A bunch of Democratic strategists who labored for among the largest unorthodox names in liberal politics is launching a brand new agency.
The consultants who helped information Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential marketing campaign and the successful Senate bids for John Fetterman and Ruben Gallego are branding their new firm Battle Company.
They stated they’re aiming to elect extra nontraditional candidates with a populist, anti-establishment streak. They’re even open to fielding left-leaning independents who eschew the Democratic Celebration label altogether.
The kickoff of the corporate is the most recent signal that Democrats are rethinking their strategy to elections after President Donald Trump received for a second time with working-class voters of all stripes, as soon as the bedrock of their social gathering’s base. POLITICO is first to report on their announcement.
The companions of Battle Company, which will likely be based mostly in Philadelphia, embody Rebecca Katz, the lead strategist for Fetterman and Gallego’s campaigns; Julian Mulvey, a key member of Sanders’ 2016 mind belief; and Tommy McDonald, an admaker for Fetterman and teams backing progressive Home insurgents, like former Rep. Cori Bush, who efficiently challenged incumbents.
Their launch is happening as one other main Democratic agency — Devine Mulvey Longabaugh, the place Mulvey has been a companion for a few years — closes its doorways. These consultants created Sanders’ iconic “America” advert and helped run his 2016 marketing campaign.
The strategists behind Battle Company declined to share the names of any potential new purchasers, however stated they count on to work within the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential marketing campaign.
They’ve at factors labored to elect extra conventional candidates, together with former President Joe Biden. However a lot of their previous purchasers are recognized for his or her offbeat types, willingness to talk off the cuff, and a propensity to ruffle the feathers of their very own social gathering leaders — an strategy to politics the consultants plan to make use of at their new enterprise.
“It is okay to have a candidate that has some tough edges,” Katz stated. “The period of the proper candidate is over. We do not want good hair and an ideal starch shirt with sleeves that you simply roll as much as look hard-working.”
McDonald, who made advertisements for Dan Osborn, a left-leaning unbiased Senate candidate in Nebraska who misplaced however outperformed the highest of the ticket in 2024, stated “outsiders, working-class candidates, even a number of independents — that is form of what folks need, and there must be a workforce that may assist them.”
As Democrats grapple with the best way to win again blue-collar voters, Mulvey stated Sanders, Fetterman and Gallego present “clues” for his or her social gathering. He stated they “all have the power to attach with working-class and unbiased voters” and symbolize “anti-establishment, financial messaging, populist messaging.”
Republicans, he stated, “acquired to an anti-establishment, anti-elite messaging earlier than Democrats have,” and “our aspect is combating that, and that’s a part of what this agency is.”