Author Archive

Connor Smith Named Winner of ARRO 30 Under 30 Award

August 27, 2024
Red Maverick Media is proud to announce that Connor Smith has been named a recipient of the ARRO 30 Under 30 award, a recognition presented by Cygnal, one of the nation’s top Republican polling firm. The award honors 30 of the most talented and promising individuals under the age of 30 who are making significant contributions to the field of politics and public affairs.

The ARRO 30 Under 30 award highlights the achievements of young professionals who have demonstrated exceptional skill, leadership, and influence in their respective roles. This year’s recipients represent a diverse group of rising stars from across the country, all of whom have made a substantial impact on campaigns, public opinion, and the political landscape.
Connor is a key member of the Red Maverick Media team. With a reputation for creativity and innovation, Connor has played a pivotal role in developing winning strategies for candidates at every level of government. His expertise in campaign management, digital strategy, and voter outreach has not only helped elect candidates but also shaped the narrative in highly competitive races.

“We are incredibly proud of Connor’s achievements and the recognition he has received with the ARRO 30 Under 30 award,” said Chris Leavitt, Managing Partner of Red Maverick Media. “Connor’s dedication to his craft, combined with his ability to think outside the box, makes him an invaluable asset to our team and the clients we serve. This award is a testament to his hard work, passion, and the impact he has already made in his career.”

The ARRO 30 Under 30 award underscores Cygnal’s commitment to recognizing and fostering the next generation of leaders in the political and public affairs sectors. As Connor continues to advance in his career, this accolade further cements his reputation as one of the most promising talents in the industry.

For more information about the ARRO 30 Under 30 award, click here. To learn more about Connor and his work at Red Maverick Media, click here.

Red Maverick Media Brings Home Gold at the AAPC 2024 Pollies Awards

April 19, 2024
Wins Two Gold Awards and One Bronze Award for 2023 Races

Last night in Washington, D.C., the winners of the 2024 AAPC Pollie Awards were announced and Red Maverick Media was honored to bring home two gold awards and one bronze award. 

Maverick clients VA Delegate Mark Earley, Jr., VA Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, and PA Chestnuthill Township Supervisor Candidates Deb Modica and George Strunk were the winning campaigns. The awards were given for mail for Delegate Earley and Supervisor Candidates Modica and Strunk and a digital advertising win for Supervisor Herrity.

Scroll down to view the winning awards!

Red Maverick Media Nationally Recognized for Best Mail and Digital

March 25, 2024
Wins Three Reed Awards for 2023 Races
The winners of the 2023 Reed Awards were announced today and Red Maverick Media has won three Reeds this year for the work they did last year. 

These include two for Fairfax, VA Board of Supervisors Member Pat Herrity whose historic victory in a 3-1 Democrat to Republican district was a bright spot in the Commonwealth’s 2023 legislative and local races. 

Maverick Managing Partner Chris Leavitt served as Pat Herrity’s general consultant and was responsible for the creation of the mailer that won Best Piece of Mail for a Republican Legislative Candidate and also for the digital ad that won Best Villian in an Online Video. 

To view the winning mail piece, click here. To view the winning digital ad, click here.

The third was won in the category of “TV Ad that never saw the light of day” on behalf of Maverick client Tim Sloan who was running for Cambria County Judge. VP Amanda Boris led the campaign effort for Tim Sloan.

To view the winning TV ad, click here.

Chris Leavitt Named Partner At Red Maverick Media

March 16, 2024

Will Be Responsible For Day To Day Management At Firm 

Red Maverick Media founding partners Mike Leavitt and Ray Zaborney today announced that Chris Leavitt has been named managing partner at the firm. As the managing partner Chris will be responsible for the day to day management of the firm as well as working with clients.  

“Chris Leavitt has proven himself to be indispensable to his clients and our firm,” Maverick founding partner Ray Zaborney said.  “I couldn’t be more excited to be naming Chris as a partner and to be giving him day to day responsibilities at the firm.”  

