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Way to Win

@waytowinus.bsky.social

19K followers 200 following 600 posts

A power network of organizers, activists and donors. We're here to upend politics as usual with research, intelligence and strategic action from across the winning diverse Democratic coalition. Listen to our new podcast, Charting the Way Forward!

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · Nov 13

Good morning friends. Some common sense:

50 years of predatory capitalism x
Recent price shocks x
Broken media environment x
Campaign & Dems failure to tell a clear story about why things still feel bad

... led to the result we saw. It wasn't Latinx. Our first take at a theory of what happened.

The next phase of the imagination battle begins now

After seven years of work, last Tuesday’s election was not the outcome we hoped for.

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Way to Win

Eric Blair @protecttruth.bsky.social · 8h

We are in late-stage authoritarian media takeover.

Fox and CNN are owned/controlled by rightwing billionaires.
Twitter and Truth Social
WSJ and WaPo
CBS and ABC
Newsweek, Sinclair, now Tegna; TikTok getting close.

We are far along in the Putin-mold media takeover plan.

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 15h

And just to be clear, Sarah said a LOT of stuff we completely and totally agree with! And was a lot of fun, too. We really appreciated her showing up and what she's doing with The Focus Group.

Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 15h

program guide our execution and influence the broader conversation. Swayable CEO James Slezak did a fantastic talk on the necessity of humility in the use and misuse of political data, including the making of this ad as a case study. We'll post that one soon too.

Dan Ancona @danancona.bsky.social · Oct 11

The Trump-Vance mass deportation plans are sickeningly extreme. Most Americans don't support them and Dems have room to go on offense on this. Ad by me and the geniuses I am incredibly lucky to work with at Way to Win, production by Conexión. (both not on here yet)

Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 15h

to their gut instincts and motivations for why they are in public life more. But we are competing with opponents that have several decades and many billions of cumulative advantage in media and persuasion. We need every advantage we can get. Insights from our offense-focused research and testing

Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 15h

has been and continues to be that it can be enormously valuable and necessary. As Mad Man David Ogilvy put it:

"Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals."

We get her point, and she's certainly not wrong that Dems need to listen

Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 15h

Sarah also at one demonstrated the depth of our commitment to editorial independence, suggesting that Dems should stop testing entirely. (The stage she was sitting on while saying this was sponsored by one of our ad testing partners, Swayable.) Our basic take on testing and research

Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 15h

stated unambiguously that the public is behind Trump on immigration. We disagree, maximally. In both polling and focus groups we have heard clear, overwhelming opposition to how Trump is carrying out mass deportations that is now carrying over into general opposition. Data in this thread.

Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · Jun 12

NEW 🌶️🌶️🌶️ POLL: We worked with Impact Research to investigate suspected vulnerabilities in Trump’s immigration agenda. We found a clear strategic opportunity and imperative for Dem leaders to go on offense on immigration, with coverage in Politico and on our podcast. 🧵here.

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 15h

Just posted this #Perusasion2025 session with @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social and @anatosaurus.bsky.social in discussion with @mehdirhasan.bsky.social. We had brilliant speakers from all across the pro-democracy coalition, including some moments of disagreement. Two quick notes. At one point Sarah

Persuasion 2025: Anat Shenker-Osorio and Sarah Longwell, in conversation with Mehdi Hasan

YouTube video by Way to Win Action Fund

youtu.be

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Debby33 ❌ 👑 @debby33.bsky.social · 1d

The "naming villains" part is crucial ⤵️

Any elected Dem or candidate not willing to state plainly who is to blame (oligarchs, billionaires, GOP) will not be trusted by voters.

Those voters will look elsewhere for explanations of WHY things are the way they are.

People need coherent narrative.

Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

“Voters were struggling with an affordability crisis but had given up hope a mayor could do anything about it. Zohran wasn’t scared of naming villains and proposing solutions.” Morris Katz #Persuasion2025

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Ross Macfarlane @rossmacfarlane.bsky.social · 1d

Progressives need to walk and chew gum -- both attract voters who sat out 2024 after supporting Biden in 2020, and use persuasion to bring swing voters over. @huffpost.com article on @waytowinus.bsky.social's recent "Persuasion 2025" event in DC. 1/
www.huffpost.com/entry/how-pr...

