Panel: How To Build A Grassroots Campaign When You’ve Never Touched The Grass In That District
Just moved into the district you’re running for office in? We’ve got you covered.
It can be tricky to speak on issues that matter to a community you don’t know at all — but rest assured, you’re not alone. Up and down the ballot our candidates are running in places they haven’t spent much time in, because let’s face it, you don’t need roots in a community to rubber-stamp Trump’s agenda, just a residency you declared right before the deadline.
This panel will bring together our party’s most prominent political tourists. Here, they’ll teach you the art of pretending to care about the people in “your” district while courting out-of-state mega-donors.
Panelists
Zach Lahn:
Iowa’s Republican candidate for governor is as much a politician as he is a professional commuter. Given that most of his real ties are in Kansas, the state he lived in for years before declaring residency in Iowa just in time to run for governor, he is regularly logging flights to Wichita while campaigning to represent Iowans.
Not that Iowans should worry. Lahn has pledged that if elected, he’ll be in the state “as much as humanly possible.”
Mike Rogers:
Career carpetbagger Mike Rogers is currently running his Michigan Senate campaign from Florida, where he’s hosted fundraisers and given interviews from his Cape Coral mansion. Just three years ago, Rogers listed Lee County, Florida as his permanent residence. He then returned to Michigan to launch his failed Senate campaign in 2024, the first time he voted in Michigan since 2016. And that wasn’t even his first rodeo — in 1994 Rogers moved from Chicago to run for a State Senate seat in Michigan.
If there’s anyone who’s had practice trying to scam Michiganders out of real representation, it’s Mike Rogers.
Michael Whatley:
Despite running for Senate in North Carolina, Whatley’s LinkedIn listed DC as his location of employment, and his campaign held its Senate kickoff in Washington DC.
Handpicked by national Republicans to run for Senate, Whatley is the perfect example of why you don’t need grassroots support to run a campaign when you’re selected by DC insiders.
David Flippo:
David Flippo moved into Nevada’s Second District just in time to launch a campaign for Congress. A longtime Las Vegas resident and millionaire, Flippo made the move to Reno once former Rep. Mark Amodei announced his retirement. Flippo has even been accused of using campaign funds to rent a house in his new district.
