Women’s Public Leadership Network (WPLN) is excited to continue our video series, Tips From the Trail, where we interview top leaders who have worked on political campaigns or run for office. In our June Tips From the Trail, Maureen McInerney, WPLN’s Director of Development and External Affairs, was joined by Ashley O’Rourke, Director of Analytics and Audience Insight at Majority Strategies and a member of our national Impact Council. 

With over a decade of experience in building data solutions for political organizations, non-profits, and businesses, Ashley has unique insight into all things campaign data. In her interview, she described what “building a data-driven pathway to victory” might look like as a woman running for office, including how to navigate voter targeting and getting to “50+1”.

As female candidates gear up to run for office, there are many variables, such as funding and messaging, that can cause uncertainty in decision-making on the trail. Ashley’s solution? Make data the “bedrock” of your strategy: “All of the key decisions that a campaign should be making—you see this with successful campaigns—is that data is at the heart of their political strategy.” 

She also highlighted that taking advantage of data is not exclusive to multimillion dollar campaigns, but can be attained at a local level as well:

“There are going to be countless stories that are written about the multimillion dollar data efforts that these presidential campaigns are running… It’s important to remember that if you are running for local office, you can take advantage of a lot of these same data resources, and you don’t have to spend a million dollars to do so. There are a lot of free resources out there that are very affordable for your campaign to use and you can use it at a local level. And I think that’s the beauty of this data and information: that you can still use it to run smart and efficient campaigns regardless of which office you’re running for.”

In her interview, Ashley highlighted five simple steps to integrating data into your campaign, including how to turn data into action on the trail. If you are interested in running or being part of a campaign and want to learn more about how data can support your success, check out our latest Tips from Trail with Ashley O’Rourke!