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You can take a boy out of Louisiana but you can’t take Louisiana out of a boy.

In my own experience, all roads lead back to what I learned running political races in Louisiana. That starts with authenticity– people can spot a fake from a mile away. 

It includes campaigning everywhere, including rural areas Democrats too often ignore.  And it means that local context matters.  This is true whether campaigning against “Little Billy” Tauzin in 2006 or “Phony Rispone” or against the fakest, least authentic man alive: Donald Trump. 

This week, the organization I co-founded launched our $140 million paid advertising campaign to beat Donald Trump once and for all. Taking my lessons from Louisiana, American Bridge 21st Century isn’t running another tiresome Beltway ad campaign. 

We said “hell no” to glossy studio-produced ads filled with partisan cues and “hell yes” to real people sharing real stories. Our ads work with swing voters living outside major cities and suburbs because we picked authentic storytellers, storytellers who cut through the bullshit and tell the truth. 

For the past year, our Louisiana-led paid media team including Louisiana natives (Eva Kemp, Ryan Berni and others) has been recruiting real, everyday Americans to share their stories, identifying over 1,500 voters brave enough to talk about what four more years of Trump means for their own freedoms, their families, their health care, their wallets, and their reproductive rights. Now, exurban and rural voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – states crucial in Joe Biden’s path to 270 – are finally hearing their stories. 

Voters are now hearing from Anna, an OB-GYN who had to get an abortion when her baby was desperately sick. She says it plainly, “Donald Trump wants to criminalize women for making a healthcare decision. Even if it saves a woman’s life. That is horrifying.” Voters are also listening to Rich, a Pennsylvania dad who says Trump banning abortion is “just a slap in the face.” 

Knowing how to speak directly to everyday Americans without smug condescension seems like a superpower in D.C. Where we grew up, it’s called talking to your neighbors. 

We learned how to talk to every kind of voter and every kind of person. And it never mattered what party they belonged to, but how we treated each other. 

Even in the Beltway, that still matters to us. Thank God I’ve never lost the ability to speak straight, even if it does get me in trouble from time to time.

Ever since I launched American Bridge 21st Century, I have kept Louisiana close to my heart. In fact, my (non-Louisiana) colleagues sometimes get sick of me insisting we close every slide deck with “Let’s Geaux,” but I just can’t help it.   

I’m proud to be from Louisiana. Our state may not be in play in November, but the lessons I’ve learned from politics here will be front and center for our organization. 

For the next 176 days, I’ll keep fighting like hell for my family and friends back home. They deserve abortion rights, freedom, and a strong democracy. We all do. Let’s geaux.

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Bradley Beychok is a veteran political strategist and public affairs expert. He is the co-founder of American Bridge 21st Century, the largest Democratic SuperPAC.

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