The Campaign Strategist

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 policies like the expanded Child Tax Credit and guaranteed income can materially improve people’s lives while building broader economic stability. Pete and Anna discuss the affordability crisis, corporate concentration, healthcare cuts, and the challenges of communicating progressive solutions in today’s fragmented media environment. Along the way, Anna reflects on the importance of coalition building, durable power, and why “we know how to solve child poverty — we did it for six months.” It’s a strategic and deeply practical conversation about what advocacy campaigns need to accomplish in the years ahead. 
Learn more about Anna's and ESP's work at https://economicsecurityproject.org/.
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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 advocacy spending across a 30-state affiliate network.
In this conversation, we don’t spend much time on the doom. We spend it on the strategy.
**What you’ll hear in this episode:**
- Why energy affordability — not carbon policy — is the entry point for reaching persuadable voters right now
- How LCV is running AI-assisted, neighbor-to-neighbor video ads in a Michigan congressional district to hold Republicans accountable for higher utility bills
- Why the movement needs to think culturally, not just politically, to break through a fragmented media landscape
- How public lands became a rare piece of genuine bipartisan common ground — with MAGA hats showing up at LCV rallies
- What it means to defend democracy as a prerequisite for environmental progress
- And why the goal after Trump can’t just be to restore what existed before
Pete’s closing piece of advice, passed on to him early in his career, stayed with me: ”Everybody needs hope and heroes . . . We have to believe and we have to give people belief. And if we do that, people will show up.”
This is exactly the kind of conversation The Campaign Strategist exists to have — candid, strategic, and focused on what it actually takes to build power and win.
If you find these conversations useful, please share this with someone who’d benefit. It’s the best way to help the show grow.
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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 defaulting to “raising awareness,” and why declining public trust is one of the biggest threats to public interest work. She argues that hope is not the same as optimism — hope requires agency and a clear path forward. The conversation explores how to balance blocking harmful policies with building toward affirmative solutions, how to choose the right moment to act, and how campaign leadership and frontline voices shape outcomes. For advocates navigating turbulent political times, this episode offers both discipline and encouragement.
Get the planning guide here: https://spitfirestrategies.com/tools/planning-to-win/
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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 mobilization. 
From confronting fascism to channeling public anger into action, this conversation is a guide to narrative power in dangerous times. "Narrative is about the words, but it's also about the visuals," says Jiggy. "It's also about the stories. It's also about the feelings. And we don't...on the left, take that holistic approach to narrative."
Subscribe to Jiggy's newsletter here. 
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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 to movement strategist — and how that journey shaped her understanding of what it takes to compete in an attention economy dominated by emotion, culture, and decentralized media. She explains why campaigns must merge organizing and media instead of treating them as separate worlds, and how creators, storytelling, and cultural authenticity can move people in ways policy briefs never will.
If you care about how progressives can break through the noise — and build real narrative power — don’t miss this one. 
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