Voter Texting Case Study
Upper Left Strategies helped Girmay Zahilay’s campaign for King County Executive close a nine-point deficit, finishing first with 44.04% of the vote, becoming the youngest person, first immigrant, first refugee, and first newly elected King County Executive since 2009.
The Challenge
Early polling showed Girmay Zahilay trailing his closest opponent by nine points while fewer than one in four voters recognized his name.
Blanketing hundreds of thousands of voters with the same message wasn’t going to close that gap.
The campaign needed to introduce Girmay quickly, build trust, and persuade very different groups of voters across King County.
Upper Left Strategies built a targeted voter-texting program designed to reach the right voters with the right message at the right moment.
Our Strategy
Every audience received creative built specifically for them.
That included messaging for:
Seniors who vote by mail
Women voters
Progressive Seattle voters
High-propensity Democratic voters
Instead of one generic campaign, voters experienced a campaign that reflected what mattered to them.