“It has been great to watch Chris grow from a campaign manager on legislative races to a respected consultant for clients running statewide,” Maverick founding partner Mike Leavitt said.  “Not only do we appreciate what Chris has done for our firm, we are excited to see where his leadership helps us go in the next several years.”  

Chris started his career managing successful campaigns in Virginia and has continued to grow his client base across the country.  Chris has served in senior roles in races at every level and has become an invaluable strategist to some of our party’s top leaders.  

“Mike and Ray have built one of the best consulting firms in the country, and I am proud of the work we have done together and I am ever more excited about the future of our firm,” Chris Leavitt said. “No other firm in the country puts their clients first like Red Maverick Media, and I believe we are going to take this firm to the next level together with the team we have assembled.”  

Red Maverick Media is a full service campaign consulting firm with offices in Harrisburg, Richmond, and Maine.  Red Maverick has been a leading consulting firm for GOP candidates across the country and has been recognized consistently as an industry leader.  The Mavericks have been recognized for their creativity and have helped leading party organizations elect Republicans at every level of government.  

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Happy New Year: Digging Into Pat Herrity’s Success In 2023

January 16, 2024
Balance on the Board “When I think about the success I’ve had in my last two elections, I am struck by the critical nature Chris Leavitt and the team at Red Maverick Media played in those victories. I would not be a Supervisor today without the hard work of the Maverick team. From the dedication of time, knowledge and resources in putting together the right plan to providing accountability and strategic leadership in executing that plan; Chris and his team ran a tight ship with professionalism and efficiency. I wouldn’t put my faith in anyone else to ensure I can continue serving the residents of Fairfax County.
-Supervisor Pat Herrity
The Blue Challenge
Supervisor Pat Herrity was seeking his 5th term on the Fairfax County Board in the Springfield District. Pat has been a client of Red Maverick since 2019 when he took on a harsh environment and a district that statewide and federal Republicans had lost by over 20% of the vote. In 2019, the team pulled off a 500-vote win for Pat but knew 2023 would be an even more significant challenge.To learn more about the 2019 campaign, click here.

Fairfax County has 46 elected positions; of the 46, there is 1 Republican since the 2019 election: Supervisor Herrity. With that being the reality, Democrats throughout the County devised a plan during redistricting and gerrymandered Pat’s district to eliminate precincts where he had strong name ID and constituent services and make it more Democrat. To consider how difficult this challenge would be, look at the 2020 and 2021 elections for President and Governor Youngkin’s performance in Springfield.
2020 Springfield District Presidential Results
Republican Donald Trump: 32.9%
Democrat Joe Biden: 64.9%

Springfield District Gubernatorial Results 2021
Republican Glenn Youngkin: 38.13%
Democrat Terry McAuliffe: 57.6%

The challenge had been set, and the team knew that re-electing Pat to a 5th term would require a plan that capitalized on Pat’s record, incumbency, and early cash advantage. 

Additionally, since 2019, the election law and process changed, including:
·  No excuse early voting.
·  Expanded in-person voting locations and hours.
·  Permanent absentee voters.
·  Same day registration and voting. 

The Red Solution
On day one, we knew there were three keys to ensure we had a chance.
1: Develop a message that resonated with Republicans, Swings, and Democrats.
2: Raise the resources required to execute the plan.
3: Deploy a data-driven strategy that relies on field and aggressive targeting through mail, digital, text, and phones. By all accounts, all three keys were met and exceeded. Below is a breakdown of the strategy and execution of the three keys above.

Key 1: Develop a message that resonated with Republicans, Swings, and Democrats.
Starting from mid fall, early winter of 2022, we began frequent discussions with Pat and his team to ensure that any messaging he was pushing from the official side was in alignment with the messages we believed would eventually resonate with voters in September of 2023.

