FRSCC Memo 11:16:20
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FRSCC Memo TO: President Wilton Simpson and the GOP Caucus FROM: Data Targeting CEO Pat Bainter and FRSCC Executive Director Joel Springer DATE: November 16, 2020 RE: 24 __________________________________________________________________________________________ The Florida Senate will this week welcome back to the Capitol re-elected Senators Broxson, Hutson, Mayfield, Gruters, Harrell and newly elected Senators Bradley, Brodeur, Burgess, Boyd, Rodrigues, Garcia and Rodriguez. Nearly two years ago, President Simpson laid out a plan to not only win this cycle, but to achieve the kinds of gains that can have lasting impact for at least the next five cycles. And while the challenges of a global pandemic and the resulting historic economic downturn may have altered some of the tactics of traditional campaigns this year, the fundamentals of understanding and communicating with Florida voters remained the same. FRSCC was successful for four reasons: Disciplined Leadership, Best Candidates in Florida, Superior Data Intelligence, and To-the-Point Messaging. Disciplined Leadership With the completion of the 2018 general election, then Senator Simpson immediately began a demanding strategic plan that revealed the tactical needs of each (and every) candidate, contingency and support structure, which dictated the resources necessary for success. While overseeing the day-to-day operations, (now President) Simpson shouldered the relentless lift, always an eye toward fulfilling the plans. Also noteworthy, President Simpson stayed in constant communications with the campaigns with honest, data driven information, thus building a “team confidence” among all the candidates. • FRSCC Raised: $37,378,496 from 1/1/19 - 10/29/20 • Brodeur $1,025,935 • Rodriguez $860,103 • Garcia $140,016 • Rodrigues $615,285 Florida Politics’ Seal Team Six This cycle brought some of the most competitive and costly races we have seen in recent years. Our candidates and their teams ran dominant campaigns at every level and delivered victories as a result. • Senator Ray Rodrigues had the only competitive primary of the cycle. Ray outworked his opponent and ultimately won over the vast majority of Southwest Florida Republican voters with a 75% to 25% win. Tim Baker and Terry Miller executed a campaign built on a superior paid-media strategy highlighting Ray’s conservative credentials and proven experience. • Senator Jason Brodeur faced a hostile local press corps in a race that drew national attention and resources for his opponent. Jason’s resilience fueled a data-driven, multimedia-focused team led by Jim Rimes and included one of the best ground operations in the State. • Victory has a 1,000 fathers as they say, but the SD39 win falls squarely with Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez and her team led by Alex Miranda and Albert Lorenzo. Ana Maria won this race the old-fashioned way - she earned one vote at a time by sharing her vision for Florida’s families and small businesses, the importance of our natural resources and our historic quality of life. • Senate District 37 was ignored by the media, dismissed by the Democrat machinery and considered a strategic head-fake by Democrat leaders. Senator Ileana Garcia proved them all wrong and joins us this week as the 24th member of the GOP Majority. Forced into a 2-day ballot cure process, and multiple days of machine and manual recounts, Ana Carbonell led staff and an army of volunteers to a 34-vote win. Superior Data and Intelligence Investments The phrase “we are going to let the data drive our decisions” sort of became a running joke between President Simpson and ourselves. It started out as us “preaching” to the President that we would always have data to guide and support decision making. It evolved into the President asking questions about messaging, resource allocations and so on and then him answering his own question; “I know, I know, we’re going to let the data drive the decisions.” President Simpson invested significantly very early on in actionable, intelligent data, and in people that know how to properly interpret them. Daily briefs were conducted, and decisions executed on messaging, communications delivery and ground operations ensuring the campaigns were completely in sync with the electorate. To-the-Point Messaging Identification of message nuance was one of the keys to success in this cycle. Voters were given a clear choice between our candidates fighting to protect the American Dream for everybody and democratic candidates pushing an extreme agenda propped up by illegally obtained (PPP) taxpayer money. The binary choice between opportunity and opportunism framed the remainder of the campaigns. • Our legal and accounting teams provided valuable support to FRSCC Media Advisor Ryan Houck, FRSCC Communications Advisor Erin Isaac and FRSCC Political Director McNally Merlini as they framed the shameful corruption that unfolded at the FDP during a historic economic crisis that resulted from a global pandemic. • It should be noted that with multiple investigations currently underway, the looting of a program intended to help struggling workers during the pandemic may haunt Florida Democrats well into 2022 and 2024. For additional information, please see FLDems2020.com. 2022 and Beyond Looking forward, FRSCC begins the 2022 cycle in a superior position. With all 40 seats on the ballot in 2022, the race to ensure resources are in place has already begun. Not only did President Simpson make sure our candidates had the support needed for victory in 2020, his fiscal oversight and relentless fundraising launches the 2022 cycle with a multi-million dollar advantage over the launch of the 2020 cycle. This jump start - combined with your commitment to improving the lives of each and every Floridian by strengthening our economy, ensuring opportunities for all students, and providing desperately needed lifelines to the most vulnerable among us - are the foundation we need to continue the successes of 2020 into 2022 and beyond. .