Key battles deserve tight alliances. With this in mind, the midterm election saw a new partnership between us, the National Police Support Fund, and the United Police Fund. After pooling our talents, we launched a new campaign to ensure pro-police Virginians got out to vote for pro-police candidates in the election.
Each organization may have different strengths and resources, but we share a joint purpose: to ensure law enforcement officers receive the support they need from people and politicians.
Why Virginia Mattered
Over the past ten years, a sector of US politics has used anti-police sentiment to score easy votes. The result has been a cascade of initiatives and regulations that make law enforcement cumbersome and less efficient while limiting its resources.
The result has been clear in many jurisdictions: higher crime rates, with all the social ills that this entails. This phenomenon became very visible across the State of Virginia, which, during the tenure of an anti-police governor, saw its murder rate jump by 43% in less than five years.
2022 marked a turning point in this trend. Polls predicted a close battle between the incumbent police supporter Glenn Youngkin and former Governor Terry McAuliffe. It was also the perfect opportunity for Virginians to demonstrate that law enforcement remains a priority.
Friends of Police Stood United in an Aggressive Campaign
National Police Support Fund and United Police Fund joined together to ensure pro-police voters in two key districts in Virginia showed up to vote and support police on or before election day. The districts targeted were Virginia Congressional District 02 and 07.
The message was simple:
This ad was targeted to pro-police Virginia voters using Facebook and Instagram ads. Additionally, billboard ads were strategically placed in those two districts. Phone calls and SMS text messages were also sent out to those key voters.
The Results?
Just like polls predicted, these races were very close.
Our Facebook and Instagram ads were seen more than 500,000 times throughout the state of Virginia and, based on a comparison from voter data from 2020, we estimate that at least 13,000 of the targeted voters showed up to vote on November 8, 2022, with over 5,000 of those voters voting early or by absentee ballot.
On behalf of our organization and grassroots supporters, we’re proud of our contributions to the elections in Virginia and helping to turn the tables in favor of Glenn Youngkin in the race for Governor.
Additionally, in Congressional District 02 (Virginia Beach), our efforts helped conservative Jen Kiggins take the lead and win the race by over 10,000 votes.
A Flipped Result that Predicts More Success in the Future
The alliance between National Police Support Fund and the United Police Fund helped create a safer environment for police officers across the State of Virginia. The lessons we learned during this campaign will put us in a stronger position for the next election cycle where we will continue to fight back against the “defund the police” efforts.
