In this episode of Campaign Trend, host Eric Wilson sits down with Ron Nehring, Director of International Programs at the Leadership Institute and former national spokesman for Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign, to discuss the critical gaps in campaign technology for down-ballot races.
Nehring outlines five key challenges facing campaign tech developers: building affordable message testing tools for local campaigns, segmenting voters by engagement level using the "core vs. crowd" framework, translating digital insights into analog strategy, creating better feedback loops to replace unreliable polling, and developing tools that challenge prevailing political narratives.
The conversation reveals why political insiders often struggle to connect with non-political voters and offers practical solutions for tech entrepreneurs looking to penetrate the fragmented world of local campaigns. Recorded at the Leadership Institute's studios following Nehring's presentation at ElectTech San Francisco.