Always Be Posting: The New Rules for Democratic Candidates

Mr. Plouffe is a veteran Democratic political strategist.

Many candidates’ daily campaign schedules today look very much as they have for most of my career. Speeches to community groups, interviews with journalists, fund-raising events and meetings with local party activists, with lots of driving in between.

That won’t cut it anymore. A successful campaign in 2026 must operate like a full-time production studio.

Candidates and incumbents should center each day on content creation. That does not mean uploading the same video to every platform. It means creating output tailored specifically for TikTok or Instagram or YouTube.

It means several hours a day filming in campaign offices — even candidates’ homes — offering a message that buttresses the argument they are trying to land. It will still be a punishing schedule, just with less driving on roads and more driving of messages. Candidates still need to do the traditional stuff to stay in touch with voters’ concerns. But to the extent their schedules include speeches, events and interviews, they should be there only because they fit into the content calendar. The rundown of a candidate’s day is the best measurement of whether the campaign is consistent with its theory about how to win.

Is this a great way to audition and select our leaders, especially for executive offices? Not particularly. The ability to communicate and rally and comfort the public in a crisis are essential ingredients in a strong leader. Those skills at least, a voter can gauge through video. What’s harder to judge are the routine aspects of those jobs — how you hire and fire, make decisions and operate day to day.

Still, given the stakes, Democrats must meet the world where it is.

Successful candidates understand they are putting on a permanent show. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has championed the use of livestreams, including appearing on Twitch while playing Madden. James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, has used town halls and a late-night TV appearance as part of a strategy to produce nonstop content. Zohran Mamdani did this in his campaign and is still doing it as mayor of New York, understanding that reaching citizens should not stop when the campaign does.

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