How To Win State Legislative Races - Edith Jorge-Tuñón (RSLC)

Edith Jorge-Tuñón is the Deputy Executive Director of the Republican State Leadership Committee. The RSLC helps state legislative candidates across the country win their elections. They've just come off of a very successful 2021 election season in Virginia and New Jersey.

The Business of Politics Show, hosted by Eric Wilson, is a production of Startup Caucus, an investment fund and incubator for Republican campaign technology. Visit StartupCaucus.com to learn more.

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Transcript

00:01.72
ericwilson
I'm Eric Wilson managing partner of startup caucus an investment fund and incubator for republican campaign technology welcome to the business of politics show on this podcast. We bring you into conversation with the entrepreneurs who build best in class political businesses. Funders who provide the capital and the operatives who put it all together to win campaigns. Our guest today is edith jorge toon she's the deputy executive director of the republican state leadership committee we'll call up the rslc for the rest of the episode. The rslc helps state legislative candidates across the country win their elections. They've just come off of a very successful 2021 election season. We'll dive into that and much more in the show. Edith what is the rslc and and what is its role in the republican ecosystem.

00:53.57
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Hey eric ah first and foremost thanks for having me on I'm excited to be her big fan of the show. Um rslc republican state leadership committee essentially were the only national committee that focuses on State level races. All fifty states. And underneath rslc you know, think of that as the umbrella kind of organization. We have 5 different caucuses. Um within those caucuses we kind of serve lieutenant governors ad commissioners secretary of states the legislators that being our largest caucus and then we have a fifth and final that focuses on kind of judicial races. Across the country as well. So as I mentioned only organization that kind of ah provides help to to all 50 states at the state level. Um, and the way that I like to kind of also compare. It is think of it the same way that you have ah the r and c kind of that. Ah big umbrella. And then underneath it. You'll have the N rcc the n r s se rga um and we would fall in there as the rslc.

01:50.97
ericwilson
Got it. So um, it is a really unique perspective to these races that a lot of people don't think about or or maybe not pay enough attention to because like ah like the secretary of state the Ag commissioner like these are um. Campaigns or elected officials includes the judicial stuff that that have really I think more direct impact on on what happens to your day to day. Give us a little sense of of the stakes of of of what these elected officials are responsible for.

02:25.35
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yeah I mean it obviously differs from state to state which makes our job extra exciting. Um, in some cases you know it's kind of dependent on the the government to elect their secretaries or their ad commissioners. Um, using those 2 examples specifically and in others they they do run as statewide elected Officials. Um. 1 quick example I'll give you which is probably going to be 1 of our most targeted you know statewide races next year Believe it or not is going to be the ad commissioner race in the state of Florida ah right now. No ah 1 democrat but that position um is held or better said. No Democrat holds a statewide office ex except for the ad commissioner. Um. And so you know it's our goal to get in there and and hopefully take that back and and that's a really good example of a position that to your point you wouldn't think a commissioner you know can throw a ton of weight around but in a state like Florida they actually do carry quite a bit of weight. Um, and are in charge ah of a number different kind of departments that you wouldn't traditionally see of an ad commissioner and say you know wyoming or Idaho or or 1 of those ah more rural states.

03:28.20
ericwilson
Yeah, and I just think the example I always think about is the next time you're filling up your your car with gas take a look at the the sticker there because there is ah there is an elected official who is responsible for for calibrating that and and sometimes that can be the ag commissioner some that sometimes that can be someone else. Um, so it's really interesting just to to see how these roles even though they don't get a lot of attention have a lot of impact in our daily lives. So edith. We spoke in an earlier episode with Kevin mclaughlin about the in Rsc the republican senatorial committee. Um, and so our.

04:00.74
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Um, and.

04:07.12
ericwilson
Listeners have that organization as a framework or as a frame of reference. What is the difference between working with state candidates as opposed to candidates at the U s federal level.

