Lisa Cupid for Cobb County Commissioner
Case Study: Lisa Cupid
Mission:
Get Political Newcomer Lisa Cupid Elected As Cobb County Commissioner against 4-Term Incumbent Woody Thompson.
Challenge:
In a bid to become only the second African American to sit on Cobb County’s Board since its incorporation in December 1832, Lisa Cupid, a political newcomer with no prior elected or campaign experience challenged 4-Term Incumbent Woody Thompson.
Faced against an Incumbent with the capacity to be well funded and also a crowded ballot with a total of 6 candidates, the challenges for a new candidate with minimum name recognition in a historically low voter turnout were enormous.
Strategy:
Opposition Research highlighted data that the Incumbent had previously been a Republican candidate before political demographic shifts in the district. In a Democratic strong district, Cupid had a real opportunity to overcome this better-known and better-financed candidate by positioning herself as a real Democrat and a commitment to be both visible and active in the development of the district.
Polling and voter contact modules showed that residents saw the incumbent as inactive and loathed the unequal developments in the rest of county while seeing none in Southwest Cobb.
The campaign message of “A Partner for Cobb” was born. After developing a
campaign message, Cupid was the only candidate who had a targeted
campaign based on turnout and voters with a history of participating in primaries.
The campaign utilized the candidate appeal with a microscopic targeted canvass
sandwiched with robust volunteer call program, paid calls, and targeted
direct mail and literature drops.
Results
Cupid won the Democratic Primary resoundingly which lead to a runoff election
with Thompson. Cupid earned 40% (10,670 votes) to Thompson’s 27% (4,053 votes)
in the primary. In another astonishing performance Cupid dismantled Thompson
by winning 75.6 percent in the runoff for the Cobb District 4 commission post.
Since no Republican qualified for the November election, Cupid took office in January 2013 for a four-year term.
Photo Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Photo Credit: Cobb County Democratic Women