Arno RosenfeldNorth Dakota



North Dakota Demoratic-NPL


I worked as a field organiziner for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL, the state’s Democratic Party, during the 2018 midterm elections. I worked closely with the state legislative candidates in my region on impactful direct mail and social media advertising that helped drive the narrative in the final weeks of the contest, and increased the Democratic vote share in a county that President Trump won with over 80 percent of the vote.

Case study: Controlling the narrative in Trump Country


I ran a remote field office in Williston, the center of North Dakota’s fracking industry and hostile territory for Democrats up and down the ballot. In addition to supporting U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp by recruiting volunteers and helping to organize events, I also ran a strategic communications campaign for the local legislative candidates seeking to unseat the Republican incumbents.

The problem: Raise the profile of the three Democratic challengers for state legislative office in a county where Hillary Clinton won less than 14 percent of the vote in 2016.
The solution: Focus on local, non-partisan issues like schools and remind voters that the incumbents had failed to bring the region’s significant oil revenue back to Williston.

1. I produced an October direct mail piece calling attention to the flow of tax dollars out of Williston by the Repuclian-controlled state legislature.


Graphic design by Tin Dinh
2. I oversaw the creation and execution of a social media campaign in the final weeks before the election to 


The result: The direct mail and social media push allowed the Democratic candidates to control the narrative going into the final weeks of the campaign. The local Republican Party was put on the defensive and responded to the advertisements on Facebook and with a half-page newspaper advertisement in the Williston Herald. Despite a banner year for North Dakota Republicans, Democratic legislative candidates increased their share of the vote over the last District 1 contest.