Transparency |
Unfortunately, House Majority PAC was one of the few organizations that failed to respond to our repeated requests for information, therefore missing the opportunity to provide insight and clarity about their plans. On their website, they do offer some level of depth and specificity about where they plan to run television ads in the fall, and this information is useful to the rest of the progressive ecosystem. |
Geographic targeting
 |
An accurate read is made difficult by the failure to provide information, but an analysis of their spending patterns to date and their stated plans shows that they are in fact targeting many of the most important districts for holding and expanding the Democratic House majority. |
Demographic targeting  |
From what we are able to glean, the target demographic for most of HMP's spending is supposed swing voters in closely-contested districts. The fact that television ads aimed at persuading voters is the primary weapon in their arsenal reinforces that conclusion. Many, if not most, of these districts, however, can be won by maximizing turnout of Democratic voters, but there is little evidence that that is the focus of HMP. |
Data-informed strategy  |
Their website suggests that they make extensive use of research and polling, but their FEC filings do not make it readily apparent that they are in fact doing so. Of greater concern is the monolithic use of television advertising as their primary tool for impacting election outcomes. Ample political research and empirical studies have shown that television advertising is, at best, limited in its efficacy, and allocating resources to increasing voter turnout of Democratic constituencies is more cost-effective (in fact, that is how CA-21 was flipped in 2018, as a result of extensive door-knocking, phone-banking, and GOTV of largely Latino voters who more than made up the 800 vote margin of difference in that race). A data-driven approach would manifest itself in a more sophisticated and comprehensive suite of tools and interventions, but there is little evidence that that is how HMP is allocating its resources. |
| OVERALL GRADE |  |
