Democrats' Hollywood-Style, Dramatic Ads Stand out In a High-Stakes Midterm Season

Democrats bet on documentary-style videos in a high-stakes midterm season.

- Kelsey Sutton

Making political ads for Democrats has long been Mark Putnam’s business, and lately, business has been especially good.

With 2018 shaping up to be a record year for first-time candidates on the Democratic side, Putnam and his firm, Putnam Partners, have had their hands full, producing long-form videos intended to support what Democrats hope will be a blue wave this November.

Putnam Partners is the company behind “Told Me,” an ad introducing Kentucky congressional candidate Amy McGrath, a retired Marine running as a Democrat, that went viral upon its release in August 2017. This year, the firm has also made ads for Mary Jennings “M.J.” Hegar, who’s running for Congress in Texas’s 31st Congressional District, as well as for Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and South Carolina gubernatorial candidate James Smith.

Putnam declined to provide the number of campaigns that the firm has handled, but he says it’s been unlike anything he’s ever seen. “We’re historically very busy this time of year, but it’s at another level this time around,” he says.

And with good reason. As the Democratic Party looks to turn President Trump’s low approval ratings and day-to-day White House drama into real results in the House and Senate—not to mention governors’ mansions and statehouses around the country—some of those candidates, buoyed by local activism efforts, are taking on what were once considered unwinnable races against both Republicans and more moderate Democrats. The momentum on the left has put even some deep-red districts at risk. Elsewhere, Democratic establishment candidates are facing real pressure from insurgent progressive candidates, prompting unprecedented spending in reliably blue states like New York and Rhode Island.