04:19.92
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yeah I think the the first thing that comes to mind which is probably the biggest difference is you know we deal with many more um candidates at once I think and nrcc so the congressional committee probably um is the second most like us. In that you know similarly, they're dealing with literally hundreds of campaigns at a time. Um, but you know when thinking about our legislative caucus which is our largest caucus I mean we we literally are talking about hundreds of campaigns all happening at 1 so it's you know, tracking as many of these as possible. Um, quite frankly, not just tracking them as the election cycle is happening but also post-election day to to kind of be able to then go back and say okay, well this is how many seats we want or how many we lost or what we netted or you know how many of these folks are are female or diverse candidates and so. You know for a really long time. We did a good job of just tracking our our pluses and minuses. Um, but we're now at a point in the committee where we want to grow beyond that and try to really dig deep into the data to be able to show you know how are we growing as a party not just in numbers but in in what. You know our electeds look like what our candidates look like and also the the resources that we're able to kind of share with them.

05:32.75
ericwilson
Yeah, and I think the the biggest challenge just practically speaking out of that is probably that instead of 1 federal election set of laws right? that you have to follow? You've got 50 different states and every state is different. Um, can you go into a little bit more of the the practical considerations that come from from crossing state lines as it were and and dealing with dozens of different. You know, regulatory regimes.

05:58.99
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Absolutely and that's a really good point eric you know that's something we kind of deal with every day. Um here because it can literally be something as simple as you know what kind of conversation cannot be having a conversation. Um, with some of these folks or something you know, less complicated as if we want to coordinate what does our disclaimer have to be you know? Um, but so so the 3 main ways that we as a committee kind of engage in State elections. It's either. You know directly through contributions to a candidate a committee a caucus so on and so forth. Ah, the second way would be through coordinated efforts obviously depending on the state. So we work directly with whether it's independent expenditure groups or the caucus or you know whomever in the state is kind of taking the charge and then the final way would be through independent expenditures usually um, either we are. You know, dealing in a state. That's very restricted and what we can and can't do um or we choose to kind of just run some type of ie on our own for a candidate or or several candidates or whatever the case may be um to to your point depending on the State. You know we would kind of go about it differently and a big consideration. You know behind all of this is a couple of things it's you know at what state is this team in terms of their kind of campaign building right? So are we working with folks that have been doing this for you know. Ten plus years twenty plus years they know what they're doing. They have a good structure on the ground and we can kind of really work with them or rely on them to to kind of you know, pick up and run sort of speak um or is this a state that maybe doesn't have as much experience in the caucus world or in the campaign world. Um, usually you tend to see those a little more in either states we haven't necessarily dealt with in the past or kind of some of these bluer states that just don't have the resources necessary um to be able to to be running at you know the pace of 1 of these really red states. Um, and so we take all of these measures into consideration and that's kind of how we'll we'll base our decision on. How do we engage? where do we engage? Um, and then last but not least it's it's obviously you know what does the data tell us we are very very proud. Um, the investments. We've made the last couple years in running data-driven campaigns and decisions and so we always say you know when they ask us. Why are you? Why are you worth investing in and I say because we make the we make the the hard decisions for you right? We're never going to lie to you and tell you we can run rate win a race. We can't win.

08:24.18
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Gonna tell you we can pick up a chamber that we can't We're always gonna be very honest about what we think is realistic i' and a big part of that is because a good chunk of our budget goes into data and so we're we're not going into some of these states just kind of saying Yeah, we're gonna win back The New York assembly and you know trying to get as much money out of that as Possible. We're gonna say Okay, let's take a look. Data If This looks like a smart move if we think we can pick up some seats then we're gonna go in there. We're gonna We're gonna see what we can do um but that's ah I would say those are kind of like the the main criteria is to to give you a sense of why or how we play.

08:55.26
ericwilson
Yeah, and it's a really interesting dynamic that differs so just to draw some distinctions between again like the the nrcc at the federal level because you are sort of 1 step removed from those those. State leaders. You know they they're worried about the next two years four years six years and of course our slc carries cares about that too. But you can say look if we do want to flip a chamber in this state. What would it look like as an 8 year project and mapping it out and what is the data and then.

