The Campaign Strategist

Will Robinson: "Consultants are parasites"

Will Robinson has made ads for Democrats for forty years. He opens this conversation by calling his own profession parasitic. We start with what artificial intelligence

"Trust Scales Through People Now" — Amanda Brink on Why the Old Organizing Toolkit Is Breaking

The tactics most campaigns were built on are quietly breaking, and the reason isn't messaging — it's trust. Host Pete Altman talks with Amanda Brink, executive

"Anything Else Is Just Busy Work" — Dana Johnson on Strategy, Solidarity, and What Comes After

"If you're not focused on democracy and holding the line there, anything else you're doing is just busy work." That's movement strategist Dana Johnson, and

Francesca Koe on Narrative vs. Messaging — and How Stories Shift Power

If you've ever used "narrative," "messaging," and "communication strategy" as if they meant the same thing, this episode sorts that out fast. Host Pete Altman sits d

Anna Aurilio on Child Poverty, Affordability & Political Power

Anna Aurilio joins The Campaign Strategist to talk about the intersection of advocacy, economic security, and political power. Drawing on nearly four decades of organizin

Pete Maysmith, LCV President, on what it really takes to win right now

Pete Maysmith has been doing this work for over 30 years — from Rocky Flats protests in fifth grade to leading one of the country’s most powerful environmental electoral

Planning to Win with Kristen Grimm of Spitfire Strategies

Kristen Grimm, founder of Spitfire Strategies, joins Pete to discuss what it really takes to win advocacy campaigns in today’s fractured media environment. Drawing from h

Defying Fascism and Building Narrative Power with Dr. Jiggy Geronimo

In this episode, Pete talks with Dr. Jiggy Geronimo, a neuroscientist-turned-strategist and founder of JG Insights, about building powerful progressive narratives. Jiggy

How Progressives Win in the Modern Media Age: Jenifer Ancona of Way to Win

In this episode of The Campaign Strategist, Pete talks with Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist at Way to Win, and co-host of Charting the Way Forwa

Shilpi Chhotray on Media, Power, and Climate Justice

In this episode, Pete Altman talks with media strategist and Counter Stream Media founder Shilpi Chhotray, who makes a powerful case for rethinking how we build power for

The Democratic Party Isn’t Coming to Save Us: Tara Buss on Competitive Authoritarianism and the Path Forward

Tara Buss, Senior Director of Research at the Research Collaborative, joins The Campaign Strategist to unpack what she calls "competitive authoritarianism" in the U.S.—a

A Progressive Art of War with Eric Hensal

What can Sun Tzu teach us about winning political power in 2025? In this new episode of The Campaign Strategist, I talk with Eric Hensal—veteran progressive strategist,

Say It Like You Mean It: Narrative Strategy with Anat Shenker-Osorio

Messaging maven and strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio joins Pete to unpack the mechanics of narrative, the seductive power of repetition, and why too much progressive messag

How the People of NC Stopped Mark Robinson | Durrell Johnson on The Campaign Strategist

Durrell Johnson helped lead the campaign to stop Mark Robinson’s run for governor in North Carolina—and in doing so, created a roadmap for defeating far-right extremism. 

The Art of Understanding and Connecting with Voters with Liz Kazal

Liz Kazal of the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy joins The Campaign Strategist to talk about why Republican members of Congress are starting to feel real political

Nick Ahamed on How Progressives Can Win the Internet

Nick Ahamed, Deputy Executive Director of Priorities USA, joins Pete to break down the changing media landscape and what progressives must do to keep up. From the emotion

Indivisible's Dani Negrete on the Urgency of Building Power Before It’s Too Late

In this episode of The Campaign Strategist, Pete talks with Dani Negrete, National Political Director at Indivisible. Dani shares why “we don’t have four years to fix thi

Messaging Without Emotion or Risk = Political Failure — Saeed Mousavi

Pollster and strategist Saeed Mousavi joins The Campaign Strategist to explain why Democrats are losing emotional traction—and what it takes to reconnect. From risk-avers

Why Restoring the Old Order Won’t Save Us | Michael Podhorzer Explains

Michael Podhorzer joins host Pete Altman to talk about what really happened in the 2024 election—and why the fight ahead isn’t about restoring the old order, but building

How Activists Stopped Fracking in NY—And What We Can Learn From It

In this episode of The Campaign Strategist, Rich Schrader and Kate Sinding Daly take us inside the eight-year campaign that led New York to ban fracking—making it the fir