How Campaigns Can Use Substack To Reach Engaged Voters

Substack, the platform for long-form writing that helps content creators grow and monetize their audience, has made significant efforts to bring more political conversations to its platform. One recent article dubbed 2026 "the Substack Election” for Democrats.

With tens of millions of active readers—including 4 million paying subscribers—Substack offers campaigns a compelling way to reach highly engaged audiences. In this article, we explore some best practices.

Craft Compelling Headlines

Use short, click-worthy titles that spark curiosity or promise a benefit. Incorporate strong “power words” and clarity about the topic. A great headline should give a hint of the value in the post and entice readers to open it. Email versions of the post can have separate subject lines.

Keep Posts Concise and Focused

Respect your readers’ time by getting to the point. Aim for around 500–1,000 words for a typical post. If you publish very frequently (e.g. daily or multiple times a week), consider even shorter updates so as not to overwhelm people. Conversely, if you post only monthly or less often, subscribers will tolerate longer, in-depth pieces since they come infrequently.

Structure for Readability

Break up text into short paragraphs (2–3 sentences) and use formatting elements to make the post skimmable. Make use of subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists to organize ideas into sections. In Substack, you can insert horizontal dividers (separator lines) to clearly delineate sections – an easy way to give your newsletter a structured flow. Don’t be afraid of white space on the page; clean spacing makes the content less intimidating and easier to read.

Include a Clear Call to Action

Every newsletter should have a call to action. Decide what you want readers to do after reading – and ask them explicitly. This could be subscribe (if they’re not already), share the post, leave a comment, click a link, or even take some offline action like volunteering or voting. The key is that the reader shouldn’t finish your post without seeing a next step.

Establish a Consistent Schedule

Substack’s data shows that posting around once per week is an effective benchmark for growth. Weekly publishing tends to keep your audience engaged and your publication visible, without overloading inboxes. That said, consistency matters more than a specific number.

Choose a schedule you can sustain (whether that’s twice a week or twice a month) and stick to it – your subscribers will come to expect a steady cadence. Regular timing builds trust, whereas erratic or infrequent posting makes it easy for readers to forget about you.

Leverage Series and Ongoing Features

One way to post more frequently without fatiguing readers is to create predictable “series” or columns. For example, a candidate might do a Monday Q&A post answering supporter questions, and a Friday Roundup of weekly highlights. Clearly label recurring series in your titles (e.g., “Campaign Journal #5” or “Policy Mythbusters, Part 1 of 3”).

This signals to devoted readers that it’s part of an ongoing feature (which can increase loyalty), and it helps you organize content. Recurring formats can also streamline your writing process, since each installment follows a formula. Just be sure each post still provides standalone value for those who might be new.

Recommendations

Substack’s Recommendations feature is a built-in way for writers to promote each other’s newsletters to their readers. You can curate a list of Substack publications you recommend – these recommendations show up to your subscribers (often in a sidebar or at the bottom of emails, and on your profile). In turn, other writers can recommend your publication to their audience.

This has a powerful network effect: about 50% of all new Substack subscriptions now originate from the recommendation network and the Substack app’s discovery feed. In other words, half of new readers come via Substack’s internal ecosystem – which includes recommendations.

Conclusion

Substack’s payment system isn’t currently FEC-compliant; it doesn’t collect employer information or aggregate donor caps. That limitation means campaigns should treat the platform primarily as an engagement and persuasion channel, not as a direct online fundraising tool. Nonetheless, its audience, analytics, and built-in distribution features make it a compelling venue for any campaign willing to invest in thoughtful, long-form content.