This November, we see an opportunity to build the nation’s newest pro-democracy trifecta in Virginia by defending the one-seat majority in the House of Delegates that we first helped to build in 2023.
In 2024, we defied national headwinds to help build and defend state governing power that can protect millions of Americans from Trump’s MAGA agenda. Now, we’re bringing our game-changing program back to Virginia, where we’re implementing these innovative, data-backed tactics to win the most crucial elections happening since Trump took office.
THE DOOR KNOCKING CHALLENGE
“Virginia is where we first developed and launched the Door Knocking Challenge. It has really helped build a culture of candidate door knocking in the state — our partners on the ground have come to expect this program to happen each cycle.”
— MARYLI SECREST, REGIONAL POLITICAL DIRECTOR
Data has proven that no other campaign staff member is as effective at persuading a voter at the doors as the candidate themselves, making candidate door-knocking one of the most critical tools in a state legislative campaign’s toolbox.
That’s why we created our signature Door Knocking Challenge. Participating candidates are rewarded with campaign contributions based on the number of doors they’ve knocked. Instead of dialing donors for dollars, candidates can focus on what matters: meeting their voters face-to-face in the field. We’ve launched the Door Knocking Challenge in Virginia earlier than ever this year, with a few tweaks to make the program more effective than ever before.
Because of our deep experience working in Virginia, we know this tactic is a game-changer. In fact, in 2023, Virginia Door Knocking Challenge participants knocked 177 doors per week versus 52 doors for candidates who did not participate.
This year, we’re including a bigger reward pool, so that every participating candidate, not just the top door knockers, has the opportunity to earn more dollars. And we don’t just want candidates to focus on the quantity of doors they knock, we want them to focus on the quality of those interactions, too. That’s why we layer a tactic into the Door Knocking Challenge called clinch cards — personalized follow-up notes from candidates to voters they meet on the doors, which reinforce that the candidates they meet are really listening to them! Candidates who write the most clinch cards each month earn an additional campaign contribution. And this year, we’ve added new accountability measures to ensure candidates are writing truly tailored clinch cards — an extra step that we believe will make this tactic even more effective.
THE LOCAL PRESS PROJECT
The goal of TSP’s Local Press Project (LPP) is to secure news stories about candidates in local media outlets. TSP fuels press staff dedicated to pitching stories about state legislative candidates — who they are and what they’ve done, building name recognition and familiarity, which is key to persuading voters.
When we first fueled this program in Virginia in 2023, data showed that participating candidates were mentioned in local news stories 40% more than those who did not participate, plus they received significantly more beneficial news coverage compared to their opponents. Another key learning? Candidates who got more press were more likely to overperform in the election.
The Local Press Program is one of our most impactful tactics, and we’ve already started support for the program in Virginia — earlier than ever before!
AD TESTING
Thanks to the support of our Giving Circles community The States Project added widescale ad testing to our campaign toolkit for state legislative races for the first time in 2022. This program ensures that every ad running in paid media programs will net the highest possible number of votes.
In 2024, TSP scaled up this ad testing program – a total of 276 ads were tested across our chambers and 82% of all ads that aired were tested. The top three most frequently mentioned topics in ads were abortion, education, and the economy. But data showed that the topic that had the largest impact on voters was the economy, including cost of living and inflation, and ads mentioning the economy tested better than ads about abortion or education.
The goal of ad testing is to ensure that the best testing ads air on TV. But in 2024, the program didn’t focus on what ads were being produced. As a result, in 2025, the program is more focused on what ads go into the pipeline to be developed. Learnings from early focus groups will show what issues matter most to voters and how they are talking about them. These learnings will impact message testing, which can inform the kinds of ads that get produced and tested.
With your support, we’re excited to sharpen and bring these game-changing tactics to Virginia, where we know our work is crucial in these first major elections of Trump’s second presidency.
