What do prize-winning cows, hundred-year-old auditoriums, and former Indiana Rep. Jim Jontz have in common? They’re all part of the story you’re about to hear of how Democratic strategists Joe Fuld and Martín Diego Garcia got into the crazy world of political campaigns! Listen to this trailer to find out what you can expect and what you will learn from Season 1 of How to Win a Campaign.
In this trailer, Joe and Martín talk about how they got started in politics and their inspiration for making a podcast. This trailer for the brand new How to Win a Campaign podcast gives you a taste of what’s in store for Season 1.
Connect with us!
If you have campaign questions or want to learn more, reach out to us using the contact information below.
Twitter: @cmpwrkshp
Instagram: @TheCampaignWorkshop
Email: marketing@thecampaignworkshop.com
Joe Fuld
Twitter: @joefuld
Instagram: @joefuld
Martín Diego Garcia
Twitter: @gmartindiego
Instagram: @gmartindiego
Presented by The Campaign Workshop
(Intro Music)
Joe Fuld (00:05):
Hey Martín.
Martín Diego Garcia (00:07):
Hey Joe. How are you?
Joe Fuld (00:08):
I'm good. How are you?
Martín Diego Garcia (00:09):
I'm doing all right. Excited to do this.
Joe Fuld (00:11):
Yeah. Hey, me too. I mean, this is our brand new podcast on how to win a campaign and this season is all about how to win political campaigns and I'm really happy to be doing this with you.
Martín Diego Garcia (00:26):
Likewise. I mean, you know a lot about this and I like to think that I know a lot about this, so it should be fun.
Joe Fuld (00:32):
Well, you know, listen, I think over the years you and I have trained a lot of people on how to run for office and you know, we have a lot of fun talking about campaign tactics at all levels. And so I think from like me being on the road as a campaign manager to the interesting guests that we're going to have on this season, it's going to be a fun time.
Martín Diego Garcia (00:54):
Agreed. I mean, it feels like, I mean to me it feels like you've been doing this since you came out of the womb. I mean I know that you were running campaigns back in the day in like the Midwest, you went to the DNC, right? You moved to consulting. And I know we recently just celebrated 10 years of campaign workshop being your own sort of a firm and running the show there. And I know over the years that, that I have known you in, in heading up the campaign workshop we worked on campaigns of all types and all sizes, all forms and all over the country. And for the training work, I mean I feel like I have been super lucky to fall into a career doing both electoral and advocacy training that I really actually truly do love doing. And I find it funny cause it's a really perfect cross section between two of my passions, which were theater and politics. I mean you know this, but when I tried to go to school to be a theater major and just to get a degree in theater, my father was like, Nope, not going to happen. Not paying for that. Didn't think it was serious enough. So I was like, okay fine. I'll also go to school for politics. And so he paid for both. And then when I got my internship at the victory fund helping to get openly LGBTQ candidates elected and doing their training program, I was like, okay, this is what I want to do. This is what I understand. And really fell in love with it and have and have tried over the last couple of jobs over the last sort of decade or so, really getting to train on all types of topics, particularly in the candidate space. And getting to meet some really amazing, amazing humans who are really trying to make their communities a better place.
Joe Fuld (02:27):
Yeah. Well I mean your training work, I mean one you like started at Victory Fund and you worked with us doing training, but then you went off to go work at Latino Victory and then at Wellstone, which is now repower and then we're lucky enough to have you come back and collaborate with us here at the campaign workshop. I never had a theater background. I went right into politics, which I call show business for ugly people. I think that was George Stephanopoulos that originally said that. And you know, but it's been a lot of fun for us to both work together on this training work. And I, for me, the goal of this podcast is, is you, and I know we can't train everybody, but what we can do is give people a real understanding, especially progressive political campaigns or what are the right things and wrong things like that they should stay away from in campaigns. And you know, what we found is that, you know, we've been creating content at The Campaign workshop blog for the past five years, but that there's not a lot out there. So we hope that this'll be a resource for people.