From there, we began to gather Pat’s accomplishments around the district to incorporate into an eventual survey to test their effectiveness. Further, we commissioned a team to provide opposition research on all of Pat’s potential opponents who were running in the Democrat primary.

When we knew who Pat’s opponent would be, we gave the green light to 1892, our polling team, to give a sense of where we were in the district with Pat’s opponent and tested both positive and negative messages. The results of that poll dictated our message for the remainder of the campaign.

We were relentless in our dedication to the poll tested messages both in our positive and negative messaging. And we personalized our message to Republicans, Swings, and Democrats depending on the results of the poll.

We also commissioned i360 to execute a modeling project of the district to be able to coordinate our messaging with relevant propensity and affinity groups of voters. We had 1892 run their polling up against the i360 model to ensure targeted messaging to each voter.

Key 2: Raise the resources required to execute the plan.
Pat and his team nailed and exceeded their fundraising goals early on. That allowed us to make early investments in voter contacts that clearly paid off. Historically, Republicans have gotten beat in both early voting both in-person and by mail. Because of Pat’s early fundraising prowess and the plan we put in place to start spending early, Pat won early voting. We won in person early vote by 20% and stayed competitive with early voting by mail in a D +19 district.

Key 3: Have a data driven strategy that relies on field and aggressive targeting through mail, digital, text, and phones.
Elaborated on in a previous key description, the benchmark poll we did informed our efforts for our paid, field, and other unpaid voter contact plans. Television was out of the question given the cost of being in the D.C. DMA so we turned to other paid efforts including OTT / CTV, programmatic, mail, texting, and live calls.

Early and Mail in voting are traditionally places where the Democrats build a wall that we needed to overcome on Election Day. Because of the challenges presented by Pat’s district, we knew we’d need to stop the blue wall from being built. Early investment in voter contact and paid efforts not only pushed Republicans to vote early, but enabled Pat to define himself to early and absentee swing voters, before the Democrats had an opportunity to. This included the new permanent absentee voters that we know would be getting a ballot early in the process without even requesting one. Pat ran over 13% ahead of the General Assembly Republican candidates in early voting, and nearly 15% in mail in votes. When compared to the top 5 Senate races, Supervisor Herrity averaged an over performance of about 8% in Early Voting and 8% in mail-in ballots – helping to provide the decisive margin that enabled him to succeed despite tough losses in mathematically more favorable districts. While the Senate Districts were all within a 6% margin in the 2021 election, it’s important to remember that Youngkin lost the new Springfield district by over 20%. Programs like this are key in helping high quality candidates overcome harsh mathematical odds.

Digital
In the fiercely competitive political landscape of Fairfax County, we harnessed the power of cutting-edge digital strategy. Recognizing the exorbitant costs and diminishing returns of traditional cable and broadcast television, especially within the pricey Washington, D.C. market, we pivoted to a more innovative, cost-effective approach.Central to this strategy was an intensive focus on Over-the-Top (OTT) and Connected TV (CTV) advertising. This allowed for unparalleled precision in voter targeting, particularly focusing on moderate Democrats and independents – key demographics for the campaign. Through OTT/CTV, we delivered finely-tuned messages that resonated deeply with individual voters, ensuring that the campaign’s messaging was not just heard but felt.This digital-first strategy was complemented by a robust presence across various online platforms. We extensively utilized Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google Search, and programmatic display ads. This multi-platform approach ensured that no matter where potential voters spent their online time, they would encounter our message.By smartly investing in digital platforms, targeting key demographics with precision, and maintaining a generally positive campaign message, the Herrity campaign not only navigated the challenges of a competitive district but also set a new standard for local political campaigns in the digital age.
 
