Abigail Sigler (00:00):
If you've got good people who want to help, it is really a disservice to everyone if you don't work to train them.
Eric Wilson (00:09):
Welcome to the Campaign Trend Podcast where you are joining in on a conversation with the entrepreneurs, operatives, and experts who make professional politics happen. I'm your host, Eric Wilson. Our guest today is Abigail Sigler, vice President at Baker Group Strategies and the former campaign manager for Senator Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee. Abby is an experienced campaign operative and a very dear friend. In this episode, we are talking about a unique initiative from Senator Blackburn's reelection campaign known as Campaign College. It's a training program to equip volunteers across the state and build them up in the various components of modern campaign strategy from canvassing to analytics. I think it's a really informative conversation. So Abigail, what inspired the campaign to start campaign college? Was there a specific gap or challenge that you were trying to overcome?
Abigail Sigler (01:05):
Yes, absolutely. I think as we look at the talent and the operatives in this state, there were a lot of people who really wanted to be engaged, who wanted to help protect the conservative cause and who care about the issues that Senator Blackburn was talking about every day. But there was a void in training for them. I think in some states you see state parties put on programs like this, but that wasn't the case here in Tennessee. So Senator Blackburn did, which she's done her entire career. She saw a problem, she knew of the solution, and she worked to implement that solution and campaign schools were born. I think when you think about Senator Blackburn, so many times people think about seeing her in the Senate or previously when she was in Congress, but people might not realize that her background was in grassroots activism.
(01:56):
She actually started the Young Republicans chapter with her husband in the county where they live, and she had a pivotal role in stopping the state income tax here at the state capital. And so grassroots activism is in her blood, that training is in her blood, and I think that that's a huge part of what drew her to the program and to start it. And I think when she looks at the state and looks at how it's really become a beacon for conservatives across the country, it seems like Tennessee has always protected conservative values. But actually it wasn't that long ago that Democrats had majorities in the state legislature. And so I think she thinks about this looks at how do we make sure that Tennessee remains a red state? How do we keep it from being a purple state? How do we keep it from being a neighboring Virginia? For us, that really starts with training. If you've got good people who want to help, is really a disservice to everyone if you don't work to train them. So that's why we started campaign schools and why we're going strong with them.
Eric Wilson (03:00):
Yeah, it is. It's a good reminder that you can't just take things for granted and that they're always going to be that way, especially in a state like Tennessee where you've got more people moving in than ever before that are coming from different states, they may not come with these skills. Talk to us a little bit about how the idea of the campaign college evolve from concept to execution. What was the friction internally like that I could imagine A lot of people say, oh, well, I know how to do my job. I don't need other people trying to help me out or things like that. I mean, talk to us about that experience. To be clear, this is not a normal function that we see in campaigns.
Abigail Sigler (03:36):
So I think that actually we take a very different approach than a lot of Republican operatives and Republican campaigners. We think there's always more to learn that there's always more to do. And if you win one race, you haven't cracked the code, you haven't figured it out. And so in order to run a good successful campaign, you have to always be learning. You have to be trying new things. I think, Eric, you do a lot of that. You think about where campaigns going, where can we go, how can we improve? And I think those are really related things for us. I love the campaign schools. I always learned something new and I've been to a lot of campaign schools in this morning, so it's always fun to,
Eric Wilson (04:20):
You trained over 700 people this
Abigail Sigler (04:22):
Cycle, right? 703 people. Yeah.
Eric Wilson (04:25):
Wow.
Abigail Sigler (04:25):
I should also say one thing about them. They're not really in one mold. Our campaign school attendees, you're really looking at everybody from a high school student, a college student to a mom who say, wants to get involved to learn more about how she can be useful. And honestly, a lot of the times hopefully run for office,
(04:44):
You've got retirees who are sort of thinking about the legacy. They're going to leap to their grandkids and how they want to get politically involved. So that's one thing I love about the folks who participate in it. And I think one of the best examples is we were out at Mule Day in Columbia, which is an annual tradition and it's always a great time, but we were at the pancake breakfast there and a woman came up to us and said, my mom's group really wants to be involved. We really want to help, but we just don't know where to start. And I think that's the case for so many people. And so we invited her to come to campaign school and she brought some of the moms in her coffee group. And to us, that is the most resounding success that we can help invest in the people who want to invest in the campaign.
(05:30):
And that's really what it boils down to. It, if you want to help us, we want to help you. We want you to learn. We want you to be engaged to understand why knocking doors matters. It's not glamorous, it's not fun. It's not just like rainbows and butterflies all the time. If you understand why what you're doing is important and you understand why it matters and how it fits into the greater scheme of the campaign, we should tell you we should teach you. We should help you. And I feel like so many people have helped me and so many people have invested in me that it's something that I am grateful for the opportunity to pay it forward. And I know you talked about friction, but to me it's almost like everybody on our team wants to share what they know. You can't do campaigns and not be in love with some part of it. And to be able to share something that you really love with people who want to learn about it is just a gift. And so it's been a really, really good thing for our campaign and something that I've really enjoyed immensely.