09:13.43
Edith Jorge_Tunon
And 1

09:28.46
ericwilson
Of course the the data and and the status of the voter files and all that again changes by State by State. So I think it's really important that people understand how complex your job is. It's not just sort of say okay here are forty swing seats that are going to determine who controls the the gavel you actually have to do that. 40 times. Ah you know 50 states plus you know just about every 1 of them except for Nebraska has 2 chambers right? Um, so that um I think gives us a really good perspective of of the the rsl c's role.

09:50.30
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yeah, yeah.

09:57.89
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yep.

10:07.72
ericwilson
I Want to dig in a little bit on on what it's like running state level or state legislative campaigns. So edith. You know you've been a very early supporter of Startup caucus in our community. Ah, which I think gives you a unique perspective into some of these challenges. What do entrepreneurs need to understand about selling to state caucuses or state level candidates.

10:31.70
Edith Jorge_Tunon
I mean the main thing is they don't have the budget that your federal candidates have um you know I think you're you're better off if you can try to offer a service that provides the caucus a service to their members. And when I say members I don't just mean they're elected. But obviously they're candidates as well. So you know 1 of the an aric you're right? You know I've met with with a ton of folks over at startup and this is kind of always a conversation that I have with them too is like. You know if you really want to get your foot in the door at State level politics but you you have to think a little broader than just going after like 1 2 you know ten twelve candidates it's really how can you offer you know the the larger committee. A product that they can then go offer their members and in most cases, you know it's free of free of charge. Um, but because caucuses caucus are you know the caucus is you're kind of um and I'm and I'm just kind of honing in on the legislative right now because I think this example makes sense. Um, but caucuses are kind of like your your main line to resources right? They're there to help you get elected if you're elected. They're there to kind of ensure that you get reelected and so they're always looking for new opportunities to. You know, give something to their members give something to their candidates to kind of further prove the value of having them established in a state. Um, so that's kind of always my number 1 thing and quite frankly number 2 you know the reality. The first thing I mentioned was the budget isn't you know there. At a local level that it is at a federal level. Although some of these legislative races have you know, really been kind of pumping up their numbers lately. So you're you're looking at these races that are being. You know you are spending millions in them. Um, or millions are being spent in them. Better said. Um, but you know. It. It also helps cut down on kind of having to go out and like I said try to find you know 10 different clients. You know at maybe half of what you would be charging a federal campaign and that's gracious. Ah, when you can just kind of have this 1 main artery that then helps you supply business to numerous candidates.

12:49.17
ericwilson
Right? So I think there are 2 things I want to dig into there first is it's a good example of the next frontier of of technology and innovating in politics because I really. Think that we're we're at this sort of stage between what I call 2 point zero and 3 point Zero. So 2 point zero is is really using the internet well and transforming the total digitization of campaigns and that's.

13:19.67
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Where.

13:23.79
ericwilson
Where we are. We're starting to see some glimpses of what 3 point zero looks like which is you know more ownership control by supporters. But you've got the big senate races. You've got the big congressional races gubernatorial races who they can build huge email lists. They've got really good advertising. Targeting budgets and all those sorts of things. It's those thousands of campaigns that you know may spend between 10001 ah hundred thousand dollars that we need to figure out how do we get them ah pulled into the twenty first century of of digital campaigning. Um, and so that's why I think it's such an exciting frontier with with where you're working and and 1 that I would encourage other entrepreneurs who are listening to this to say this is ah a space where technology actually is going to have a real impact. Um, in terms of driving down costs and and adding capabilities.

14:19.44
Edith Jorge_Tunon
I think you're absolutely right? And here's the thing too like we just having gotten there on our side like Democrats realistically have been doing this for years now and you know case in point act blue um I mean they are able to raise hundreds of thousands. Of low dollar contributions to I mean texas is a great example of this in 2020 um, Elizabeth guzman if I'm not mistaken. She was running for a special election there earlier in the year and like within the first month I think it was like January like and the end of december january you know she raised. 6 figures just from contributions coming outside of texas um, it's wild and the thing is that you know I can't point to a single republican legislative campaign candidate elected that has probably ever been able to do that. Um, with an online presence right.

14:59.78
ericwilson
This is wild.