Martín Diego Garcia (03:33):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we're going to be covering a breadth of topics from campaign messaging to budgeting, GOTV strategies. We have both sort of pulled on our networks of, of humans. We have been had an honor to interact with over the years that we've been doing this work. And I'm super excited to hear from those folks and hear their expertise. I mean these individuals have created careers like you and I have working in politics and particularly in this sort of supporting campaigns role. And I don't think a lot of people really see it as a career opportunity. I mean, I didn't definitely when I was in school. So I think that part of it is going to be really exciting to me to sort of hear the different paths in which people have taken to become the experts in the fields that they are.
Joe Fuld (04:16):
Yeah. I mean for me campaigns has changed a lot since I started in political campaigns. Right. There wasn't really a set career path. Like I, you know, did a bunch of internships here in DC. I grew up in Rockland County, New York with a crazy like small family, moved down here to American University and was lucky enough to get a bunch of internships. And you know, I did an internship with Peter Fenn who's a media consultant and I'm like, Hey, how do I get to do what you do? And he's like, well, go out and run political campaigns. And if you do that for six years, you'll probably wind up coming back to D.C. And you could probably go into political advertising. And so that was the beginning of my path. And then I just started, I worked on a campaign in rural Indiana where, you know, I spent the most of my time knocking on doors and then buying livestock at auction, started going from campaign to campaign. And eventually I really, I fell in love with it and I was really lucky that, you know, six years of being on the road. I, you know, got a job in Washington DC at the Democratic National Committee and then started going into consulting. But that path of like working in consulting firms, you know, didn't really exist when I started out. There were very few, few of them. There's a lot more of them now. And yeah, I mean I was just lucky to go out on the road and I still think that's the best thing for people to do if you're crazy enough to do it, is to go run campaigns to work on campaigns.
Martín Diego Garcia (05:51):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's been super fun to work with you and to work campaign workshop and work with a number of groups and organizations that we have been able to come in contact with. And what I appreciated about the work that we do and the way that you have set up the company is we do really truly want to be transparent and sort of teach folks how to fish, right? We want to put this information and not sort of hide the ball from folks on how they be effective, how they be, make sure that they're using their resources correctly and, and sort of demystify what it actually takes to run for public office. And it's been really remarkable. And I'm sure you have your stories and I have mine too, to really hear from folks about why they're running for office, sort of whether it's because nobody currently represents them or their perspective in politics or because there are like super harmful policies out there that are affecting their day to day lives or their loved one's day to day lives. Or really if it's just because of the person who currently represents them really isn't doing much. So it's been really amazing to hear those stories and I'm excited to go through this podcast, go through this journey with you, hear from some amazing folks in and around the field of political campaigns, and hopefully teach the listeners who are tuning in a thing or two about how to run a successful political campaign.
Joe Fuld (07:10):
Yeah. Well, listen, let's take a quick break and then we're going to come back and we're going to talk more about some of the things that you've learned through training. And I can't wait to hear more about it. So this is gonna be a fun journey. Give us a minute. We'll be right back.
(Music)
Joe Fuld (07:23):
And we're back. So Martín, like, so tell me how you got into this crazy business of politics anyway.
