In the 2018 election cycle, one of the largest Republican PACs, Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), engaged Arena to develop a political strategy that would help newcomer Republican Josh Hawley defeat incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri.
The Problem
In 2012, McCaskill had cruised past her Republican challenger by a margin of more than 15%. For her 2018 campaign, McCaskill was taking every opportunity to use the power of incumbency.
The race became highly competitive because McCaskill stood in the way of Republicans retaining a strong majority in the U.S. Senate. Early polling showed McCaskill with a stable lead.
The Strategy
Arena conceived a political strategy designed to undercut McCaskill’s image by attacking her perceived strengths and turning them into weaknesses.
Initial message tests identified taxes and pocketbook issues as the best opportunity to dissuade voters from supporting Claire McCaskill.
McCaskill’s main argument for her re-election was her belief that she supported average Missourians. Her voting record said otherwise. Moreover, McCaskill’s family had money stashed away in the Cayman Islands—a notorious tax haven.
The initial voter contact program, launched that summer, included mail, digital, TV and radio. But that program didn’t move voter opinion enough to win. Something different had to be done.
Working with the SLF research team, Arena capitalized on newly unearthed information about 5,000 untested rape kits. A coordinated mail and digital program that synchronized target audiences, creative direction and message progression put McCaskill on the defensive (see samples of our mail and digital political ads below).
After seeing the success of this new message, we doubled down.
To make our mail stand out even more, we included custom special effects to catch voters’ attention. In concert with the mail, our online team rendered specific video content that personalized the issue.
Over the final six weeks, eight mail pieces and four digital flights continued to drive this message and turn out the Republican base of support.
The Results
After saturating our message to the target audience with a new approach, Hawley beat McCaskill 51.4% to 45.6% and became the youngest member of the Senate at the time.
Furthermore, McCaskill was one of the only incumbent Democrat U.S. Senators to lose re-election in the 2018 cycle. A key component of retaining a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate was beating Claire McCaskill.
We’re proud to have helped make that a reality.
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