Cell phone data, mobile apps and paid media: DNC touts voter-targeting plans

The Democratic National Committee is making new tech investments to bolster its efforts to reach young voters and voters of color in an increasingly fragmented environment, according to a new memo laying out the party’s strategies in the months leading up to the general election.

Bolstered by the over $192 million dollars Democrats have amassed in the first quarter of this year, Democrats have doled out millions to acquire data and new technology to specifically target voters in battleground states and create a “data infrastructure” that can equally be utilized by national and state parties.

The party has invested $2 million dollars this cycle in cell phone data in a bid to better target voters in battleground states, according to the memo, which touted expanding its cell phone coverage on voter lists from 30% of voters in 2016 to over 80% now. An additional $2 million annually has been invested in “models and commercial data to better understand voters.”

The Democrats point to the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race as evidence of the benefit of having such data on file, citing the 1.4 million calls and texts Wisconsin Democrats made to support candidates in 2023, including now-Justice Janet Protasiewicz.

So far, the DNC says it’s made 1.2 million calls and sent 5.4 million texts to engage voters and promote events, recruit for organizing activities and support voter registration efforts in battleground states.

The party plans to invest more in its relational organizing programs to better reach young voters and voters of color before the election. That includes a Wisconsin-based pilot program that has been engaging youth voters on college campuses in Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee and Eau Claire.

Ahead of President Joe Biden’s campaign event to Racine, Wisconsin on Wednesday, attendees were trained on how to use a relational organizing app, “REACH,” which the campaign described as a program helping “voters connect with people they already know about the importance of the election.” The bet is that friends and peers will be best placed to convince on-the-fence people in their social networks to back Biden.

“Over the last several months, REACH has been used successfully by Team Biden-Harris supporters and volunteers in the Black community as part of a first-of-its-kind relational organizing program in Milwaukee,” Garren Randolph, the campaign manager for the Wisconsin Democratic Coordinated Campaign, wrote in a memo this week.

The DNC also touted other investments in its new memo.

As Republicans set their sights on competing this fall in Minnesota and Virginia, two states Biden comfortably won in 2020, Democrats are also broadening their investments to target traditionally red states. This election cycle, the party has invested more than $4.5 million in its “Red State Fund,” which allocates resources for programs in traditionally Republican states. Kentucky, where the party saw Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear win re-election last year, is among the red states that has seen a big increase in national party investment.

And the DNC also touted new investments in election security measures.

The DNC in its memo said it’s making 7-figure investments in a “robust voter protection operation,” including launching an online training system comprised of 57 videos, training voting staff on topics from election administration, ballot curing, organizing and federal law.

Additionally, the party said it will continue to support a voter assistance hotline. The DNC said it received over 28,000 calls in the 2022 midterms and this cycle has received more than 9,000 so far.