15:15.94
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Not that you know they went out to california and raised 6 figures but that you know just through low dollar fundraising just through utilizing different digital platforms and you know strategies they raise that amount of money and so. You know that is to your point like that makes me happy because it makes me think okay like we can only get better at this point because we're nowhere near that. But how we get there I think is what's going to be interesting in big part because the technology on the Republican side is. Just starting to get there right and we have a lot to learn and they've been doing this for you know the better part of of 10 plus years now. Um, so they've kind of really gotten it down to to a science and then the last component and and all of this and back to your point and why it makes it even more difficult for us is that at the federal level. 1 set of laws right for us. It's 50 different sets of law if we were to you know, try to do some type of conduit email fundraising with using texas again as ah as the example with you know the speakers um, kind of political arm. We'd have to follow all of the same. You know, legal kind of like laws in the state of texas and then they'd be completely different if we tried to do the same thing in Florida so it definitely provides for a fun little puzzle for republican ah operatives and digital folks.

16:39.60
ericwilson
You're listening to the business of politics show I'm speaking with edith jorge toon the deputy executive director of the rslc and we're digging into state legislative races and and how technology is transforming them I want to back up edith and and really important thing. That's just. Need to underline is that these races are so important because it is the bench of the future of the Republican party right? The the vast majority of our members of congress senators and governors start out as state legislators and so that's another reason. Why I really encourage entrepreneurs and and startup founders to focus on this market because that that is a customer base that is going to grow with you over the next decade and so talk about the the role that that rslc plays in developing the bench. For the republican party because I think that's ah, that's that's sort of under the radar of what you guys are doing right now.

17:36.80
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yeah, and that's been a huge priority of ours. Um, it certainly has been for me since I came on board. Um, you know I think the 2 things and before I even get into that. The first thing I want to say is like we can't do what we do and that's across a board from raising. You know money to winning elections to you know, having the the leadership involvement that we do without the teams on the ground. Um and they are again. They are the reason we are successful. We we deal with 50 states. But you know maybe and i'm. I don't even say this facetiously. You know, maybe five percent of those states are the ones we really have to kind of roll up our sleeves and say all right. This is going to be a tough 1 um, but I say that all because you know we have had a really good kind of. Dialogue with folks on the ground about you know the image of the republican party and it hasn't been. You know us kind of saying like hey guys you need to do better It's actually been the other way around. It's been hey how do we do? better. What are you seeing other states do to recruit. You know younger people to run for office to recruit more females to recruit more diverse candidates and like that's been so uplifting as well because you know the same way that I came here in 2019 and that was a priority to me I immediately saw that it's also a priority a lot of our folks in our states. Um and they're already kind of trying to. They're trying to think bigger picture of okay we need to really you know show how inclusive we are as a party How do we do that and so we work with with all of our members with all of our caucuses with all of our operatives on really thinking through. How do we? How do we spend this party not just on an engagement. Kind of level. But also when looking at some of these folks running that maybe they're not necessarily going to win this time around. They might you know run again and and still not be the right time right place but where we build a bench for years to come right. And and a lot of that has to do with how do we train some of these folks. Um, how do we get them into a room and really have them see what it what it is to run an election. Um, but also you know what are the tools available to be able to win some of these elections some of these races and and that kind of you know, comes full circle to There are so many things available to individuals today whether it's through us whether it's through their caucus whether it's through you know, actual vendors and and different companies that they can work with but where you know not only.

20:16.85
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Not only is it possible to win in some of these more difficult seats. But it's not going to cost you what it traditionally would have cost you Um, so all of this to say you know where we had a district that maybe it would be great for you know a school teacher to run in. But the school teacher's number 1 concern is hey I don't think I can raise what some of these folks are spending to win an election. Well the beauty of it is is there. You know we can professionally say we have been outspent as bad as twenty to 1 and still won some of these races. And it's because I do feel that we just are much smarter about how we utilize the tools that we have available to us.

20:57.86
ericwilson
Yeah, but being the the technology is is sort of changing the equation that that being outraised isn't the death sentence. It used to be right because we can be smarter with our our data and our targeting and and how we're reaching voters. So edith I Want to.

