Underdog Assembly candidate Richard Bloom bested Assemblywoman Betsy Butler last night in the 50th Assembly District, which covers Agoura Hills, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Hollywood.
As of this morning, just 218 votes were the deciding factor with all precincts reporting.
Butler, who'd represented the 53rd District, had strong backing from the Democratic establishment and a greater than 2-to-1 funding advantage over Bloom. The race was one of several tests of California's new "top two" primary system, which saw candidates of the same party face off in runoffs.
Bloom's campaign was run on NationBuilder by Brian Ross Adams, who first met Bloom at a charity softball game and bonded over their shared love of Springsteen. It was Adams' first time as a campaign manager, and his use of our technology made a big difference, he said.
"This is a guy with deep roots in the community, using software to reach voters one-on-one," Adams told us last month. "We're going to win, and NationBuilder gave us the tools to compete against a campaign that heavily outspent."
Adams and the Bloom campaign used powerful messaging developed by Ross Bates at Bates Consulting to launch targeted Facebook ads in the final weeks to amplify Richard's message while his opponent relied on over 20 mail pieces.
NationBuilder allowed Adams and team to focus his efforts on the exact universe of voters they needed, he said, overcoming Butler's spending advantage.
"It's all integrated," Adams said. "You send an email out, you don't have to go to another site and try to put the info back together. Folks who interact on social media become part of your nation - that's intuitive. I know the people who like every post and who we need to reach out to."
