How the heck is it 2026 already? I hope everyone got some rest over the holidays.
For this month’s newsletter I want to talk about things I think we should be thinking about as we get set to implement our strategies for the 2026 Midterms. Even if your organization doesn’t do direct electoral work, your work is still likely to be impacted by the election.
1. Rapid Response mode is never ending.
This has been true for years now but this is the time to put some basic best practices in place to keep yourself from burning out. Some of my recommendations on this front include:
- Set up a staff rotation for off hours/weekends/holiday coverage because you truly never know when something important is going to happen.
- If you haven’t already, set up some rapid response processes organization wide so when a moment hits you are ready. (I’ll be doing a 3 hour Rapid Response workshop in Feb or March- keep an eye out for the registration link!)
- Remember, not everything that happens needs to be commented on. If it takes you more than 10 seconds to make that decision, you probably do not actually need to jump in.
2. It is not true that c3’s can’t do election related work.
This is one of the most common things I hear people say that just isn’t true. The tl/dr on this is that c3s can’t endorse candidates or specifically recommend candidates or do straight up advocacy on an issue- but c3s can, generally speaking, educate voters about candidates and issues with things like scorecards and information about policy positions as long as they don’t focus on being for or against a particular candidate. For excellent resources on this topic and webinars check out the Alliance for Justice, they are the go to experts on this topic.
3. When creating digital content think friends vs strangers.
There has been a lot of thought pieces along these lines in the last few months. My short version is:
The social media algorithms are becoming less and less relevant with the rise of recommendation engines (note: I’m not referring to AI slop here). This means that there’s an increasing chance that the reach your organic content receives is just as likely, if not more likely, to be seen by people who don’t already know you and the work you do.
In practical terms, this means to think carefully about things like the use of jargon in your content. When creating content the key question to ask yourself is: If I didn’t know about our organization until seeing this content, would I be likely to engage with it? Would I want to find out more about the organization?
4. Last remember that metaphorically speaking, all strategy is written in pencil.
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that nothing is predictable anymore. So always be ready to pivot.
As always, these are just meant to be some quick tips to get your thoughts flowing. If there are any topics you’d like to see me address in this newsletter, send me an email at training@beckerdigitalstrategies.