Tuesday night, hundreds of Texas candidates won their primaries. By now the congratulation texts have slowed down, the adrenaline is gone, and you're sitting there as your party's nominee thinking: what now?
The transition from primary to general is where campaigns are won or lost. You have eight months until November. That is not as much time as you think.
Here is what you need to do right away.
1. Take Stock
Before you do anything else, get honest about where you stand.
Look at your finances. What's your cash on hand? Did the primary leave you with debt? Which donors maxed out and can't give again? If your fundraising operation worked, great. If you got lucky, now is the time to admit that.
Pull your primary results and break them down precinct by precinct. Where did you overperform? Where did you underperform? If your general election opponent had a primary too, look at their numbers. What does their coalition look like?
Look at your team. Who's burned out? Who's ready to keep going? What roles do you need to fill? Be real about your volunteer list. How many of those people are actually engaged versus just names on a spreadsheet?
You cannot build a general election campaign without knowing what you have to build with.
2. Start Raising Money Now
Your primary budget was probably tight. Your general budget needs to be two to three times bigger. Depending on your race, you may no longer be targeting a few thousand high propensity primary voters. You could need to reach tens of thousands of general election voters. That means more mail, more field, digital ads, and a full GOTV program.
Start raising early. The money you raise now goes toward building infrastructure. The money you raise in October is often too late to spend effectively.
Your primary donors believed in you, but many are maxed out. You may need new donors. That means events, online fundraising, outreach to unions and issue groups with PACs, and asking every single person you meet. Call your primary opponents and ask for their endorsement and their donor lists. Some will be gracious. Some won't. Make the call anyway.
Fundraising is now your most important job.
3. Pivot Your Message
Your primary message was built for Democrats. Your general message needs to work for Democrats, independents, and cross pressured voters.
In the primary, you could talk about standing up to the other party or defending Democratic values. That fired up your base. In the general, that same language will turn off the swing voters you need.
Keep your core story. Keep the issues that work across the board: cost of living, public safety, healthcare, education. Keep your authentic voice. But drop the partisan red meat and start talking about what voters in your district deal with every day.
The best general election messages connect to people's lives. The further your message drifts from what your voters care about, the easier it is for your opponent to define you.
4. Expand Your Universe
Primary voters are not general election voters. In your primary you targeted a small, high engagement universe. In the general you need to reach many times that number.
Your primary voters are voting for you no matter what. General election voters include independents, low propensity voters, and people who only show up in presidential years. Many of them don't follow politics closely. Most of them have no idea who you are.
Pull the general election voter file now and start building your target universes. Your mail list needs to grow. Your field plan needs to include voters who were never on your primary lists. Your digital ads need to reach people who have never heard your name. The sooner you start this work the better.
Get Moving
Eight months sounds like forever. It is not.
By the time you reset your budget and build your general plan, it will be summer. By the time you hire staff and train volunteers, it will be fall. By the time you launch your GOTV program, it will be October. Time is the most precious resource on every campaign.
The campaigns that win general elections start building now. Not in June. Not in August. Now.
You won your primary. Congratulations. Now get to work.
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