Mail
Our mail plan consisted of 15 pieces total, with a few divided up into locally targeted pieces. As has been previously mentioned, Pat and his team met and exceeded their fundraising goals, so we were able to cast a wide net in the mailbox. There were about 11,000 likely voting Republicans – split between a mixture of mid propensity and high propensity voters. We hit this entire universe five times in the mailbox, with a mixture of messaging ranging from Pat’s sole Republican vote on the Board to cost of living to taxes.Among left-leaning voters, we had a universe of about 9,500 soft Democrats who we targeted as our reachable audience. Based on vote goal projections, we needed to be at about 8% of the Democrats voting. This whole universe of soft Democrats received one piece of mail and a subset universe of 50+ aged Democrats received an additional two pieces.A turning point, messaging wise, was Pat’s endorsement by the Washington Post Editorial Board. As soon as we received word of the endorsement, we updated all digital creative immediately to highlight the endorsement and also updated any remaining relevant mail pieces to include the Post endorsement.

Field
The Herrity Reelection field program launched in late January. The beginning phase of the field program focused on collecting petition signatures to get Pat’s name back on the ballot in 2023. Simultaneously, the field program was also in the beginning stages of canvassing the district to get an introductory feel of the political climate we were facing. We knocked our first universe 1.5 times with an 18-20% response rate and called through the universe 3 times with a 1-2% response rate.Once in the second phase of the field program, during the Spring and Summer, our intern team exploded with kids out of school looking for Summer internships and an opportunity to learn about campaigns. In less than a month, from April to June, our intern team grew from 3 interns to 20 by recruiting in every high school and college around, pushing through all of our communications, and even recruiting people at the doors. The team used Pat’s recruiting tag line of “you will learn something; you’ll have some fun and we will feed you well”. The interns had the opportunity to have discussion with Governor Youngkin, former Congressman Davis, Supervisor Herrity, the Red Maverick team, and others. As a result of the capacity of our team, we had comprehensive follow-ups with virtually every single person we spoke to in the field. Consisting of phone calls, written letters, door knocks, and postcards, all with a curated message based on their political affinity and sometimes even a personal detail based on a previous conversation.Beginning August 1st, the Herrity campaign brought in Camelback Strategies, focused on grassroots campaigns and assisting candidates specifically with their efforts on the doors in the field. The Camelback team’s door universe was focused on targeting different affinities of Republicans and focusing even deeper on low-propensity Republicans who do not normally vote in local elections. They were very successful in garnering support through their micro-targeted and concentrated efforts. With thousands of people committing to vote either early in person or by mail, we saw an astonishing end-all result of Pat winning the early in-person vote by 20 points. An absolutely unheard-of result for a Republican in a D+19 district before this election.Once in the third and final phase of the field program, getting out the vote, the Herrity team pooled all of its resources into turning out the vote as much as possible. Paid efforts coupled with volunteer efforts all focused on driving voters to the polls in support of Pat. We made sticky notes with the addresses and times for four of the 13 early voting locations, and left them on palm cards in each of the applicable precincts.We sent final reminder texts to our supporters, last minute digs on our opponent to high propensity hard democrats, endorsement reminders to both sides of the aisle, and a few other text messages in the final 72 hours to solidify our position. What made our GOTV efforts so unique, was that we were not simply telling people “Hey, go vote”, we were telling a story about a long-standing common-sense individual who is fighting to bring balance to a long-standing established machine that is trying to squeeze him out of the conversation.All in all, the Herrity field program was robust, efficient, comprehensive, and effective. In a district with roughly 94,000 registered voters; we knocked over 74,000 doors, made over 46,000 phone calls, sent over 100,000 text messages, and attended hundreds of community events. The Herrity reelection campaign was a testament to the power of grassroots campaigns and the importance of engaging with voters at the local level.  

