While other state Supreme Court campaigns enjoyed their summer vacations, Jon Hoadley and his team at Badlands Strategies were hard at work stirring-up grassroots support across Michigan for Bridget Mary McCormack’s campaign. Hoadley is the President of Badlands Strategies, a Kalamazoo-based political consulting firm.
Hoadley, a South Dakota-native, made his mark inside Michigan political circles this year, commanding what was the most brilliantly-orchestrated campaign in the state for the 2012 election cycle. McCormack, the top-vote-getter in the Michigan Supreme Court election, was the only successful Democratic-backed candidate for the state’s highest court.
Hoadley, however, was not the only Badlands team member on the McCormack campaign. Jared Volz, Field Director, and Heather Ricketts, Finance Director, are both Badlands consultants.
Badlands Strategies’ tireless work set McCormack’s campaign apart from the rest in the state. The firm began its work with the campaign following McCormack’s nomination at the Michigan Democrats’ March Convention.
Months before Election Day, the Badlands team assembled a statewide network of volunteers and interns to execute their campaign plan, which laid the foundation for McCormack to dominate fundraising, media hits, and GOTV activities. Ricketts and her finance team hosted over 100 house parties before Election Day, which helped the campaign raise over $500,000. Volz and his field team engaged volunteers statewide for an unprecedented GOTV effort by a Supreme Court campaign, which included an extensive “poll-greeting” program that gave voters one last reminder to vote McCormack before entering the polling booth. Lastly, the media team racked up over 300 media hits and McCormack received the endorsement of every major media outlet that endorsed for the Supreme Court race. The media success was spurred by The West Wing voter education ad and McCormack’s interview on Chelsea Lately.
View The West Wing ad here
Not only did Badlands spearhead a record-setting campaign for McCormack, but the firm also staved-off a $1 million negative ad campaign from an out-of-state Super PAC. Despite the mudslinging, McCormack garnered over 1.54 million votes to secure a spot on the Court, and she outpaced incumbent Stephen Markman for the first place spot. In a year where negativity saturated elections across the country, Badlands Strategies epitomized a successful, positive messaging campaign that showed direct voter contact and early grassroots efforts can combat the onslaught of negativity.
To many political observers across Michigan, McCormack was a longshot to win her race. Not because she was a poor candidate (indeed, she was the best candidate), but because she was a non-incumbent and, despite being an experienced attorney and highly qualified for the job, she had no prior experience sitting on the bench as a judge. These factors usually raise questions of inexperience, and no non-judge candidate has won a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court in over 30 years. Badlands Strategies ensured their candidate shattered these perceptions and propelled McCormack to a victory in the closest Supreme Court race in Michigan history.
There is no doubt, the work of Hoadley and his Badlands Strategies team made a significant difference in this election, and helped elect a candidate who will make a positive difference in Michigan.
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