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Hi everyone, We’re pleased to announce a major expansion of the firm, and for me, it’s a “Back to the Future” moment. David Dettman is joining us as Vice President, based in Cleveland, where he will be handing not only domestic work primarily in the Midwest but will also lead our international work. And, I

Hi everyone, In today’s political environment, campaigns are no longer built on instinct alone. Electoral experience and local knowledge still matter in running, organized campaigns. Modern realities, especially with direct voter contact becoming hard, have made our campaigns rely on voter models to better understand how people think, what they care about, and how they

I connected with Chris Nolan, founder of Spot-On, over email to talk through how campaigns are actually reaching and moving voters, and why a lot of the conventional wisdom just isn’t holding up. There’s a lot here about what’s working right now, and where campaigns are getting it wrong.   Tell us a bit about

Great to see Founding Partner, Dean Nielsen featured in this KUOW piece on the evolving dynamics within Washington’s Democratic primaries. As campaigns shift and new challengers emerge, strategy and messaging matter more than ever. Read more: https://www.kuow.org/stories/are-wa-democrats-moving-left-primary-challengers-suggest-so

Hello friends! Welcome to AV Summit week, where the workforce behind our movement gathers together to learn, grow, and go to happy hours. We’re about to be in rooms with the absolute smartest people in our movement, and I’m so excited to see what other folks have cooking for this wild and crazy election year.

Dear friends, I’m heading to my hometown of New Orleans today to attend the Spring DNC Meeting, an important event where the administrative duties of the Democratic Party are managed and Democrats from across the country come together to discuss the future. While I’m sure there will be plenty to discuss about current events, it

Friends, Today, I’m excited to announce that Ansley is being honored in the 2026  class of outstanding political consultants under 40, recognized by the American Association of Political Consultants, our professional organization. Ansley joined CN4 Partners in January 2025 as a Vice President, so I have had the pleasure of seeing her tenacity for change

Hi friends! I wanted to take a moment to share some of the amazing recent wins for our team and the campaigns we’ve been so fortunate to be part of. These recognitions are a reflection of the strong partnerships with clients and meaningful results we’ve been able to deliver as a team. We brought home

It’s important that Democratic campaigns and organizations take advantage of every opportunity we are given, and the way things are looking now, we could be approaching a wave mid-term election. Being positioned to use the momentum for electoral success means understanding what needs to be done between now and November. It’s been two weeks since

We’ve all seen political ads. Here at CN4, we’ve made more than our share, and let’s face it – ads have a certain style – polished, high production creative, shoved into 30 seconds. But today, over 70 percent of video content is now consumed on the small screen, and in very short increments. The new

Hi friends, Much has been made, for good reason, about the blockbuster Texas primaries, particularly for both parties in the US Senate race. However, one of the underlying messages was actually from North Carolina: incumbency is no longer the shield it once was. In North Carolina, a surprising number of sitting state legislators lost their

I’m pissed. Admittedly, I probably spend a lot of time ticked off, but I rarely bring it to the internet, let alone to my professional corner of the internet. But here we are – I’m irate about the US Men’s hockey team and “locker room talk”. Yes – there is the Trump part of this

Politico has an interesting article up about the questionnaire industrial complex, the process of how interest groups are using detailed questionnaires to vet Democratic candidates. Full disclosure, we work for some of these groups! From an interest group perspective, these are useful tools to evaluate candidate positions – and to get them closer in alignment

Hi friends, Recently, I had the chance to sit down with Tom Jensen, Director of Public Policy Polling, and talk about what they’re seeing in survey research. It’s a good read and worth your time! —Dean Nielsen   Dean Nielsen, CN4: What are you seeing with your latest polling? Tom Jensen, PPP: It’s shaping up

Proud to share that our Vice President, Michael Kolenc, is featured in The New York Times story on the surge of working-class Democrats and the stunning Texas State Senate win by Taylor Rehmet — a powerful moment for grassroots organizing and building momentum across the country. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/politics/taylor-rehmet-texas-working-class-democrats.html

Hi everyone, I’m thrilled to share that CN4 Partners was selected for a second time to participate in the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) Foundation Summer Internship Program! I came to CN4 through this same AAPC internship program, and my time as an intern was truly transformative. From the very first day, I was

We’ve nearly doubled the size of the firm and today have offices in New York, DC, Houston, and Seattle. And, we celebrated 15 years of winning, together. As we leave 2025, we wanted to share with two stand out races from 2025, and some of our greatest hits from the last 15 years. We’d love

Howdy, The conventional wisdom coming out of the 2024 election said Democrats lost Latinos for a generation. Trump won 46-48% of Latino voters nationally in 2024, a historic high for a Republican, and in Texas specifically, exit polls suggested Trump captured 55% of the Latino vote—a 13-point increase from 2020. Of course it was fleeting,

Hi there, For the 11th straight year, we’re sponsoring an annual meeting of political professionals in education, which led me to think of the untapped political power of that issue. For the first time in years, Democrats are discovering an unlikely source of political momentum: America’s public schools. In the early 2020s, Republicans bet big

POLITICO recently featured CN4 Partners’ founder, Dean Nielsen, in a story looking at the shifting dynamics of Seattle’s mayoral race. “That picture of the tech executives at the inauguration is something that kind of crystallized in voters’ minds,” Dean said, reflecting on how perceptions of establishment support have influenced the campaign. Read the full story

Dean shared his reaction to Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s reelection in Southwest Washington’s 3rd District, saying it’s a great example of what happens when a campaign puts people first. He praised that many new candidates work with their hands and have strong ties to their communities. “For me, it’s exciting that we’ve got candidates that are

