think this way should be part of Democratic attacks on them.
BTW, if they had been paying attention, National Democrats would have realized that the governor in Texas is mostly a figurehead. It is the Lt. Governor, Dan Patrick, who has the real power. Patrick is up this year. If Democrats will focus their fire on him and the wildly unpopular school voucher scheme he just rammed through, we can defeat him. Kicking Patrick out will go a long way toward getting back to regular order in Austin. Patrick is not from Texas and his attempts at dressing like a cowboy are so cringey. A real, authentic Texas candidate with the kind of support outlined in this article ought to be able to make mincemeat out of him.
Democrats need to stop thinking in terms of winnable v. unwinnable and more in terms of every voter needs representation. Democrats need to support democracy by considering the fact that a minority party has the power to force the majority to compromise!!! We Red state Democrats are pretty bitter about being written off by the cocktail-swilling Democrats in DC.
By trying to win the presidential election battle and ignoring elections like governors, county commissioners, mayors, school boards, etc. Democrats lost the democracy war. The Democratic Party Mission statement should change from winning the White House to making America safe for democracy. Let's get in the fight right now.