Martín Diego Garcia (07:49):
That probably takes me back to when I was a kid. So a little bit about my background. My, my dad was a labor worker, so he was a painter. And throughout his career, he actually went from being a union painter all the way to being the president of his local his district council out in California and the LA area. And at the time that he actually retired and fun fact it was one of the largest unions in the country. And so politics has sort of been in and around the like dinner table since I was a kid. My mom also worked for the state. She worked for the unemployment department of California for about 25 years. And so this idea of organizing and helping people had always sort of been ingrained in me since I was a kid. Um and so when I was in middle school I actually ran for our little student council and I lost. But then, but then I sort of got the itch right. And I was like, well, this was, that was kinda fun. And like I really liked it. And so when I went to high school, I actually considered running for the student body in high school. But as you know, I mean I was sort of dealing with me as a human who I was my sexual orientation and realizing that I was gay and coming from a very sort of tight knit Latino Catholic family and balancing this like I want to be in public office, sort of like, or be involved in some way of helping other people was sort of coming to a head. And so actually I remember this very vividly. I was a freshman in high school and we were having our first student body assembly in our like hundred-year-old auditorium. It's a beautiful auditorium and there's two levels in there. And so there's the orchestra level, then the mezzanine level and all of the freshmen has to sit up in the mezzanine. And so I'm sitting there with all of the other freshmen and the assembly starts and the gayest person that I had seen in real life comes out on stage. And I'm like what's happening? And this person actually ended up being the student body president of our school. And that really sort of started breaking down my own internal walls that I was putting up for myself around like what, like, what can I do, what can't I do, et cetera. And that moment has always stuck with me because I think the reason that I enjoy doing this and the reason that I have a passion for doing it is really about representation, sort of reflection and sort of like seeing yourself in these positions of power or in positions you never sort of thought yourself to be in. Um and so I went to run, I ran in high school, ran all four years. I ended up being the student body president of my high school. Shout out to all the nerds out there who were also student body presidents. And then after college when I double majored in political science theater, I landed an internship luckily with the LGBTQ victory fund and fell in love with the work that they do and how they do it. Fell in love with the hustle and bustle of DC. And the progressive sort of political space. Yeah. And sort of the rest is history. I sort of got into it and have yet to leave.
Joe Fuld (10:48):
So would you ever run for office in the future Martín?
Martín Diego Garcia (10:52):
I get this question almost every time that I train a group of people. And the short answer is no, I don't think I would. And I, and the reason is because like my passion and what I really sort of love Joel and, and enjoy doing is the, like this side of election day work and not necessarily the like other side of election day work. Kudos and my utter thanks to the people who love the ins and outs of policy work and like creating legislation and like Robert's rules of order and like understanding how a bill becomes a law because that's just not where I sort of find joy and passion. And so I want to find those humans who want to be on the other side of election day and help them as much as I can be successful.
Joe Fuld (11:35):
Yeah. So what, when you interact with candidates, what's the biggest mistake you've seen candidates make?
Martín Diego Garcia (11:43):
I think most of the part, it's at the very beginning. I think for a lot of folks, and we saw this coming out of 2016 a lot of people had energy and passion and they wanted to get involved in there and realize how personal politics is. And then they said, decided to jump in a race that is either not the right time, not the right fit, not the right office for them. And very quickly they, they get disheartened. And so I think choosing the right race for you and understanding sort of what it actually means to be in public office, I think very often isn't what candidates are thinking about or at least putting enough intentional thought about. In the beginning, right, like understanding that what does the school board do? What does the city council do? What does it legislative body versus a executive body do? Where do you actually want to do this work? What kind of work do you actually want to do? And is the office that you're running for doing that type of work, can you actually make impact in that work? And I feel most folks sort of are like, well, I guess I should run for office. And then they do it and either they win or they lose and they lose and they decide they're never going to do it again or they win and they realize that the office that they run, they ran for wasn't the right one. And so maybe don't win or run again. And so taking the time to really think about the office that you want to run for, is it what you actually wanna do? Is it the right place in the right time for you to run?
Joe Fuld (13:01):
Yeah, I mean, one of the things that I think is so interesting is people's view of what being in office is versus what it actually is can be very different. And I think, you know, dispelling that myth about what being an elected official means versus what an elected official really does. You know, I mean it's part of what I hope we're able to do with this content is really be able to talk to people who've been through it and to have these conversations with candidates. So full folks actually know because the day to day of running for office can be pretty stressful. It can be something that you really have to get buy in from your friends and family to make sure not only is it the right fit for you, but is it the right fit for your life and it, that's not always the case.
