Author: Nick Mildebrath

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Convergence’s IE work drives victories in Virginia, Maine

Tuesday, Convergence-supported candidates Suhas Subramanyam and Martha Mugler won commanding victories in their contested primaries for Virginia House of Delegates. Our IE mail helped support the candidates’ existing message and amplify their voices in a cluttered environment.

GOTV mail for Suhas and Martha
Special Election Notice

Additionally on Tuesday, Convergence’s ongoing partnership with the Maine House Caucus sealed another special election win for the Maine Democratic Party. This is the third win for Democrats in special elections this year, and the third time our special election alert program, which includes direct mail and digital, has helped get a victory. Congratulations to Rep-Elect Steve Moriarty and the Maine Democrats!

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Convergence takes Gold at the 2019 Pollies

Last night, Convergence was awarded a Gold Pollie award for our work in James Solomon’s 2017 campaign for Jersey City City Council. Convergence took top honors in the inaugural year of the “Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda” category, reserved for pieces from any year that had not been considered for awards previously.

This was the perfect category for “Two Visions.” As a runoff piece for an election held in December, it came to life outside the normal window for piece consideration. This win continues Convergence’s hot streak of awards for municipal pieces, with wins every year for municipal campaigns.

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Convergence helps Maine Democrats do something “special”

On Tuesday night, Maine House Democrats won their second special election in as many months, sending two new Democratic voices to Augusta from House districts 124 (Rep. Joe Perry) and 52 (Rep. Sean Paulhus).

Sample artwork from social pressure direct mail employed in House districts 124 and 52.

As part of our continued partnership with the Maine House Caucus Independent Expenditure, Convergence assisted in both of these special election victories, employing digital advertising and social-pressure-driven direct mail to help boost Democratic turnout and widen the Democrats’ margin of victory.

Congratulations to Reps. Perry and Paulhus!

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Kate Gallego elected Mayor of Phoenix

Last night, voters in Phoenix elected longtime Convergence client and friend Kate Gallego as their Mayor by a double digit margin. Phoenix becomes the largest city in America with a woman mayor.

Kate’s positive, vision-based message resonated with Phoenix voters, who turned out in record numbers and rejected a multi-million dollar IE and dark money campaign on behalf of her opponent. As of noon local time, Kate’s margin is 59-41 with more than 75% of the vote reporting.

As the direct mail consultants on this campaign, Convergence employed variable data and household-level targeting to give municipal voters all the information needed to make an informed choice in this election, and to activate new municipal voters who responded to Kate’s vision for Phoenix.

This result is especially gratifying because we have been on every one of Kate’s campaigns since her first run for City Council in 2013. It was an honor to be a part of Team Kate, and we’re excited to see Phoenix’s future under her leadership.

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Convergence continues municipal win streak at the 2019 Reed Awards

Convergence took home two trophies at this year’s Reed Awards in Austin! The entire Convergence team was on-hand to pick up awards for our municipal independent expenditure work in support of London Breed’s successful campaign for Mayor of San Francisco as well as for our work with the campaign to bring Ranked Choice Voting to Maine.

Nick was positively beaming after picking up our two trophies Thursday evening

This is the fourth year in a row Convergence has taken home Reed Awards for our mayoral work. Other mayoral Reed Awards include work for candidates in Annapolis, Phoenix, and Charleston.

Convergence is also thrilled to be recognized for our work with Maine’s Ranked Choice Voting campaign. As a firm focused on providing strategic assistance to reform-minded campaigns and candidates, we’re very excited to be recognized for our ballot measure work.

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Happy 5th Birthday to Convergence!

Today, we’re five! That means we can tie our shoes unassisted, stand on one foot for more than nine seconds, and flip seats from coast to coast. It’s been a fun five years of learning, growing, and helping some truly stellar candidates make this country a better place.

The next five years for Convergence will be even more exciting than the first. As the political communications landscape continues to evolve, we’re ready to make the changes necessary to keep the progressive victories rolling in. Our talented team is using the off-season to learn some new skills that will make us even more of an asset to our clients.

Thank you to everyone whose stood with us these past five years—we couldn’t have done this without you.

Chris

PS: For those of you who we’ll see in Austin next week at the Reed Awards, we prefer tacos to cupcakes 😉

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Restoring Balance to the Force- 2018 Success Stories

Convergence clients were big winners in a night that was filled with lots to celebrate. All in all, it was a great election for the cause of political reform, which is one of our guiding lights here at Convergence.

We’re very proud of the work we did for our clients alongside some great consultants and managers. That work included:

  • Helping Beverly Powell flip one of the two Texas State Senate seats that changed hands, reclaiming Wendy Davis’ old seat for the Democrats
  • Helping elect Greg Stanton to Congress (AZ-09), outperforming the previous incumbent’s 2016 margin of victory and getting 60% of the vote against a candidate who benefited from $1M+ of outside spending 
  • Working with our longtime friend and client Kate Gallego, who will take an 18-point lead into a March runoff election for Phoenix, AZ Mayor  
  • Working with the Maine House Democratic Caucus IE to flip five seats from Republican to Democratic control, expanding the Democratic margin in the State House
  • Helping elect Steuart Pittman as County Executive and Anne Colt Leitess asState’s Attorney in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, unseating two Republican incumbents who won their 2014 elections by double digits, even as Republican Gov. Larry Hogan won the county by a 70-30 margin

As we set our sights to 2020, the team at Convergence is ready to continue putting in the work to ensure that our country works for everyone. 

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CTC Client Congressman Ruben Gallego wins primary

In the Democratic Primary, voters in Arizona’s seventh congressional district came out in historic numbers to renominate Rep. Ruben Gallego for re-election. Congressman Gallego has always been a strong, progressive voice for his district in Washington, standing up against Trump while fighting for the rights of immigrants and working families in AZ-07. Convergence is proud to count him as our client and our friend. Congratulations, Congressman Gallego!