Hi there, Redistricting has been in the political news a lot lately, with Texas having gerrymandered its maps to give a +5 advantage for the GOP and Gavin Newsom responding with a California ballot proposition. But what about reapportionment, the once a decade doling out of Congressional seats and electoral votes after the census? New

Happy September, and I hope you’ve been well. This week, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is hosting their 54th Annual Legislative Conference in D.C. Usually, this is a highly anticipated week in politics as African-American leaders in politics, advocacy, and public policy come together to review the past, celebrate the wins and plan for the

Proud to see our Vice President, Michael Garcia Kolenc, featured in CalMatters on Governor Newsom’s response to Texas redistricting. As Michael noted, “People are appreciative that someone is out there having their back.” His perspective highlights how state-level action can shape the broader political conversation. Read the full article here: https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/08/gavin-newsom-democratic-redistricting/

Folks, Political decisions are often shaped by culture, values, and social environments rather than policy specifics. These days many get their information from entertainment, social media, and conversations more than the evening news, requiring us to think beyond traditional media to meet people where they are. We recently helped launch Bobby Cole’s gubernatorial campaign in

Founding Partner of CN4, Dean Nielsen, is featured in The Washington State Standard discussing the results of Washington’s recent primary. “Trump had a huge effect on this year’s primary and will continue to have a huge effect on this year’s election. If there’s one thing that unites Democratic voters, it’s Donald Trump.” – Dean Nielsen,

On Thursday, July 24, Ansley Mendelson joined a USPS-sponsored webinar with colleagues from both sides of the aisle and the USPS to talk about how top 2024 campaigns cut through the digital noise by pairing direct mail with a smart digital strategy — watch it here!

Hey y’all! In the wake of last year’s election, I was looking for answers. The first place I went was the American Association of Political Consultants’ “Walls Down” meeting, where key staff and consultants from both sides met and discussed what went right, and what went wrong. I walked into that meeting sure Republicans had

Friends- On Tuesday, July 1st, the New York City Board of Elections issued updates, still partial but virtually complete results, for the nearly 1.3 million votes cast in the city’s June 25th Democratic primary for Mayor. The Election Board confirmed what appeared obvious on Primary Night – that Zohran Mamdani won the nomination by a 56.0%

Friends, We’re thrilled to officially welcome Ari Levin to the CN4 Partners team as our newest Associate! Ari joins us after spending last summer as an intern with CN4, where she immediately stood out for her keen political instincts, thoughtful strategy insights, and ability to deliver for our clients. We’re proud to bring her on

Friends – The CN4 Team, like so many of us, spent this weekend following the horrific tragedy unfolding in Minnesota. The assassination of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the attempted assassination of Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, is a rubicon moment in our nation’s history. And it must stop

Hi there, We prefer action over applause, but today we’re making an exception. We were honored with 9 awards from the American Association of Political Consultants – for a total of 60 awarded over the last 12 years. While we are humbled by the recognition, we’re more satisfied that these ads helped bring home wins

Last week’s selection of Bishop Robert Prevost (aka Father Bob) as Pope Leo XIV was the most startling of a season of surprising election outcomes. Inspired in Catholic theology by the Holy Spirit (and with a possible assist from Donald Trump) the 2025 Papal Conclave resulted in a trinity of temporal (if not spiritual) miracles:

Friends- Donald Trump has achieved something once thought impossible – his actions successfully changed the electoral histories of not one, not two, but three of our closest allies this spring. Given Tuesday’s somewhat successful visit of the Canadian PM to Washington (as well as our founder’s Canadian citizenship) we decided to take a closer look

Happy Tuesday, ya’ll – last week, I joined millions of other Americans in the time honored tradition of waiting until April 15th to file my taxes. Yes, I know I shouldn’t have waited. No, I don’t usually do this. I was a bit distracted this time around. The current administration and their henchmen have distressed

Y’all, we had one hell of a Tuesday. After what has seemed like endless discourse on what to do, Democrats did things. Good things! Let’s talk about them. First, Sen. Corey Booker broke the record for the longest floor speech in US Senate history, previously held by noted segregation enthusiast Strom Thurmond, who, in 1957,

It’s been nearly five months since President Donald Trump’s Election Day victory, and Democrats are still debating how to rebuild after former Vice President Kamala Harris’ stinging loss. There are signs that their early efforts to rehab its brand are falling flat with voters. A CNN poll released earlier this month found the Democratic Party’s

We are excited to welcome Ansley Mendelson and Westley Bayas III to CN4 Partners, our political strategy and media firm! With this strategic move we now have offices in New York City and Washington DC in addition to Houston and Seattle. Ansley Mendelson – Vice President Ansley T. Mendelson is an award-winning political strategist specializing in

It’s time to think outside the box when it comes to storytelling, so earned media should be our friend and a tool to validate a message during turbulent times. During my career in politics, I’ve worked on many outlandish earned media ideas. Whether it was organizing a celebrity robo call or sending a mariachi band

If you are like us, you may have been feeling overwhelmed by all the news coming out of Washington, DC. It was hard to miss the presence of tech titans on prominent display at President Trump’s inauguration. Elon Musk, and Mark  Zuckerberg  – among others- occupied prime spots near the President, and the press ran

It’s a cold day in Houston, after getting four inches of snow on Tuesday. Perfect weather for making a pot of beans, working on some writing, and checking-in on clients and friends. Local weather is more interesting to watch than cable news, anyway. While it is a snow day for many, the calendar does not

I must admit that this note was a struggle to write as we face the incoming Trump administration. However, those of use who work professionally in politics do so, as Robert F. Kennedy (not his wayward kid) said, because it’s an honorable profession. We believe in the American right of competitive elections, where truth and