Pat Ryan - Communication Strategy
Slingshot’s communications practice, led by partner Alyssa Cass, was a day-one consultant on Congressman Pat Ryan’s winning campaigns for both the 2022 August special election and the November general election.
Congressman Ryan’s victory in the special election, which happened shortly after the Dobbs decision, was hailed as a bellwether that gave Democrats hope in a tough midterm environment— providing both a blueprint for winning post-Roe and evidence against a Republican wave. In the November general election, which saw Republicans flip four congressional seats in the Hudson Valley and Long Island, Ryan was the only Democrat to win a competitive congressional race in New York’s suburbs.
here's how we did it
We put reproductive rights front and center of the campaign and made the issue emblematic of the larger fight to protect democracy from far-right extremists.
Rather than wait for polling or pundits to tell us how to navigate the post-Roe reality, we went straight to the people who would decide this race: the voters. By listening closely to voters’ concerns around reproductive rights and other issues, we built a message that channeled their anger and provided a rallying point in a new political environment.
We built a pro-choice message around Ryan’s specific experience, not standard talking points.
Pat’s pro-choice message resonated with voters because it told an authentic story about how his personal values and time in the military informed his determination to fight for abortion rights, framing reproductive choice as part of the larger battle against Republicans’ all-out assault on our basic freedoms and protections.
Our message was urgent and uncompromising.
By always taking strong, unequivocal stances on the issues that voters cared about most—choice, gun control, corporate greed—and never backing down, Pat demonstrated that he took the threats facing our country seriously and that he was truly willing to stand up and fight for our future.
Pundits predicted that the November general election would be more difficult than the August special election because crime and the economy appeared to have become far more salient than reproductive rights and threats to democracy. Moving into the general election, we continuously highlighted Pat’s impressive record delivering results as Ulster County executive, from enhancing public safety to standing up to corporations to lowering costs for local families. Thanks to this focused, grounded messaging, voters overwhelmingly did not buy far-right attacks against Ryan.