21:07.80
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Will start.

21:14.95
ericwilson
Dig into. Obviously we had some very competitive state legislative elections in Virginia where republicans regained control of the the majority there I know that was a big priority for rlc but also in new jersey where we had some sort of headline makers with some some important elections there. Ah, what are some of the trends that we saw in those legislative elections that might carry over to the the midterms whether down ballot or or up top top of the ticket.

21:45.92
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yeah I mean and we saw this are in 2020 saw it again a lot in 2021 I've been calling them out on it since um so I don't know whether or not they're they're listening and or are gonna learn their lesson but number 1 trend is. The left still, you know as a big part of their ah kind of game book if you will is television broadcasting cable. Um, and I'm I'm talking about like more than fifty percent of what I imagine some of these campaign budgets are. Are going just to television and and it's all post-labor day. Um, that is insane to me. We had 1 campaign in Virginia the guy spent over half a million dollars on broadcast and cable is going to lose. He's actually trying to to challenge. Um.

22:25.50
ericwilson
Wow.

22:41.30
Edith Jorge_Tunon
His loss but he's going to lose by about a Hundred votes. Ah our candidate spent probably half of that. Um, with obviously our help and kind of all of the coordination we were able to do which virginia is great in that respect. Um, but with her campaign team between us the caucus all of us kind of really day to day making these difficult decisions. You know we made a very kind of conscientious decision to not try to even get close to matching him on television. There was no way that we were going to be able to but what we did do.

23:09.67
ericwilson
All right.

23:15.17
Edith Jorge_Tunon
And we did this kind of across the board I mentioned you know in virginia alone our budget was we already spent close to 3 point 2 um, but likely a little higher million dollars of that almost half a million dollars was on data from modeling to polling to kind of ah data storing and housing. To you know, regular updates to to the files to see kind of where we stood today sort of thing. Um, all of that plus the the messaging that we had been doing all summer months to very targeted households because again we knew we weren't going to have the money to be able to kind of go far and wide the way that that they normally do. Um, but what we also knew was that they were going to go up way later than us so we spend all Summer essentially um, hitting very specific households right? knowing who we need to be hitting with what messaging because we've spent all this money on data to tell us exactly that and then on top of that you know we're working with folks like new menar to then tell us like hey is our message working and if so. You know what is this shifting or where is the shift going kind of thing like are there more people that we can incorporate in these universes. Are there folks that now we need to hit with a different message in any case we decide that we're good. We're going to go up on television in early august. Um. And so we do with again a very smart buy because the beauty of today's day and age is that you can also target who you want on television and on things like and correct correct and.

24:34.91
ericwilson
Do things like addressable and and custom audiences. Yeah, right.

24:40.60
Edith Jorge_Tunon
And honestly, with comcast some of these folks will let you actually you know, buy specific to kind of a cable top addresses and stuff like that which is definitely above my pay grade but they tell me it's being done and I believe it? Um, so all that to say you know we decide to go up with you know? ah. Pretty decent buys across the board in early august completely catch them off guard take them 2 weeks before the first ones even able to get on tv before September so that's all just couple things right? It told us number 1 they were the. Their playbook was exactly the same right? They were waiting until post-labor day when they thought that that's actually when the race is going to start then they were going to just dump all of this money into like random television buys. Um, and that's what they would do for the remainder of the you know forty something days Fifty days. Um, so we get up. Up for about a month they get up 2 weeks after that they get up with positive ads which now tells me well they're not doing their research either right? or they were waiting to you know, see what their best hits were on. Um, our guys maybe do some message testing again. We had done all of this over the summer months so we were. Literally months ahead of them. Um, they get up with positive ads. It's not until probably Mid -september to late september that we start seeing negative ads on our candidates. Um, so again, you know their timeline seems to still be where it was. Um, they're not using the targeting that we are also they have much more money than us which you know means they're kind of just throwing it everywhere else group. Truly you're you're absolutely right? Um, and then again we basically spent all summer softening the ground.

26:17.13
ericwilson
Um, well they don't have to be as creative right? yeah.

