Our Brushfire team has worked on races up and down the ballot and across the country. We’ve managed races, worked for state parties, candidates, independent expenditures, and coordinated campaigns. We understand that each state, each district, and each campaign is different.

Bilingual Calls: In several parts of the country, it is imperative that Democratic campaigns have an effective bilingual program. Our approach to these calls is to use bilingual callers from the start. Instead of having to call back due to a language barrier, our callers are trained to hear the preferred language by how the voter answers the phone. This allows the campaign to meet the voters where they are and talk to them in the language they are most comfortable.

Underrepresented Communities: Brushfire has worked for organizations including NextGen, SEIU, and America Votes providing calls focused on underrepresented voters. Too often in Democratic politics, we neglect talking to these voters until it is too late. We’ve ran programs of women calling women, bilingual calls, multi-language telephone town halls, persuasion and GOTV to Black voters. In addition, Partner Jessie Bradley has worked with many diverse communities. From working with the Alaska Native population to criminal justice reform in Pennsylvania.

Script Variations: We know that different universes need to hear different messages. We specialize in complex variable scripts, which allows campaigns to benefit from the cost savings per contact of running a large program. Working with your data team, we will combine various universes matched with their specific persuasion message. When ran as one program, this approach allows our calls to run more efficiently, and you to save money. All data is returned in specific reports and data return files.

Quality Control: Quality control is key to all our programs. Operations Director Jenna Wingenbach works closely with the Quality Assurance Department at our call centers so script changes can be implemented immediately, programs can be paused to “rest the list” if we aren’t reaching people, and calls are closely monitored through listening sessions for any issues that may arise.

In the world of self—selecting news sources and misinformation, the phone is still one of the only ways to communicate directly with voters. By developing a plan that incorporates key election dates, amplifies other paid communications or field activity, and uses social pressure you can maximize your GOTV efforts and voter turnout.

We recognize it is getting harder to get voters on the phone so our approach is to take advantage of the time we have with them. No script should only do one thing. All our scripts are hybrid scripts to maximize our time and conversation with each voter.

In addition, we are encouraging all clients to incorporate a “vote plan” into all scripts earlier in their paid voter contact efforts. This is usually a part of GOTV scripts, but we feel it is imperative to get voters thinking about their vote plan earlier than normal.

Our phone plans are built to complement the rest of the campaign. The scripts will echo what voters are hearing and seeing in other places - at the doors, on radio and TV, and in mail and digital.

Tactics are not limited to what is listed here. Working with you, Brushfire will develop a phone plan complete with a full calendar and clear deadlines for script review. Both both bilingual or English only calls can start within 24 hours of approval.

HYBRID SCRIPTS: With calls happening across the country at a high rate it’s important to maximize any time spent with a voter on the phone. We recommend using a hybrid script to combine two things – persuasion and GOTV message; persuasion and VBM requests; canvass follow- up and social pressure, etc.

BALLOT CHASE & HOUSEHOLD VOTE PLAN: The script walks the voter through returning their ballot on time and provides clear direction so the voter leaves the call feeling confident in what they need to do to vote. For vote by mail voters who have an additional voter in the house, we will continue with a social pressure script to encourage the voter to get the rest of their household to vote.

GOTV & VOTE PLAN: GOTV and voter education are the bulk of Brushfire phone campaigns. We use best practices, like social pressure and plan making, to drive folks to join their neighbors and vote at the appropriate time and place.

LIVE OPERATOR TEXTING: Using our live operators, you can add capacity and scale your texting efforts quickly. Each of our live operators can deliver thousands of text messages per hour. By taking all texting out of the hands of volunteers, you can encourage them to volunteer for more effective voter contact on the phones or the doors.

CANVASS COORDINATION: Using texting and calls, you can let voters know the campaign is will be in their neighborhood. On the front end, you can collect information that will allow your canvasser to tailor the message. Afterwards, our callers can continue the conversation.

Effective phone plans give campaigns the opportunity to talk directly with voters.

In any given year Brushfire works on GOTV and voter contact programs across the country. Some specific examples of programs we’re especially proud of are included here.

BILLINGUAL LIVE CALLS: Brought on by the Villegas campaign in early 2023, we conducted both ID with persuasion calls and GOTV calls for the general election. But when the race went into a runoff, we knew the stakes were higher.

We conducted bilingual runoff GOTV calls to high turnout voters, Every call was conducted using a bilingual script with true bilingual callers. Agents are trained to determine if they should continue in English or Spanish based on how the voter answers the phone or communicates back to the agent. This approach allows our callers to seamlessly transition from English to Spanish depending on the language the voter is comfortable speaking.

Our approach is different. Many bilingual call programs split a list into likely English and likely Spanish speakers. The scripts are only in one language with a disposition to try the voter again if there is a language barrier. But, talking to voters in the language they are most comfortable speaking allows the campaign to engage with voters on a more personal level the first time. This approach led to a victory for Alderman Villegas.

EARLY VOTE & BALLOT CHASE:In 2020, we worked on behalf of Faith in Public Life Action Fund and Nevada Conservation League 501c4 to amplify their on the ground ballot chase, early vote, and ultimately Election Day turnout. Using social pressure and a vote plan script, we talked to thousands of voters and stressed the importance of their vote in the 2020 election. Specifically, Faith in Public Life Action Fund focused on ballot chase calls in the final week of the election. The script walked the voter through returning their ballot on time and also gave an option to vote on Election Day so there were no excuses for not voting that year.

LIVE GOTV & TEXTING:In 2022, the race for the Senate was pivotal for our country. We executed programs for John Fetterman for Senate and the DSCC in both Pennsylvania and Georgia. Universes were consistently close to one million or over with strict deadlines for completion.

The calls came in quick and demanded a lot of attention to detail to execute correctly. With last minute script changes, data refresh, and a push to get calls done quickly we had to be ready. In those crucial two weeks, Brushfire executed 10+ live call programs and 4 text messaging programs reaching over 3 million voters by phone and 1 million by text. It didn’t matter the timeline or the universe size, Brushfire managed the process so that everything finished on time and on budget. The programs contributed to now Senator John Fetterman’s success winning the first open Senate seat in Pennsylvania in a dozen years.