1. There's an uncomfortable pause in my int w @JulieOliverTX, @wendydavis, and @SiegelForTexas- 3 candidates for the House in TX who had great odds for flipping seats this cycle until they ran into the brick wall that is the @DCCC's Red to Blue program tinyurl.com/y2697uoa
2. Under the leadership of @CheriBustos the program has failed to adapt to an environment in which Ds are winning in places w high levels of college edu and/or diversity & losing otherwise. The 2020 class has already been scrubbed from the site, web.archive.org/web/2020081703…
3. but they'll live on forever on the wayback machine's archive. The 2018 class was one thing, but when I saw that the 2020 class was not being driven by realignment analytics exposed by my forecasting work, frankly, I was shocked. Even though the DCCC hadn't reached out to me,
4. I expected the success of the model in identifying places of competition so far out & the extent of D electoral robustness in places like OC in CA had to have the DCCC looking at my demo indicators instead of the same old tired formula for identifying the competition.
5. One glance at the class of 2020- ESP the OG class which didn't feature half the candidates you see here, & I knew that was not the case. There is a MASSIVE entropy within the Dem Party's organizations where they are dialing it in in terms of their messaging and electioneering.
6. My guess is some of this is driven by protecting the jobs & contracts of long term consultants and vendors. If @SpeakerPelosi values that speaker's gavel she should be interested in helping to get the Biden team to push for a MASSIVE overhaul of the DNC/DCCC/DSCCC when he
7. comes in. Otherwise, 2022 will be a bloodbath for Ds electorally. No one in charge of strategy of the Ds 2020 congressional work should be retained for that purpose going forward. It is time to embrace the methodologies & strategic approaches being advocated for by people like
8. @stephanievalenc, @benwikler, @tbonier, @ChuckRocha, and others. The way moderate messaging is done must be overhauled and a comms shop established to counterbalance the Right's media ecosystem. Hoping this is going to happen.
Meant to say- that uncomfortable pause came when I asked, after finding out none of the TX campaigns were doing door contacts, if they were worried that they'd lose bc of it.

And then I spent the next few weeks urging campaigns in TX & across the country to knock doors!!
I should also add that in May, I presented the case about turnout & negative partisanship & this election to Bustos' aide but did not receive any follow-up. To her defense, she no doubt heard from other highly credible people, with much more relevant resumes than mine (direct
campaign work) that my theories are stupid, that I am wrong, & that despite an increase in participation of 14pts & reaching presidential election level turnout- the 2018 midterms were persuasion elections won on healthcare. So I don't blame her for not taking me, or my warnings
seriously. When incredibly successful, well-respected people tell you someone is a moron, & you don't know that person or their work, you believe them. That is why having such erroneous claims made about me and my research, esp when intentional mischaracterization and distortions
of my work or research products are used to support those insults, are incredibly damaging to me professionally- but also to my ability to assist Democrats in improving their electioneering capabilities. Which they so very clearly need to do.
My interest, I should add, is the same as it ever was, to stop losing winnable races to a party full of racist fascists. That's why I do so much shit for free & barely sleep. So, to anyone telling people I'm a grifter- a big fuck you. Which I can I say, bc I'm unemployed.

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More from @RachelBitecofer

7 Nov
1. DEF, @SenatorCollins, whose campaign staff is likely (and rightly) able to point at me and say WRONG! which I'm sure feels delightful for them (though I'm in good company).

I said I couldn't imagine a lot of voters voting Biden/Collins in 2020, but they did. And that's bc
2. the @SaraGideon campaign failed to nationalize their messaging- making a vote for Collins the same as a vote for Trump (which, and you ask @MichaelSteele about this- he will verify this- is exactly what the GOP would have done in the same situation). Itsa called a referendum
3. strategy- & the GOP has been using it to wipe out Ds in down-ballot races since the 1988 Boston Harbor campaign when believe it or not, Mike Dukakis was on track to kick GHWB's ass in the '88 presidential election until James Baker realized that they'd never win an issues
Read 7 tweets
7 Nov
1. The question of whether voters intentionally went for "divided" gov't is something data can answer @JoeNBC, one @tbonier, I, and others will look at after all votes are finalized.

Many other possibilities!
2. And yes, 2016 IS still a black swan event in that the Midwest states went to Trump. But the rest of what @JoeNBC is saying here is correct which is why my book on 2016 remains the only correct explanation of HRC's loss. As to Trump's appeal, what we have underestimated- my
3. guess is that celebrity is helping to buoy Trump. Yes, the microtargeting of young men of color is about politics, but I think it works better bc of the celebrity add on. And as @SteveKornacki just showed everyone in data, exactly as I predicted Biden made virtually no gains
Read 5 tweets
6 Nov
1. Whether or not 6 or 7 members of the Ds House Caucus are extreme enough to back slogans like "defend the police" is irrelevant- 0 could & the shrewd GOP would still saddle members like @SpanbergerVA07 w it.

What matters is how her own campaign gets run- the way its done now,
2. From a constantly defensive posture where she is defending her well-est moderation against a party of actual extremists, or the way that I suggest, in the offense, from a position of strength that puts the Rep Party on the defense. To me this is a no brainer- her & the other
3. Frontline Dems should be reaching out to me to discuss how we modernize the Dem Party's electioneering approach so they don't lose their majority in 2022.
Read 4 tweets
6 Nov
1. So Ds have locked in 2 of the 3 I expected them to win. The AZ seat, along w the CO seat, were pure neg partisanship- turnout surge meets demographic realignment seats, easy to see flipping.

Maine senate, however, relied on purely persuasion. Lower college edu, overwhelmingly
2. white, and majority Independent, Maine is part of a set of 3 states that make up one of the most politically interesting regions in the country (Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire). That is bc each of these 3 states report large populations of Independents which is probably
3. why Maine and Vermont are the two states (and only two) that send political Independents to the senate (Sanders and King). My belief was that in this environment, Collins simply could not avoid being tied to Trump- esp w what ended up being 3 major events tying her to him &
Read 12 tweets
6 Nov
1. Vote Count Thread

The GOP legislatures refused to allow early counting of the mail vote in order to assist Trump w his "Red Mirage" plan. The goal was that IF the election was super close, he'd need to create the illusion of fraudulent ballots, so they needed a "live count"
2. process to be able to work the media and to be able to work the courts. BC FL basically invested the mail vote (absentee vote-by-mail system) the infrastructure for it has been codified- that is to say the GOP couldn't easily do what they did in MI, PA, & WI bc they'd have
3. pass laws & have @GovRonDeSantis sign them. So it was decided to rely on the Blue Wall states- which added/expanded their very weak vote-by-mail systems dramatically to deal w the pandemic. As everyone knows. the WI GOP f'ed w the Dems hard in the spring Dem primary bc it also
Read 20 tweets
5 Nov
1. When I hear @clairecmc talk about Dems learning to talk to the Piggly Wiggly crowd, I hope she'll want to join/help w my moderate messaging electioneering overall for Ds effort. BC its CRUCIAL to understand- Ds & outside groups tried already to cater to these voters on the
2. persuasion. That in fact, this cycle was the product of a very concerted effort of that strategy driven by high profile data firms on the D side (many of which who've been critical of my work) & it was a complete and total failure for 2 reasons. The main 1 is that it wants
3. to ignore the effect that polarization is having on voter behavior & the limitations that is placing on certain electioneering techniques that USED TO BE EFFECTIVE and are now not. I want to make something really clear- it is only in places where at least 1 element of the D's
Read 19 tweets

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