Bi-Partisan Team 1st Tuesday Campaigns Launches Referendum And Initiative Firm

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Three of the most successful campaign and ballot-measure strategists of the past three decades have launched a new bi-partisan firm—1ST TUESDAY CAMPAIGNS— to deliver winning ballot initiatives across the U.S. and internationally.

1st Tuesday Campaigns brings together strategists from the Obama For America and Leave.EU Brexit campaigns. The new partnership is led by Gerry Gunster, named 2017’s “International Consultant of the Year” by the Association of American Political Consultants and known for his ballot initiative work here in the U.S. and abroad; Matt Rodriguez, a veteran Democratic strategist with more than 20 years of experience working for candidates and causes across the nation, including his role as Western States Regional Director for the historic Obama for America campaign; and Jonathan Stember, a California native, with more than two decades of success in both domestic and international referendums and ballot measures, as well as a robust history working with clients in the Fortune 500 and several Native American tribes.

The firm will focus exclusively on ballot initiatives and referendums, with the guiding principle of helping clients craft real-world solutions to issues that matter most to voters, regardless of political affiliation or partisanship.

“At the state level, ballot initiatives have always transcended traditional definitions of ‘red’ or ‘blue’ and instead focus on meaningful day-to-day impact for citizens,” Gunster said. “1st Tuesday Campaigns helps our clients empower citizens to use direct democracy ahead of partisan politics.”

Combined, the 1st Tuesday team has worked on more than 50 ballot measures in nearly every U.S. state that allows referendums and initiatives, with a winning record of more than 95%. Internationally, the team has never lost a referendum. Gunster, Rodriguez, Stember, and the 1st Tuesday team have successfully joined forces many times over the years, with an unmatched depth of coast-to-coast, bi-partisan expertise.

In 2012 and 2014, Rodriguez and Gunster combined efforts to defeat food and beverage taxes in the California cities of El Monte, Richmond, and San Francisco. Additionally, in 2016 Rodriguez and Gunster paired up again to pass State Question 792 in Oklahoma modernizing that state’s liquor purchasing laws.

“With the 1st Tuesday team’s track record of success crafting and executing campaigns at all levels combined with industry-leading performance and a results-driven bi-partisan approach, we are uniquely positioned to help clients successfully engage at the ballot box,” Rodriguez said.

Over the years, Gunster, Rodriguez, and Stember have also individually worked for numerous corporations, trade associations, and non-profits in the food and beverage, telecommunications, gaming, retail, and health care sectors.

The firm’s services will include opinion research and message development, including focus groups and quantitative baseline surveys; campaign strategy and management; earned media relations; creative testing, production and advertising; paid media placement; digital strategy; and field operations.

“2020 projects to be the most engaged Election Day of our lifetimes, at every level,” Stember said. “Ultimately, the day-in-day-out impact of dozens of critical statewide ballot initiatives and referendums will require campaigns that are up to the challenge of that level of civic enthusiasm.”

Heading into this coming Election Day, 1st Tuesday’s team will be providing expert insights into the most hotly contested state ballot measures across the country, with exclusive polling and commentary through news media partners and 1st Tuesday’s own social channels, including @1stTuesCampaign on Twitter and @1stTuesdayCampaigns on Instagram and Facebook, along with 1stTuesdayCampaigns.com. The first of these polls will be released tomorrow, Thursday, October 11^th and will focus on the Missouri U.S. Senate race as well as that state’s three marijuana initiatives.