Putting it all together: Case Studies
A 40-Year Quest
For four decades, Republicans held the New York State Senate. They controlled it with an iron fist, denying Democrats a say in the legislative process and relegating them to second class senators. With that lesser position, Democrats were also denied much of the powers of incumbency usual to elected office.
Out of power, lacking political leverage and perennially low on cash, New York's Democratic Senate Campaign Committee had spent 40 years in the wilderness, and many questioned whether they could ever re-take the majority.
The power balance was so entrenched against them that even traditional Democratic allies like labor unions and trial lawyers were giving more money, endorsements and clout to the GOP.
Yet in a slow march, Democrats began to win seats they hadn't held in a long time. It began in 2006, when Red Horse Strategies' partners were brought in to rebuild the State Senate's political operation. Making tough calls and smart investments, we delivered the wins that moved the Democrats closer than ever to the majority.
In 2007, we won a special election on Long Island, a longtime GOP stronghold. We won another tough special in early 2008, previewing the real battle in November of that year. Outspent by a large margin, we designed a statewide plan that protected vulnerable incumbents ran strong challenger campaigns in a handful of districts.
We built campaigns on strong messaging and intelligent targeting, and we deployed state-of-the-art field operations across the state. And despite being outspent more than 2-1, we defended all our incumbents and won the seats needed to deliver the State Senate majority to Democrats for the first time in 40 years.