PODCAST · government
The Campaign Strategist
by Pete Altman
Dive into the world of advocacy with The Campaign Strategist. Each episode features in-depth conversations with activists and experts who break down their approaches to planning, executing, and winning campaigns. Learn about the strategies that have shaped policies, changed minds, and mobilized communities. Perfect for anyone looking to amplify their impact and drive meaningful change. New episodes on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays each month.
Episodes
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Know Your Audience: "Campaigns Sometimes Know Their Issues Better Than They Know the People"
Campaigns often know their issues better than they know the people they're trying to reach. Five campaigners explain why stories alone aren't enough, and what works instead. Kristen Grimm of Spitfire Strategies on why "save democracy" messaging misses most people. Will Robinson on two hospitals...
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Colin Delany: You Can Microtarget Yourself to Death
Campaigns keep pouring money into broadcast TV while their voters are on YouTube, and targeting people too narrowly can backfire. Digital strategist Colin Delany has watched every new political technology arrive since the mid-1990s, and he explains which ones actually changed how campaigns win....
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Ritti Singh: A Door Knocker Is Not Hitting 250 People
Someone with 1,500 followers who reliably gets 250 people engaging is a person who can move 250 people — and a door knocker isn't reaching that many in an hour. Narrative strategist Ritti Singh explains how New York's tenant movement built a surround sound communications machine, and what any...
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Will Robinson: "Consultants are parasites"
Will Robinson has made ads for Democrats for forty years. He opens this conversation by calling his own profession parasitic. We start with what artificial intelligence has done to political communication since late 2025. Voters searching for a candidate increasingly get a synthesized paragraph...
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"Trust Scales Through People Now" — Amanda Brink on Why the Old Organizing Toolkit Is Breaking
The tactics most campaigns were built on are quietly breaking, and the reason isn't messaging — it's trust. Host Pete Altman talks with Amanda Brink, executive director of The Empower Project, whose recent essay "The Rules of Engagement Have Changed" argues that real persuasion now happens in the...
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"Anything Else Is Just Busy Work" — Dana Johnson on Strategy, Solidarity, and What Comes After
"If you're not focused on democracy and holding the line there, anything else you're doing is just busy work." That's movement strategist Dana Johnson, and it's the spirit of this whole conversation — clear-eyed about the moment, and unwilling to retreat from it. Dana is the founder of Strategic...
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Francesca Koe on Narrative vs. Messaging — and How Stories Shift Power
If you've ever used "narrative," "messaging," and "communication strategy" as if they meant the same thing, this episode sorts that out fast. Host Pete Altman sits down with Francesca Koe — a communications and advocacy strategist with more than two decades helping movements grow power and win...
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Anna Aurilio on Child Poverty, Affordability & Political Power
Anna Aurilio joins The Campaign Strategist to talk about the intersection of advocacy, economic security, and political power. Drawing on nearly four decades of organizing experience — from environmental campaigns to leading federal advocacy at the Economic Security Project — Anna explains how...
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Pete Maysmith, LCV President, on what it really takes to win right now
Pete Maysmith has been doing this work for over 30 years — from Rocky Flats protests in fifth grade to leading one of the country’s most powerful environmental electoral organizations. As President of the League of Conservation Voters, he oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in electoral and...
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Planning to Win with Kristen Grimm of Spitfire Strategies
Kristen Grimm, founder of Spitfire Strategies, joins Pete to discuss what it really takes to win advocacy campaigns in today’s fractured media environment. Drawing from her updated campaign planning guide, Planning to Win, Kristen explains why campaigns must define concrete victories instead of...
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Defying Fascism and Building Narrative Power with Dr. Jiggy Geronimo
In this episode, Pete talks with Dr. Jiggy Geronimo, a neuroscientist-turned-strategist and founder of JG Insights, about building powerful progressive narratives. Jiggy shares why poll-tested messaging often fails—and how an “emotions first, content first” strategy can drive real resistance and...
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How Progressives Win in the Modern Media Age: Jenifer Ancona of Way to Win
In this episode of The Campaign Strategist, Pete talks with Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist at Way to Win, and co-host of Charting the Way Forward, about how progressives can thrive in a radically transformed media environment. Jenifer shares how she went from journalist...
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Shilpi Chhotray on Media, Power, and Climate Justice
In this episode, Pete Altman talks with media strategist and Counter Stream Media founder Shilpi Chhotray, who makes a powerful case for rethinking how we build power for climate justice. Shilpi shares why she’s stepped back from the mainstream climate movement—and why philanthropy’s failure to...
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The Democratic Party Isn’t Coming to Save Us: Tara Buss on Competitive Authoritarianism and the Path Forward
Tara Buss, Senior Director of Research at the Research Collaborative, joins The Campaign Strategist to unpack what she calls "competitive authoritarianism" in the U.S.—a state that mimics democracy while systematically undermining it. She and Pete explore why mass non-compliance is critical, how...
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A Progressive Art of War with Eric Hensal
What can Sun Tzu teach us about winning political power in 2025? In this new episode of The Campaign Strategist, I talk with Eric Hensal—veteran progressive strategist, author of A Progressive Art of War and host of the podcast Progressive Conjecture—about applying timeless military strategy to...
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Say It Like You Mean It: Narrative Strategy with Anat Shenker-Osorio
Messaging maven and strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio joins Pete to unpack the mechanics of narrative, the seductive power of repetition, and why too much progressive messaging sounds like it came from a law school textbook. From “Florida fascism facilities” to “start how you want to finish,” Anat...