Martín Diego Garcia (13:50):
Totally. And I get, I also get this too, I got it from my brother not too long ago around like is what you do the work that you do sort of like, is it more like West Wing or like Veep or like house of cards and like I'm like, it's sort of like putting all those in a blender and then something coming out and you sort of have to, like, you sort of have to deal with it, right? It's people have this idealistic sort of view of like what it actually means to be a politician or a public official and they don't really understand that it's weekly meetings and long hours and dealing with your constituents and getting complaints all the time and not having any personal time like going to the grocery store and having a constituent ask you about their pothole or picking up the trash. Right. It's just like, I don't think people have a very clear idea of like when I, what actually being a public official is.
Joe Fuld (14:40):
Right. And I'll also say, I don't think they have a clear view of what being an operative is. I mean, you talk about the West Wing and you know, one of the things that, you know, I, in my standup comedy I do, I have this bit where I say, has anyone seen the West Wing? And then I say, my life was nothing like that. Being a political, political operative. It was living out of my car, going from place to place for about five years of my life with a couple of suitcases. And I would show up in a town and work, you know, 24/7 and it is organizing canvassers and organizing meetings and it is not anywhere near as glamorous. Whereas I remember like the show Parks and Rec, you know, they have like some big mega bus, you know, or they you know, it makes it seem like the way that politics is portrayed on TV is very different in life than it really on television is very different than it really is in real life, for sure.
Martín Diego Garcia (15:41):
Yeah. And I mean it is, and like what I also love about the way that we explained this is it's not easy, right. And running for office is a really, really hard like one you have to decide you're going to do it, which means you bringing not only yourself but your friends and family and with you, you're putting yourself up for public scrutiny based on sort of the vision and the ideas you have that you're trying to put forth and get elected upon. But then it's literally like having an extra job. You were working 80 hours a week with your normal job to campaign your family, trying to actually have a life, right? Like trying to take care of yourself and it becomes all consuming. And don't get me wrong, right? Like there are, there are a lot of really amazing things, right? There are a lot of really amazing things about running for office and being a candidate and being able to affect the community that you live in. There are some really, really frustrating things about running for office because there are a ton of factors you can't even consider or have thought about that could impact your campaign, the results, et cetera. That we can't even plan for.
Joe Fuld (16:46):
So Martín, we're going to have some amazing guests on this podcast this year. What are some of the ones that are your favorites coming up?
Martín Diego Garcia (16:56):
Yeah, I'm super excited. I called a bunch of friends who I've been able to work with. I'm a dear friend of mine, Carmen Berkeley, another friend of mine, Colin Rogero, and he, they're they're, I've been able to work with them in varying different capacities. But you get to interview them. So I'm excited to hear how those go. But in terms of the people I get to interview Amy Kershner who has been a fundraiser in the candidate and political space for many years runs her own firm as somebody who is not keen on fundraising or nor have done it in the past, um I find asking strangers or even my family for money terrifying. And so I'm, I'm excited to hear from her sort of tips and tricks and best practices around how to be a good candidate and how to be a good fundraising candidate. As well as our first interview actually is going to be with Mayor Annise Parker which you and I have been able to work with both on her campaigns and then as her role as the executive director and CEO of the Victory Fund and Institute. So I'm excited to hear her perception on being a candidate, I think 11 times and get her insights there.
Joe Fuld (18:02):
Yeah, I mean, those will be great interviews. I mean, from, from my perspective, it's really nice that we have a huge group of folks. I mean, we later in the season we have Donald Green who's going to be talking about GOTV, who's literally written the book on GOTV. And just so you know, GOTV stands for get out the vote, but we'll be talking about that a lot more as we get into the season. We have, you know, statewide campaign managers, folks who've done finance, folks who have been candidates. So I think the diversity of experience and the different point of views that we're going to have on this season is going to be fantastic. And you know, I'm really looking forward to it.
Martín Diego Garcia (18:43):
Yeah, definitely. I mean, we've seen a surge of people I know, I know in my personal life I've heard on the news, right, who are, who are really tuning into elections and politics like they never have before. And many of these people may be considering how to get involved with office, eh, and you, as you mentioned earlier, right, not, not everybody has the chance to sort of go to a campaign training or, or has the time to learn how to run for office. And so hopefully through the work that we're doing here and sort of lifting the curtain and giving some real talk on what it actually takes to run for public office, hopefully after folks listen to this full series, there'll be either, you know, totally pumped to run or may realize you know, that running being a candidate is actually not for them, which is totally fine. So I think if you're thinking about running, if you want to help somebody run for office or you really just want to hear how it takes um, you should definitely tune in.