26:29.99
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Transition to television with very targeted buys in early august ran all the way through the end of September after which we kind of just you know, worked with the campaigns on on making sure they were in a good place moving forward. But then we redirected everything to online digital social. Um. And mailboxes as well as a ah couple of traditional grassroots efforts that we paid for on the ground.

26:53.54
ericwilson
So the lesson seems to be invest early start working early and and that this this old conventional wisdom of ah wait until after labor day to officially starts a campaign just isn't working anymore because if someone has ah.

27:11.82
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yeah yep, and dev.

27:11.98
ericwilson
Has done a lot of work beforehand before you even wake up right? Um, so edith you have worked on a lot of campaigns and now have visibility into hundreds more What's a problem or challenge you see that an entrepreneur who's listening today ought to. Work on tackling whether that's through a business, a service or a product.

27:34.78
Edith Jorge_Tunon
That's a really good question eric um I think it would 1 of the things that I'm always kind of interested in is you know I think that we as operatives are a little jaded. Um, we assume that everyone either thinks of us thinks like us can't understand why people don't agree with us. Um, and then you know even worse if you're like on Twitter you just assume the whole world is like you. Um I wish there was a way you know the the downside to all of this right is I don't get. As much time as I used to to be able to roll up my sleeves and go door docking or make phone calls and you know phone calls are probably not even the most effective way spent my time anymore. Um, but I guess so the reason I say that is because I would love to get a sense for like what. Are the sentiments at the door. You know like when when your volunteers are knocking on doors like it's almost like I wish that there was like ah a ring conversation or a ring recording every conversation that's had at the door. Um, so that you could get like a real sense and honestly it's probably great from a safety perspective as well. Right.

28:30.10
ericwilson
Um, yeah.

28:39.55
ericwilson
Right.

28:41.97
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Um, because you have all these oftentimes you have a lot of young kids or or older folks at doors and you never really know like what's happening. What's being said, um, but I would love to just get a sense for like when someone you know you always hear volunteers say I have the best conversation at the door today. The guy said he's not going to vote. Um, or he's never voted republican in his life. But you know he really likes the candidate and it's gonna be the first time he ever votes for a republican like I would love to be able to see that.

29:06.25
ericwilson
Like is that actually true number 1 right? Yeah, so being able to dig into that. Yeah.

29:10.80
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yeah, fifty percent of it is accountability. The other fifty percent is that would be great on an ad.

29:16.66
ericwilson
Um, it was like the you you that that door Knocker is the most persuasive political operative we have We need to clone them and send them around the country. Yeah well the I mean it is ah it's a tough balance right? so.

29:23.95
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Ah, and the thing is like you've heard this story like every campaign cycle. So.

29:35.48
ericwilson
Obviously we are ah very data driven and we're focusing on the tech and the tactics and measurement and and I think to some extent we Overindex for measurability and and and data. And we forget that there's a human emotional element to these campaigns and that voters are not rational actors that ah they they hear things differently than it's presented to them. They get different inputs and. So I Think that's a really interesting challenge there because people sort of say hey let's let's look at the cinmon analysis on social media. But there's this huge I mean having been on a campaign and been around volunteers there sort of the unsolicited advice is a huge resource for campaigns and can sometimes be a headache.

30:20.91
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Yeah.

30:27.80
ericwilson
Um, but finding a way to to input that into campaigns is ah a really fascinating Opportunity. So I'm I'm glad you brought that up I'm I'm really fascinating about the doorbell cameras and just the possibilities there. Ah. You know someone's not Answering. You should still read your script because they're going to watch it on their phone. That's a targeted impression against a household. So fun stuff like that. Um, well.

30:46.55
Edith Jorge_Tunon
Um, that's true. Yeah.

30:54.58
ericwilson
Thank you edith for joining us today. There's a link to the rslc's website in the show notes and you can find edith on Twitter The link is also included there finally before we wrap up please rate and review the show over on apple podcasts. It really helps with discovery and reaching new listeners. And that's key to the mission of growing our innovation community. So thank you for listening and we'll see you next time. All right edith let me.