If Kenneth Mejia’s groundbreaking campaign for Los Angeles City Controller isn’t on your radar it needs to be.

In November 2022, Mejia made history by becoming the first Asian American elected to citywide office in LA. Not only did he win in the second-largest city in the United States, but he also did it in a landslide — earning just over 63% of the vote.

So how’d he do it?

Meet his campaign manager, Jane Nguyen.

A long-time LA housing rights activist, Nguyen had no prior experience in electoral politics before she took the helm and helped make history.

As she explains, the campaign ignored much of the traditional campaign playbook, choosing instead to introduce Mejia to voters as authentically as possible with value-added messages that focused on communities often ignored by political candidates.

Episode breakdown:

02:22 — From activism to Chief of Staff for the Los Angeles City Controller
04:23 — Ditch the rule book
06:24 — Fundraising strategy
08:32 — People want authenticity
10:58 — Don’t sleep on TikTok
14:20 — Messaging that adds value
18:16 — Personalize, personalize, personalize
21:12 — Celebrating a historical win
24:08 — What winning a campaign really comes down to

Click here for the full transcript: https://kbhadvocacy.com/podcast/campaign-history

📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED
Find Jane Nguyen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theglowingstars
City Controller Mejia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LAController
LA Time Endorsement: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-10-10/endorsement-kenneth-mejia-city-controller

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