Joe Fuld (19:31):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it might be that you've moved on from campaigns, you just want to relive your glory days of working on political campaigns. I mean, that could be a fun part of listening to this too. But I think the idea is we really want to, you know, peel back the curtain and show what working can on campaigns really is like, and it'll be fun. So we're gonna take another break and we're going to come back and then we'll talk more about how you can help us as we build the season and the type of input we're looking for to join this campaign communities. So stay tuned. We'll be right back.
(Music)
Joe Fuld (20:19):
And we're back. All right, Martín.
Martín Diego Garcia (20:22):
Okay. So I was following you on the path in which you took to get here except for the livestock thing. What was that about?
Joe Fuld (20:31):
So when I first started working on political campaigns, I worked in rural Indiana and you know, getting elected in the Midwest in the early 1990s was a little different. It didn't need fake news. You didn't need Russian hackers, you really didn't need a big media budget. What you needed to do was knock on a lot of doors and get your candidate with a picture of a prize winning cow in the local newspaper. And so literally in a rural Indiana, I worked for candidate named Jim Jontz. I spent my summer beyond knocking on doors. I would go to 4-H fairs and I would, you know, find a prize winning cow, lamb, you know, you name it. And I would get the candidate to bid on the cow and you know, would work to get the candidate, the kid who had raised that livestock a photo with them together and the cow in the local newspaper and it worked out for everyone. We've won the election and the cow.
Martín Diego Garcia (21:40):
Wow. Times were simpler back then.
Joe Fuld (21:42):
I mean, I but I will also say that what's, you know, old is new again. I think the idea of like grassroots where you're actually meeting folks, meeting people, that whole idea of relational organizing is a big deal. And we now have digital tools that help with relational organizing. But I actually think in reality, knocking on those doors and meeting people one on one is the best way for candidates to engage.
Martín Diego Garcia:
Totally agree. Totally agree.
Joe Fuld (22:12):
Really excited for this season. So it's going to be a lot of fun.
Martín Diego Garcia (22:15):
Yeah. Same and I mean obviously we're doing this for you, the listeners. So if there are questions that you have things that you want to learn more about are considering running for office and want to know the ins and outs--ask us. That's what we're here for. We are currently working on the show and and happy to add in any resources or particular tips and tricks about any sort of topic as it pertains to running for office.
Joe Fuld (22:43):
Yeah. So one of the things that we're really trying to do here with this podcast is to build a community and we do really want to hear from listeners. And so you know, Martina and I both work at a consulting firm called the campaign workshop and you can reach us @cmpwrkshp both on Twitter, on Instagram we're @thecampaignworkshop, but you can also sign up for our blog and get information that way at www.the campaignworkshop.com. So check us out there. But Martín if folks want to follow you personally, how do people do that?
Martín Diego Garcia (23:17):
Yeah, you can find me across all the social mediums at, @GMartínDiego, which is M A R T I N D I E G O. And Joe, what's yours?
Joe Fuld (23:28):
@Joefuld, Right? Which J O E F U L D and that's on Twitter, Instagram. And one of the things we really haven't talked about, I want to do it really quickly is, you know, Martina and I are political consultants. We do work on campaigns. If you have questions or think that we could be helpful to you, drop us a note, you can find us on the website really easily and we'd love to hear from you and be helpful. But as we've said before, like we are not the only political consultants in town. We're going to feature a lot of different ones on the show and it's going to be really fun to hear different people's point of view. So we're really looking forward to it. Absolutely. And we hope that you join us on this crazy political journey and we can't wait to start sharing our thoughts and passion with you. All right. Tune in. Yeah. We'll talk to you soon.
(Outro Music)