Eric Wilson (06:32):
Yeah, that's so cool. And it is something that we see in some of our research. When we talk to voters or volunteers on campaigns, they sometimes feel like they're left out of the loop, and sometimes there's not much of a loop to be in, but people like to understand why is it that we're going to this door and not that door? And I'd rather be waving a sign, but door knocking is more effective.
Abigail Sigler (06:54):
Why go through the whole survey? Why is it important that we know if you're going to vote earlier on election day? Why does that matter? I think is it's something that if you've done campaigns for a few years, you don't really think about. But to somebody who's new and who's really excited, we should share that knowledge. We shouldn't silo it.
Eric Wilson (07:11):
Right, exactly. And you mentioned a few of the topics. How did you decide what to prioritize, what to focus on a whole host of things that you can train volunteers on? What did you emphasize?
Abigail Sigler (07:24):
Yeah, so we really take a look at the fundamentals and sort of view this as a crash course and ward bigger. He always talks about having everyone on the campaign team be a ship builder. So we want to build the boat, we want to train the crew, we want to plot the coordinates and then set the campaign off on its course. And so that's sort of how we approach a campaign school. What can we do to teach you just a little bit about everything to be able to get the big picture? And then Eric, you'd be surprised how many people come up and they want to learn more about a specific thing. They want to learn more about digital. I think people are always so excited about TV ads and how TV ads are made and how they're placed, and people want to talk about polling, why are the public polls so wrong? So we really sort of give a little bit of insight into so many of the different pieces of the campaign. And then I hope that our participants feel like this, but give them the opportunity to then really engage and learn more if there's something that they're really particular about really interested in. And so that's sort of how we laid out the curriculum.
Eric Wilson (08:33):
Yeah, that's so cool. We're talking to Abigail Segler, former campaign manager for Senator Marshall Blackburn on the campaign trend podcast about their campaign college program. So talk to us about the impact. You mentioned some of the moms groups, people thinking about running for office. What are the fruits that you're seeing from campaign college? Obviously Senator Blackburn cruise to reelection last year in part because of your hard work and this campaign college, but beyond that, what are you seeing?
Abigail Sigler (09:00):
Yeah, I think when you look at it quantitatively, it's the 703 volunteers that we trained. But I think, and I hope that the impact from this will be something that you see years from now and decades from now. I hope that you see people who are deeply engaged in conservative politics in 2050 who have graduated from our campaign school. And when people look back in a few decades, I hope that this is going to be a part of Senator Blackburn's legacy that she helped to bring up the next generation of operatives. And I want to say this, I don't think that the campaign schools were ever just about our reelection campaign. The campaign schools were about truly building the bench in Tennessee. So a rising tide lifts all boats. So let's make sure that everybody from the school board to the city council, to the county mayors to the state house and the state senators to our congressmen, the entire ticket has a highly effective and educated and prepared talent pool to pull from so that we can keep these conservative values in place for decades to come.
(10:12):
So that's my hope. And then I also hope that people leave our campaign schools feeling excited, feeling encouraged, and also feeling like they want to be a part of the community, and to help sort of advance those conservative values further and to help those other people who might want to come in and volunteer. I think about the field staff that we came and brought up from campaign school and how excited they are to share what they learned with their interns who then come to a campaign school. And that ripple effect is something that I hope is just the beginning of the impact that we've started to see
Eric Wilson (10:48):
For sure. And I think you have tapped into a really important trend here, and that is for the last several decades as we've professionalized politics and we focused on targeting and making it more of a marketing effort, focusing on TV ads and even digital ads, we've drifted away from our roots of grassroots organizing and being a movement and a political party as a group of people and sharing a common goal and exercising these different aspects of campaigning. And I think a big trend that we're going to see over the coming years is this return towards parties, relationships, networks. The grassroots really mattering because, well, we've oversaturated all of the marketing channels and people are blocking out all of the texts and they don't want to come to campaign events. They ignore those 15 pieces of mail that we send them. And so that's why I was really excited to talk to you about this. Any surprising takeaways or lessons learned from the feedback that your participants provided?
Abigail Sigler (11:48):
Yeah, I think overall it's just that reminder of the void that we're working to fill and the excitement that people are there. You're right, I think so often we hear about people who are frustrated by political texts or by all the mail coming to their house. And what we need to do is really engage with the people where they are and meet people where they are. So if we're able to train people to be able to go out into their communities that they can talk to the other moms on the sideline at the soccer game so that they can talk to their friends and their congregations, if we can help them engage in that way, we can help fill that void. And so to me, it's probably not surprising, but I think maybe more proof of concept is talking with people and talking with our attendees. And I love seeing their questions because it's something really powerful when you can explain to someone why doing that extra walk book matters, why fully completing the survey actually matters, and to have them be engaged and excited about is renewing. And I think it's inspiring for those of us who do campaigns.
