Shane Goldmacher Profile picture
May 14, 2021 14 tweets 13 min read Read on X
NEW: The iconography of @AOC — my dive into how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s logo has formed a new graphical language for progressivism.

From KY to VA to NYC and even France, imitators abound.
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
Political designers say her logo and poster's vibe has come to convey insurgency, youth, diversity, liberalism — and winning.

Unconscious branding experts say campaigns are “borrowing from all the work she has done” and triggering positive associations.
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
As @Amoyforcouncil put it: “Being a young woman of color with her bright purple and the slant and her full name — she set a bar to say we don’t have to do things the same way.”
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
Even if not always intentional, the slanted and boxed text look has become something of visual shorthand for the left — adopted by @BernieSanders and @SarahHuckabee alike to sell shirts
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
Some candidates, like @JumaaneWilliams, literally adjusted their logos shortly after @AOC won.

Left was his logo in June 2018 (the month she won); right was his logo by that September.

(He's now public advocate and still has the tilt.)
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
The trend is especially intense here in New York City, where congressional and municipal elections are littered with campaigns that have adopted her signature slant.

Here are four city council candidate logos...
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
And four NY congressional candidate logos....
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
Plenty of progressives, meanwhile, have posed with a version of her poster's off-camera gaze.

As @MelforProgress said, “It almost came to be a joke. If you weren’t looking off to a distance you weren’t a progressive candidate.”
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
Some were...pretty clearly copycats.

(Brossat is a communist in France)
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
A favorite example is Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, who challenged AOC in the Democratic primary in 2020.

She lost.

She refreshed her logo for a 2021 comptroller run.

It...now has the slant.

“First time I’ve thought about that,” she said.
And a Twitter exclusive! Here are some of the other AOC logo drafts/concepts that were under consideration as her campaign drafted its look in 2018
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
Another bonus fun fact: @mayawiley has the *slightest* tilt in her mayoral logo (plus purple and side stare)...

...But her first TV ad this week rolled out a more AOC-like slanted text.
nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
And no list/thread would be complete without @senatormjpp, who won her race for first grade state senator earlier this year nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/…
Feel free to add any other look-alike logos you spot in the comments!

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More from @ShaneGoldmacher

Nov 15, 2022
NEW: The NRSC sent a fundraising email today signed by Herschel Walker in which it is actually keeping 99% of what’s raised, per fine print.

Walker gets a dime for every ten dollar donation.
Every political strategist will say that nothing is more valuable than candidate funds, which is what makes this split — from the party committee — particularly notable.
The head of the McConnell aligned GOP super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, accuses NRSC of trying "to steal from their candidates."
Read 6 tweets
Nov 12, 2022
NEW: How the most improbable of midterms were won and lost.

Democrats defied gravity and political history. GOP squandered what McCarthy told me he saw as a "hinge" election and brewing "perfect storm."

Here is a taste of one scene to get you started —>
nytimes.com/2022/11/12/us/…
How bad was Joe Biden’s approval rating? An October poll of *Delaware* had him 11 points underwater in his home state.

Yet Democrats over-performed. Here is a key metric: Democrats carried those who “somewhat disapproved” of Biden, in a break from past: nytimes.com/2022/11/12/us/…
Read 4 tweets
Sep 3, 2022
NEW: How the NRSC raised a record $181.5 million entering August — yet spent 95% of it.

My deep dive on Rick Scott’s big bet on digital gone bad w/ internal docs, new $$$ ties revealed and a texting scheme so deceptive that WinRed cracked down.

MORE —>
nytimes.com/2022/09/03/us/…
Let’s start with some numbers. The NRSC has spent $172.8 million as of 7/31 — tens of millions more than 2020 by this time even as it spent *less* on candidate ads.

Top Rs are asking: Where did the money go?
nytimes.com/2022/09/03/us/…
The answer, chiefly, was an enormous gamble on finding new digital donors.

It hasn’t paid off.

In last six months of $$ data, the NRSC in 2022 raised $15 million LESS than during the same six-month period in 2020.
nytimes.com/2022/09/03/us/…
Read 13 tweets
Aug 15, 2022
NEWS: The NRSC is canceling some fall ad reservations in PA, AZ and WI — total so far north of $10 million — in a sign of financial troubles.

Cuts include more than $5 million just from the Philly market.

FIRST CUT —> nytimes.com/2022/08/15/us/…
The NRSC ad reservations are a moving target as of midday Monday.

BUT so far *all* reservations in Phoenix and Tucson cut after 9/30, per two media buying sources.

nytimes.com/2022/08/15/us/…
Some of the cuts are likely going to be re-reserved not from the NRSC's IE but attempting to save money through cheaper coordinated ad buy rates.
nytimes.com/2022/08/15/us/…
Read 5 tweets
Aug 15, 2022
THREAD: Over the weekend, I wrote a story with @katieglueck about how Democrats are leaning into abortion ads — all across America.

Please read the story here: nytimes.com/2022/08/14/us/…. But I also thought it might be helpful to see some of these ads in one place.

So a thread...
In Michigan, as in many states, the opening ad hitting the GOP nominee for governor, Tudor Dixon, focused on her opposition to exceptions for rape and incest.

It began almost immediately after the primary.
The opening ad in the Arizona governor's race targets Kari Lake as "dangerous."

"Lake wouldn't just ban abortion — she'd criminalize it," the narrator says. It is a phrase that is often repeated in Dem ads (The ad also mentions rape and incest).
Read 14 tweets
Aug 6, 2022
NEW: The Senate battlegrounds are all but set after this week's primaries.

And the defining question of the campaign is how long Democrats in crucial races can continue to outpace Joe Biden’s unpopularity — and by how much.

W/ @maggieNYT:
nytimes.com/2022/08/06/us/…
Despite Biden's woeful numbers, Democrats in most of key races are competitive or ahead, per polling.

But can that last if Biden languishes in 30s?

“Gravity is going to apply at some point,” says @robertblizzard. nytimes.com/2022/08/06/us/…
So far, some Democrats have developed their own distinctive brands (Warnock, Fetterman, Kelly), while Republicans have underperformed (Walker, Oz, Masters).
nytimes.com/2022/08/06/us/…
Read 6 tweets

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