How Progressives Learned To Love Persuasion

For the left, motivating disaffected voters is out and targeting swing voters is in.

www.huffpost.com

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

This @perrybaconjr.bsky.social interview with @vanhollen.senate.gov was one of the #Persuasion2025 highlights. Don't miss the framing of the first question; that single question set the bullshit-free tone for the entire day.

Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 4d

"You can be angry about the assault on our democracy and our freedoms and still be a happy warrior in how you confront that. Roosevelt, when he was going after big-money special interests, said, 'I welcome their hatred," says @vanhollen.senate.gov. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Chris Van Hollen Is Angry—at Trump, and at His Party’s Lame Pollsters

The Maryland senator explains why he went to El Salvador earlier this year while the rest of the party tried to downplay immigration issues, and his decision to go to Iowa and flirt with a 2028 presid...

newrepublic.com

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

It was a day of tremendous content. Congratulations to James Slezak of Swayable and @jenancona.bsky.social and @torygavito.bsky.social for taking on risk and landing a big complicated plane in a hurry. And thanks to all of you for following this conversation, and for sharing your thinking.
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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

“We need to go back to being a party that tells the truth. It’s the only way to rebuild the Democratic Party as the party of working people. In this race, the ground is fertile to build power locally and then build that into structural power.”
@grahamformaine.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

“Why is it so hard to acknowledge clear atrocities? AIPAC should have the same connotation as the NRA in Democratic politics. I think this is the very purposeful ignoring of humanity. But when you have money coming in, you don’t want to jeopardize that.”
@katmabu.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

“There’s no polling [based stance to take] on genocide. Either you’re against it, or you’re one of the bad guys.” @bhavik.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

"There’s a concerted effort... to make sure that Democrats just focus on raising more corporate money, to engage in the failed strategy of then spending a ton of that money on mail and TV at the very last minute." Rep @gregcasar.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

"The thing Mamdani is doing, people think he cares about them. They’ll forgive him the other stuff. The reason they like Trump? They think Trump’s on their side... Democrats can say the right words but if they don't feel it, people don’t believe them.” @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

"You say to voters, fire, fire, the house is on fire, this is a fascist threat. But then you refuse to go into the building with an extinguisher and pull them out, they are left either thinking you’re lying… or you don’t give a shit about them." @anatosaurus.bsky.social #Persuasion2025

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

Sen. Van Hollen on Kilmar Abrego Garcia: “There were a lot of pollsters and pundits who said I shouldn’t go because we shouldn’t talk about immigration... It’s a false choice to say we have to only talk about the price of eggs and we can’t talk about the assaults on our freedoms.” #Persuasion2025

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

The core of the argument that ran through the whole day was the need move past defensive politics into a compelling vision that speaks to people’s real lives. Affordability. Security. Stability. As Graham Platner said during the event, “the big things.” And the opposite of what Trump is delivering.

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

This week's Charting the Way Forward covers initial impressions of the event and reactions so far, and just went up this morning. (we were slightly delayed due to travel schedules - apologies!)

📺 youtu.be/KgW3ESpGsN4
🍎 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Persuasion 2025 Wrap - Charting the Way Forward Ep 41

YouTube video by Way to Win Action Fund

youtu.be

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 4d

Our inaugural #Persuasion2025 DC event has drawn praise and stirred up opinions across DC. We partnered with the ad testing platform Swayable and invited a spectrum of voices to join us for a day of new thinking and finding a path forward. A 🧵, and stay tuned for clips and session video.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 5d

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

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Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 5d

whoa @grahamformaine.bsky.social @repcasar.bsky.social @vanhollen.senate.gov @katmabu.bsky.social @patrioticmillionaires.org @waytowinus.bsky.social @jenancona.bsky.social @swayable.bsky.social @torygavito.bsky.social @bhavik.bsky.social so wow much civics

Democracy's Big Tent Revival

Persuasion 2025, a Democratic confab in the shadow of Michael Sandel

hillheat.news

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