Eric Wilson (13:00):
And I think another thing that I want to draw out here is I think a lot of people incorrectly take it for granted that these things are already happening. That hey, if someone wants to get involved, it's really easy to do it. That's not the case at all. And so campaigns are very high profile events. The candidate is who people are getting around. And so making it easier for people to plug in who maybe are never going to go to a county GOP meeting, may not even know that that's where they're supposed to plug in as a grassroots activist to be able to get that point of entry, almost like a welcome center from a campaign.
Abigail Sigler (13:37):
Totally. And Republicans are really good at meeting and really good at talking, but I think it was sort of our ideal outcome from a campaign school is that you maybe meet just as much, but you spend time talking to new people, to new voters, to bringing them in, and let's do a better job of that.
Eric Wilson (13:57):
Anything that didn't work is sort of like a lesson learned of, Hey, we're not going to do that next time. Or Hey, don't make this mistake that we did of like, oh, we didn't have coffee at one or something like that.
Abigail Sigler (14:07):
I'm always surprised because we draw people in with free coffee and lunch, and of course they're excited to meet the senator. And we've had so many of our friends and allies come through campaign school and even stop in and just pay a visit if they aren't able to stay the whole day. But I think that I am surprised that you don't really need the coffee and the breakfast bring people in, right? People genuinely want to be there, and that's exciting. I think one of my favorite campaign schools was here in Williamson County and we had a whole family come. We had a mom, a dad, and two middle school girls. And I think if you're an eighth grade girl and you're willing to spend your Saturday with us learning
Eric Wilson (14:48):
About be seen with your parents,
Abigail Sigler (14:50):
Be seen your parents and do this family activity, to me it was so unique and so special. And I think as we look at the campaign schools going forward and how do they evolve, how do they grow? How do we make them better? One thing that I really want to focus on, and the senator has done this her entire career, is reach out to Republican women specifically and help lift them up.
(15:14):
And she's always encouraged women to raise their hand and run for office and to be involved and bring their natural problem solving ability to elected office. And so that's one place that I sort of see us going, especially focusing on women candidates and sort of growing that. Because to me, to see those young women, these eighth grade girls sit in a campaign school with us on a Saturday, I want them to see the incredible women that work on our campaign who are smart and brilliant and so good at what they do. And I want them to see them and think, okay, I could do that too. I could do that. I could learn the ins and outs of digital and do that. I could be a political director, I can be a campaign manager. I want them to see that. And more importantly, I want them to see Senator Blackburn and see that they could be in the United States Senate to see that they could do it themselves.
(16:08):
And that to me is really exciting. And just to see her engage with them and talk with them, and it's so unique. It's so special, and it's a place that I think we need generally to be encouraging women to step up and run for office. And so I sort of see it as the same type of void. If there's a place that the senator can step in and help recruit Republican women candidates and help train them and help build that ship, then let's do it. So that's one place that I really hope that we grow until that's
Eric Wilson (16:38):
So cool. And before we wrap up, hopefully people are listening to this and thinking about, okay, how can I build something like this in my own campaign going into 2026? What advice do you give them about finding the right people? Any other tips you'd share with them as they think about building their own campaign schools?
Abigail Sigler (16:57):
Of course, I would love to talk to you about that. If you want to start a campaign school, the senator would love to talk to about it. She's worked with a lot of her colleagues already and encouraged them to do something very similar. I think the best piece of advice is just to do it. Do it. Don't wait. The odd year is not an off year. Get that going and just start reaching out to people. So I think when we start with outreach, we talk to the people we know, but it's also something is saying, Eric, can you bring a friend? Can you bring somebody who you think would be interested in learning more? And just start immediately. And I think you'll be surprised at the number of people and the excitement that people have to learn these fundamentals and to be further engaged and well equipped.
Eric Wilson (17:42):
And I think that's a good lesson of it doesn't have to be perfect, just build it. Put the framework out there for people to be a part of and you'll see it grow.
Abigail Sigler (17:50):
Oh, absolutely.
Eric Wilson (17:51):
Alright, my thanks to Abigail Sigler for a great conversation. You can read more about the campaign college program with the link in our show notes to an Axios story about it, which is what caught my attention. If this episode made you a little bit smarter or gave you something to think about, I hope you'll share it with a friend or colleague. You look smart in the process and more people learn about the show. So it's a win-win all around. Remember to subscribe to the Campaign Trend podcast wherever you get your podcast, so you never miss an episode. And visit our website, campaign trends.com for even more. With that, I'll say thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. The Campaign Trend Podcast is produced by Advocacy Content Kitchen, a media production studio.
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