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How the People of NC Stopped Mark Robinson | Durrell Johnson on The Campaign Strategist
Durrell Johnson helped lead the campaign to stop Mark Robinson’s run for governor in North Carolina—and in doing so, created a roadmap for defeating far-right extremism. In this episode, he explains how local groups built trust, centered impacted communities, and reached even conservative voters...
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The Art of Understanding and Connecting with Voters with Liz Kazal
Liz Kazal of the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy joins The Campaign Strategist to talk about why Republican members of Congress are starting to feel real political risk over their support for Trump’s tax and budget bill—and how her team is keeping the pressure on. From Medicaid cuts to...
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Nick Ahamed on How Progressives Can Win the Internet
Nick Ahamed, Deputy Executive Director of Priorities USA, joins Pete to break down the changing media landscape and what progressives must do to keep up. From the emotional resonance of abortion ads to why YouTube is essential for reaching young and diverse voters, Nick shares sharp insights on...
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Indivisible's Dani Negrete on the Urgency of Building Power Before It’s Too Late
In this episode of The Campaign Strategist, Pete talks with Dani Negrete, National Political Director at Indivisible. Dani shares why “we don’t have four years to fix things,” drawing on lessons from recent campaigns and historical trends in authoritarian movements. They discuss how grassroots...
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Messaging Without Emotion or Risk = Political Failure — Saeed Mousavi
Pollster and strategist Saeed Mousavi joins The Campaign Strategist to explain why Democrats are losing emotional traction—and what it takes to reconnect. From risk-averse messaging to outdated research models, Saeed makes the case for a new, emotionally resonant strategy built for today’s media...
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Why Restoring the Old Order Won’t Save Us | Michael Podhorzer Explains
Michael Podhorzer joins host Pete Altman to talk about what really happened in the 2024 election—and why the fight ahead isn’t about restoring the old order, but building a new one. From the failures of civil institutions to the importance of unions and organizing, this is a powerful conversation...
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How Activists Stopped Fracking in NY—And What We Can Learn From It
In this episode of The Campaign Strategist, Rich Schrader and Kate Sinding Daly take us inside the eight-year campaign that led New York to ban fracking—making it the first state with significant gas deposits to stop the practice. Rich is the Director of New York Government Affairs at NRDC. At…
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The Art of Organizing Clean Businesses with Bob Keefe
What happens when clean energy jobs face a political headwind—and how can business leaders fight back? In this episode of The Campaign Strategist, Bob Keefe of E2 joins Pete for a two-part conversation. First, they discuss how the Trump administration’s attacks on clean energy are stalling…
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Why Democrats Are Losing the Working Class | Chuck Rocha Explains
Political strategist and labor organizer Chuck Rocha, founder of Solidarity Strategies, joins Pete Altman on The Campaign Strategist to talk about why progressives are losing touch with working-class voters—and how to fix it. From his start as a teenage union steward in Texas to running Latino...
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The Art of Prep and Story with Melissa Waage
On this week’s pod, I had the joy of talking with the wonderful Melissa Waage — a brilliant strategist, long-time environmental advocate, and now VP of Advocacy & Engagement at Sandy Hook Promise. We dig into campaign strategy fundamentals, what it really takes to move decision-makers, why...
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Leadership and long-term thinking with Mark Magaña
Environmentalist, strategist and leader Mark Magaña joins The Campaign Strategist to talk about the need for long-term vision and investments in growing progressive political power, how to think like a White House staffer when asking them for help, and his approach to building up the…
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The Power of Questions with George Rakis
Friend and colleague George Rakis joins The Campaign Strategist today as we talk about his role leading the Climate Action Campaign from 2011 - 2018, which resulted in the first national carbon standards ever to be promulgated in the U.S. That's where I got to know George, from recommending him…
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The Art of Focus with Danielle Droitsch
In this episode of 'The Campaign Strategist,' host Pete Altman interviews Danielle Droitsch, an environmental advocate and executive coach. Danielle shares her journey into environmental advocacy, beginning with a college protest against Exxon. The conversation delves into campaign strategies,...
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The Power of Culture with Reverend Lennox Yearwood
Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. joins us for a thought-provoking conversation about culture, advocacy and much more. President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus and host of The Coolest Show podcast, Yearwood's activism was spurred by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which highlighted the need to address…
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The Art of Organizing with Tom "Smitty" Smith
In this episode, Pete interviews Tom "Smitty" Smith, a seasoned advocate who shares insights and personal stories from decades of organizing, advocating, and lobbying. The discussion covers the essential elements of successful advocacy, including the importance of coalition-building, strategic...
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Welcome to The Campaign Strategist
The Campaign Strategist host Pete Altman introduces the show and what it's about: the art and science of advocacy. Find and subscribe: Substack and your favorite platforms. Contact: [email protected] Find us on LinkedIn and Bluesky
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Dive into the world of advocacy with The Campaign Strategist. Each episode features in-depth conversations with activists and experts who break down their approaches to planning, executing, and winning campaigns. Learn about the strategies that have shaped policies, changed minds, and mobilized communities. Perfect for anyone looking to amplify their impact and drive meaningful change.
New episodes on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays each month.
HOSTED BY
Pete Altman
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Campaign Strategist have?
The Campaign Strategist currently has 32 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Campaign Strategist about?
Dive into the world of advocacy with The Campaign Strategist. Each episode features in-depth conversations with activists and experts who break down their approaches to planning, executing, and winning campaigns. Learn about the strategies that have shaped policies, changed minds, and mobilized...
How often does The Campaign Strategist release new episodes?
The Campaign Strategist has 32 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Campaign Strategist?
You can listen to The Campaign Strategist on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Campaign Strategist?
The Campaign Strategist is created and hosted by Pete Altman.
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