Conclusion
To say that winning a race as a Republican in Fairfax County isn’t easy would be an understatement. Pat and everyone on the team understood from Day One that we were starting at the 1 yard line, and that we needed to perfectly execute a 99 yard drive to win this Election. Early investment in opposition research and polling to hone in on the perfect message and Pat’s history as a powerhouse fundraiser to provide the resources to promote that message were needed to back this powerful win. A hyper focused field program, with individual components for swing voters, low propensity voters, and permanent absentee voters, with aggressive and multifaceted follow up, enabled the campaign to whip votes for Pat – and then hold them through the finish line. Messaging in the mailbox and through digital, with specific messages aimed at specific universes, provided the air support the Herrity campaign needed, to continue to define, in the right terms, Pat to the people that would be voting in this election. A well formulated and well executed game plan, with a couple creative swings along the way, ensured the victory of Fairfax’s last Republican to another four-year term in a year he was one of the few bright spots in Virginia and the only victory in Fairfax County.

General Election 2024 – Thank you to our clients

November 8, 2023
Red Maverick Media was honored to be a part of a number of campaigns in Virginia and Pennsylvania this past Tuesday. From local Board and school board, to Commonwealth’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, to State House and State Senate, we are grateful to our clients for their willingness to allow us to be a part of the team.
Up in Fairfax, Virginia, Maverick client Supervisor Pat Herrity was running for re-election to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, home to over a million residents. In a district with a 4 to 1 partisan imbalance in a district Governor Youngkin garnered 38% of the vote just two years ago, Pat faced an uphill battle against a Democratic establishment determined to take him out as the only elected Republican official left in Northern Virginia. 

Pat ran a phenomenal race, backed by a strong fundraising and grassroots operation, and won a resounding victory with 55% of the ballots cast, a margin of over 5,000 votes. Of note, he was able to win early voting outright with an early investment of door knocking and both volunteer and paid efforts to voters on the permanent absentee list and those likely to cast their ballot early.

Throughout the entirety of his campaign, Pat and his team knocked doors to the tune of 70,455 attempts with another 45,560 attempts made via phone call, which is remarkable given the fact that the total voter registration in the district is just shy of 94,000 voters. 

Keep a lookout for a deeper dive in Pat’s race coming soon!

We are proud to be a part of Pat’s team and look forward to continuing to work with him in the future. 

Another Maverick client, Bill Woolf, was running for the State Senate in Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park in a contested race that Governor Youngkin garnered 47% of the vote in during his election in 2021. Bill ran hard from the very beginning when he decided to jump into the race just 10 days before the primary election filing deadline. Although Bill did not emerge victorious, we are proud of the race he and the team ran, grateful for the role we were able to play, and proud of Bill for reaching and exceeding Governor Youngkin’s margin of victory. In particular, as a Spanish speaker and longtime advocate for victims of sexual assault, Bill made inroads into the Hispanic and other majority minority communities in Manassas and Manassas Park which will pay dividends for future Republican nominees for Congress, Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, State Senate and House races, and Constitutional offices. 

We here at Red Maverick stand by our motto of winning differently. We approach every campaign with a unique vision of how best to effectively utilize the dollars and resources a candidate has and give him or her the best chance of success. Throughout these two Commonwealths, our consultants look forward to continuing the conservative cause. Thank you to our wonderful clients for their willingness to serve!

Red Maverick Media Has Strong Day in Virginia Primary

June 21, 2023
Red Maverick Media is honored to have had the opportunity to work for quality candidates across the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 2023 Republican Primary. 

Congratulations to Bill Woolf and Mark Earley on your victories!
Additionally, Red Maverick clients, Jeff Stoneman and Danielle Floyd are the respective Republican nominees for the Hanover County Board of Supervisors. 

Thank you, Danielle and Jeff for allowing us to be a part of your team!
Danielle Floyd (Chickahominy District) and Jeff Stoneman (Beaverdam District)

Red Maverick Media – Reed Award Winner

March 21, 2023
    Red Maverick Media is proud to announce, we are once again Reed Award winners by Campaigns & Elections.  We are honored to be recognized for our work with direct mail.  We would like to thank all our clients for trusting us with with their campaigns.