“At the best way of positioning this, it’s just poor judgement. But honestly, I just think that it's criminal in a sense. They’re just stealing money from Talarico."

— A.J. Carrillo

John Hickenlooper is running for re-election in Colorado — a safe blue seat where he’s heavily favored to win.

But his campaign is actively siphoning donations away from two candidates who desperately need every dollar they can get: James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas.

A.J. Carrillo stumbled upon this, along with numerous spam PACs running similar plays. He came on the pod to share what he found.

The Hickenlooper campaign is using SEO and AEO tactics to manipulate search results and AI summaries. When voters search to donate to Talarico or Hamilton, they’re instead getting directed to ActBlue donation forms that — despite appearing to be for the intended candidate — actually funnel 100% of the funds to Hickenlooper.

A.J. joined me on the pod to walk through how he uncovered it, what patterns he’s finding, and to share any lessons we can learn from these bad actors.

Find links, transcript and more at HelloMergeTag.com.

"Don't join my cool kids club if you're not coming to vote. This club votes."

Erika Harrison built Black Girls Who Brunch as a food blog. Over ten years, it became a platform where she talks about politics, policy, and culture with an ever-growing audience.

She recently started using a tool called Sway to do something most content creators never attempt: turning her followers into an organized voting bloc.

The results have been striking. In the primary, her Sway group had 83% turnout. In two races, her group's votes exceeded the margin of victory.

She's using Sway to help people navigate Harris County's 100+ item ballot. She's moving people to vote in down-ballot races they didn't know existed. She's doing her part to change how elections work in Texas.

Claire Shorall, Sway's founder, joined her to talk about what happens when you give creators the tools to actually organize voters — not just talk to them.

Key Takeaways:

• You don't need a massive platform to move elections. You need an organized one. Erika's 2,400 followers with high intent beat millions of passive followers.
• The backend data matters. Knowing exactly where your voters live (down to state house district) changes what you can do.
• Down-ballot races are where organizing can really move the needle. Most people don't pay attention. If they know the name, they vote differently.

If you've got a platform — whether it's 500 followers or 500,000 — Sway was built for you. Learn more about turning your followers into voters with Sway.

Find all links, video of this episode and all additional eps at HelloMergeTag.com.

Most campaigns are still organizing around persuasion and turnout. But by the time persuasion starts, it's often already too late.

In this episode, we dig into what I'm calling the Bedrock Approach — the idea that winning campaigns aren't built in the final weeks before Election Day, they're built over time through consistent, authentic content that creates familiarity long before voters are ever asked to decide.

We get into why traditional persuasion is less powerful than most campaigns assume, what brand marketers have understood about this for decades, and why your real competition isn't your opponent — it's everything else competing for attention in the feed. Plus a few stories from actual races where this approach turned underdog candidates into household names.

If you're working on a campaign, an advocacy org, or just trying to build genuine support for something you believe in, this one's for you.

This episode was adapted from a blog post which you can find on my site at joshklemons.com/bedrock. Along with a full transcript, you can also find lots of fun graphics accompanying the post.

I mentioned I had built some new tools.

ShareSparrow helps you easily turn tweets, Bluesky posts and articles into Instagram-friendly graphics. Try it out at SharrowSparrow.com.

FUline.org helps you write friendly emails to the allies in your life to stop using Uline products. Because friends don't let friends shop Uline.

I also mentioned I have a new album out. It's called Live Amongst The Flames. You can listen and download it (for free) at joshklemons.com/music or find it wherever you listen to music.

Big thanks to our sponsor Civic Shout. Learn more about the great work they’re doing to help Democratic campaigns and progressive nonprofits build their lists ethically at civicshout.com/partners.