The Case: After the 2020 presidential elections, the offices of Secretaries of State received widespread attention for their role in certifying elections. These races for Secretary of State mattered more in 2022 than ever before as the threat to our democracy and elections grew.  

First time candidate, Francisco “Cisco” Aguilar, was impacted by the election denier movement and decided to run for Secretary of State when the incumbent decided not to run for reelection. 

After an uncontested primary, the Cisco for Nevada campaign began to prepare to run against Republican nominee Jim Marchant. The team needed to introduce Cisco to Nevadans across the state, while showing that Jim Marchant was dangerous, and would corrupt Nevada’s election system and that he would change the rules if a candidate he favored lost a campaign - all messages delivered by Marchant himself.     

Our Role: Potomac Waves Media was brought on to the campaign as the general media consultant, in addition to managing the multicultural paid media. We wrote, produced and placed radio, TV and print advertisements reaching the general market audience, African-American voters, Latino voters and AAPI voters. We also created all of the digital banner and video assets for  the campaign. The content targeting Latino voters and AAPI voters was done partially in language, depending on the needs of each outlet and being mindful of the need for bilingual material in multigenerational households. The messaging changed during various stages of the election cycle, but ultimately the advertisements introduced Cisco to all Nevadans, demonstrating his dedication to his community and provided a contrast to Jim Marchant’s own words and actions.

The Results: In 2022, Las Vegas was by far the most crowded and most expensive media market to place political advertising. We helped run a very well disciplined campaign where fundraising was key but we also stayed on message, delivering content to voters who needed to hear from us. Our messaging broke through the noise and Cisco Aguilar defeated Jim Marchant with a 48.9%to 46.7% result. He earned 41% of the white vote, 81% of the African-American vote, 62% of the Latino vote and 51% of the AAPI vote.