How Data Helped New Jersey's First Black Congresswoman Win 61%
Posted in: UncategorizedIt wasn’t necessarily a surprise that Democrat Bonnie Watson Coleman was elected the first African-American woman to represent New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives this November. What was a surprise was that Ms. Watson Coleman took 61% of the vote, far more than the 50-something percent party insiders worried she might garner. Campaign operatives chalk up the dominant win to sophisticated data analysis that helped home in on the most important voter groups for turnout and persuasion efforts.
The campaign was at the forefront of a trend that gained steam among local and statewide candidates on the right and left this midterm season, indicating that the data-centric approaches taken by President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential race could be applied on a smaller scale.
In the case of the Watson Coleman campaign, to merely eek out a win wouldn’t do for Democrats who were concerned the district in contention — New Jersey’s 12th could become a hot potato during the presidential election two years away.
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