I Used to Be a Democrat

on May 7, 2025

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the 40B Special election for the Paul Wikstrom campaign. We had a great team. We were coached by the best players from HRCC and MNGOP. We had top notch volunteers who were experienced in running campaigns. No special election in the history of Minnesota politics turned out more than 20% of the voter base. The pundits were sure that we would win with 5,000 votes. The campaign was focused on getting out our base to vote. Here is what we accomplished.

Raised $130,000

Spent $80,000 Campaign Limit

Independent Orgs Spent $170,000

Targeted 6,700 Republican Voters

Expected Win at 5,000 votes

DFL Got 8,000 Votes – GOP 4,000

So what happened? It is very simple. They had a bigger army than we did. Take a look at the Presidential map in MN for the 2024 election.

The Battle is In the Burbs

90% of the MN counties vote Republican. But the big population counties vote Democrat. Let’s zoom in to the St. Paul area.

The battle is in the suburbs!

Why did we lose in 40B? There are 70% of them and only 30% of us. If we are ever going to turn Minnesota red, the battle is in the burbs. Our foundational problem is that there are not enough Republicans to take control of the MN house, Senate, and Governor. We are so, so close. We are tied in the house and the senate. One Senate district could change the balance of power in 2026.

Marketing Warfare

One of my favorite books is Marketing Warfare by Al Ries and Jack Trout. I spent my career launching small businesses that competed with large companies to provide a better product or service. This book taught me to apply military strategies to defeating an enemy that is 100 times larger. Here are a few principles.

Only Fight Battles You Can Win

Focus All Resources On These Battles

Do Not Get Drawn into Losing Battles

Pick Off Strategic Geography First

The Enemy’s Size is Their Weakness

Examples of successful use of this strategy are plentiful in military history. How did the British defeat the Spanish armada? How did General Washington defeat the British in the Revolutionary War? They picked them off little by little in battles they could win.

This proposal is a plan to use Marketing Warfare to gain control of the Minnesota House, Senate, and Governor.

Define the Program

The program is called “I Used to Be a Democrat”. It is a story telling media barrage that gives a voice to everyday people who woke up and saw the deception they had been indoctrinated into believing.

Almost everyone grows up being a democrat. How could you not? For the past 30 years the democrats have had the media and the schools. Saturday morning cartoons are nothing but save the planet or nerds are great. The schools have been pumping the young brains of mush full of progressive principles for decades.

But something happens when people start working, pay taxes, have children, and see the woke agenda conflict with what their common sense tells them is true.

The goal of the program is to collect, produce, and distribute stories of people who woke up. These stories will be published in many formats. There will be a one-hour documentary that will feature the best of stories. There will be social media advertising that will post stories and play 15 and 30 second stories in targeted battle zones.

Step 1 – Program to Get the Content

Getting these stories should be easy. Each time I give a presentation about I Used to Be a Democrat, I get half a dozen people come up with people they know who switched. So how do we get these stories. We need to engage a regional grassroots network of conservatives. Fortunately, that organization exists although it is very poor and powerless. It is called the BPOU. For the most part the GOP BPOUs consist of 20 to 40 retired people who get together monthly and complain about the democrats. They are generally unable to mobilize constituents or raise money.

The program can also be marketed to conservative groups like CRW, Child Protection League, Moms for Liberty, and patriot groups.

So how do we engage them and get them functioning. Give them a program that is fun, easy, and is funded. Here is how it will work.

Create a Pilot Program to collect, publish, and promote I Used to Be a Democrat.

The pilot program will create the “Starter Package”. The package is a set of procedures, technology, and media that allows non-skilled volunteers to operate the program. The program will consist of a contest for the Best Political Conversion Stories (need a zippy name). The package includes a 15 second and 30 second video promoting the contest with a call to action to submit your story.

Stories can be submitted in writing, voice message, or selfie. The package includes a web landing page to collect written stories, and videos and a phone number that collects voice message stories. The package includes written procedures and training to process the raw submission into social media posts, web post, reels and videos.

We will run story contests. The contest will consist of taking submissions for a period of time. Pilot will be monthly. Submissions will be put into a drawing, and the winner awarded a $50 gift card. This could be done at a monthly CAT meeting – a reason to invite recently converted democrats or a monthly BPOU meeting. We can also run a virtual contest taking online submissions and running and online award.

The content will then be published on the target organization’s website and social media pages. The grant will include funding to promote the contest and promote the resulting stories.