CASE STUDY
Buffy Wicks for Assembly
MISSION
Winning a crowded primary and competitive general election
Challenge
In 2018, 50+1 Strategies led Buffy Wicks’ successful campaign for the California State Assembly. Buffy was a relative newcomer to her East Bay district and needed to effectively introduce herself — both her experience and her vision — in a short amount of time. Although Buffy brought impressive national experience as a community organizer and leader within President Obama’s administration, she was running in a very crowded field of 12 candidates, most of whom had held local office within the district.
Approach
50+1 Strategies directed nearly all aspects of Buffy’s campaign — strategy and message development, political outreach, organizing, press and earned media, digital strategy, treasury and compliance, and all paid communications including direct mail, digital advertising and more.
We knew that we needed a bold plan to introduce Buffy to voters across the district, so we started a robust house party program shortly after she entered the race. We empowered her initial supporters in the district to host house parties introducing their friends and neighbors to our campaign, providing them with support, coaching, and campaign materials. By the end of the campaign, we had hosted 239 house parties that developed thousands of supporters. These house party attendees then propelled our robust voter outreach campaign — knocking on tens of thousands of doors across the district and identifying the supporters that we needed to win.
Results
Buffy came in a strong first place in the primary election of June 2018 and then beat her general election opponent by 7 points in November. Since arriving in Sacramento, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks has quickly become one of California’s leading champions for affordable housing, California’s children and families, gun violence reform, data privacy, and more. She chairs the influential Committee on Housing and Community Development.
