Kentucky Gubernatorial
Challenge
Beginning in early 2007, Field Strategies developed and executed the first modern Democratic coordinated campaign in Kentucky. Obsolete data, underperforming fundraising, and a culture of complacency were replaced with an advanced and effective campaign infrastructure. Field Strategies built large, layered and sophisticated voter contact programs which generated presidential-year level pluralities in many counties around the state.
Field Strategies helped us develop the best ground game we've ever seen. Democratic turnout rose 17% and we won handily.”
Model
Newly developed micro-targeting models and professional data management combined with hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer and paid voter contact, were key factors in Governor Beshear’s landslide victory. Identification, persuasion, and turnout programs focusing on Kentucky’s conservative white Democratic voters, who have a history of voting against Democratic candidates, yielded large gains in targeted geographies, most significantly in Jefferson County.
Result
Regional organizational hubs elevated turnout in Democratic bastions to rates significantly higher than those of their Republican counterparts.
Democratic support in Jefferson County, home to 18% of Kentucky’s Democrats, dramatically outpaced previous elections, adding 17 percentage points to the average, and winning a 67,000 vote plurality for Governor Beshear.
