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    • Democracy needs better, bolder, and more diverse voices to fight for our communities.

       

      Those voices deserve a competitive edge.

    • At Slingshot, we have a commitment to strategic problem solving and principled politics.

       

      We partner with organizations and candidates who share these goals to tackle the greatest challenges we face.

       

      Together, we'll have the tools and energy needed to create the future we deserve.

    • What We Do

      Slingshot Strategies conducts complex, tailored communications, research, and project management
      initiatives for political campaigns, independent expenditures, nonprofits, think tanks, and issue
      advocacy organizations, with a focus on narrative change, civic engagement, and marginalized
      communities. As a firm, we want to help lift up the voices of women, people of color, the working class,
      and the LGBTQ community. We want to fight for the issues that matter, from the housing crisis to the climate crisis to racial justice and income inequality. And at a time when women’s rights are under attack, we are proud that our firm is more than 50 percent women.

       

      Whether it’s winning elections, encouraging civic engagement, or directing resources to worthy projects we marry deep experience to a full suite of high-level capabilities honed over decades of political work.

      We are unafraid to innovate and push the envelope through visionary projects while relying on a block-and-tackle approach that stresses basic competencies and strong fundamentals to achieve results.

      Polling + Data

      We conduct tailored research initiatives for political campaigns, independent expenditures, nonprofits, think tanks, and issue advocacy organizations.

       

      We offer sophisticated multimodal polling, capturing a wide and representative sample while remaining less expensive and more versatile than traditional landline-only polling.

       

      Our services include high-level analysis of polling data and strategic guidance that maximizes what the campaign can do.

      Political Advisory

      We work with candidates, donors, nonprofits, and other groups to develop strategic and inclusive solutions to political problems.

       

      We are project managers and campaign advisors, offering guidance on strategy, communications, fundraising, and more. We also work with donors to coordinate programs and maximize impact.

       

      Our clients bring bold new ideas, and we provide the capabilities and experience needed to realize their vision.

       

      Communications and Public Affairs

      We develop and implement communications strategies that demand attention, build brands, and tell powerful stories. We engage in big-picture strategy to plan media appearances and messaging, including identifying potential media opportunities and actions to raise your profile, with an eye to controlling narratives rather than reacting to contact.

       

      Slingshot shapes compelling stories about your work, and pitches those stories to our extensive contacts at local and national print, digital, and broadcast outlets, as well as our contacts in radio and on select podcasts.

       

      We prepare surrogates and spokespeople for interviews, providing one-on-one prep and briefing memos, as needed. Beyond pitching individual stories and interviews, Slingshot educates reporters working to build long-lasting media relationships by strengthening connections with key journalists.

    • Our Work In Action

      explore our past projects >>>

      Case 1: Jumaane Williams for New York Public Advocate

      Slingshot produced a sophisticated piece of highly actionable research for Jumaane Williams. Our work included a neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide to targeting and outreach for the campaign.

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      Case 2: America in One Room

      Slingshot worked as the political advisor to the A1R project, a groundbreaking experiment on polarization and political dialogue. Slingshot assisted the project organizers in recruiting speakers and attracting media coverage.

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      Case 3: Federal Primary Challenges

      Slingshot conducted in-depth polling on several federal primary challenges. Our highly-accurate multimodal polling provided an overview of the political landscape in key elections, allowing us to shape the media narrative, place pressure on incumbents, and offer guidance to challengers.

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    • Our Leadership

      Evan Roth Smith

      Founding Partner

      Evan Roth Smith is a Democratic campaign consultant and pollster whose work includes federal, state, and local races, as well as independent expenditures and nonprofit advisory. He has run polling, data, and targeting operations in every state and hundreds of districts, as well as France, Japan, Israel, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Canada, India, China, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Evan has led and managed 8-figure donor advisory projects in the civic engagement space, working with some of the largest donors in the country to deliver resources to tailor-built projects premised on accountability and clear results.

       

      Roth Smith is the coauthor of Putin's Master Plan (Encounter, 2016) and his polling and writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, The Daily Beast, National Journal, Fox News, The Huffington Post, Politico, Daily Kos, and Newsday, among other outlets.

      Sam Haass

      Founding Partner

      Sam Haass is a Democratic political operative and strategist with over a decade of experience in elections at the municipal, state, and federal levels, as well as with national issue organizations and independent expenditures. With experience on both the most tactical and most strategic sides of politics, he has effectively and successfully managed large campaigns as well as field, finance, advance, and political departments. In 2020, Haass managed an 8-figure 501(c)(3) voter registration and turnout operation in a key battleground state, and continues to work with major political donors to create lasting political change.

       

      Haass has appeared as a political commentator on SiriusXM radio.

      Alyssa Cass

      Partner

      An experienced political and communications professional, Alyssa brings over a decade of experience working to shape both the narrative in the media and the campaign strategy
      on-the-ground. She is currently a Partner at Slingshot Strategies, joining the firm after a stint working as a senior communications advisor to Andrew Yang’s mayoral campaign. At Slingshot, Alyssa has helped lead influencer

      and policy communications campaigns, driven messaging

      and earned media on successful political campaigns, and provided strategic guidance to a range of nonprofits, multi partner coalitions, political organizations, ballot initiatives, and candidates. In January, she was named to City & State’s 2022 Political PR power list.

       

      She was previously a Principal at New Deal Strategies, a consulting firm for the progressive movement. At NDS, she helped clients like Rep. Jamaal Bowman, Secretary Deb Haaland, Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement, National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Revolving Door Project craft

      defining narratives, raise their profiles, elevate their work, and win elections.

       

      Prior to NDS, Alyssa was the political and communications director at Future Now and Future Now Fund, where she oversaw the PAC’s multi-state spending strategy, funding tactics to reach the greatest number of potential voters and to build the long-term infrastructure and capacity most states don’t have. She came to Future Now from Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, where she was a Managing Director providing strategic counsel and tactical support across communications and public affairs disciplines.
       

      Alyssa grew up in Colorado and later graduated from Colby College, in Waterville, ME. She’s been a proud New Yorker since 2009, and has lived in 13 apartments since arriving in the city.

      Kate Eckerle

      Chief Data Scientist

      Kate holds a BS in physics from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University. Her doctoral advisor was Brian Greene. After graduate school she moved to Italy for a three-year postdoc in theoretical physics at l’Università Degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca.

       

      Kate's research in physics focused on quantum gravity and particle physics, and on high-dimensional field spaces in the string theory landscape. Her work improved the understanding of the instability mechanisms that populate distinct metastable phases in string theory and the characteristics of flux compactifications. These investigations were motivated by the Cosmological Constant problem — the observation that the density of Dark Energy that gives rise to our universe's current accelerated expansion is about 10^120 times smaller than the value predicted by quantum field theory. A complete list of her research publications can be found here: https://inspirehep.net/literature?sort=mostrecent&size=25&page=1&q=Kate%20eckerle.

       

      Kate joined Slingshot in February of 2021. She builds tools that enable probabilistic understandings of questions of interest — for instance, the outcome of Ranked Choice Voting in the recent New York City mayoral primary. Her analyses are built upon an extensive foundation of mathematical knowledge and utilize her facility with abstract and logical thought.

       

      Kate was born in New York City. She attended the Bronx High School of Science. Her mother is from Italy and her father is from Brooklyn. Kate is bilingual and a dual citizen.

      Sara Rodriguez

      Senior Vice President

      Sara Rodriguez is a communications strategist specializing in messaging development and overall digital integration. With experience in politics, government, and issue advocacy, she has built nuanced messaging plans and driven digital-first communications strategy for candidates, elected officials, and specific issue campaigns. From ideation to production to distribution and execution, Sara has successfully grown online audiences and engagement by coordinating traditional and digital media strategies, creating holistic communications programs built to expand reach.

       

      Prior to joining Slingshot, Sara served as Senior Communications Strategist & Digital Manager for the New York City Council. She previously served as Content Director for Gillibrand for President and as Digital Organizer for the New York State Senate.

      Hannah Simon

      Senior Vice President

      Hannah Simon is an experienced political and policy professional, joining Slingshot as Senior Vice President in January 2022. Most recently, Hannah was the Deputy Director at Battle Born Collective, where she helped establish a communications and legislative war room focused on moving progressive priorities in Washington. Prior to Battle Born Collective, Hannah was the Director of Policy & Advocacy at Future Majority, where she spearheaded multiple issue advocacy campaigns for the 2020 presidential election and key battleground Senate races, including a multi-platform youth voter education and mobilization effort, and produced dozens of strategy memos for Democratic funders and operatives.

       

      Previously, Hannah provided political and policy support to hundreds of state lawmakers around the country as the Deputy Policy Director at Future Now. In this role, Hannah developed model legislation, presented agenda-setting and policy tools to legislative caucuses, and designed and launched a national Fellowship program for leading young lawmakers, several of which have gone on to be elected for higher office. Hannah has worked on competitive congressional campaigns and began her career as a healthcare strategy consultant, advising a range of healthcare clients on state and federal policy. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MPH from Columbia University.

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