ARS PAC Celebrates the Election of Jeremy McPike to the Virginia State Senate

November 3, 2015 – Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC, the gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, tonight celebrated the election of Jeremy McPike to the Virginia State Senate. Building on statewide victories in Virginia in 2013 and 2014, Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC supported the campaign of Senator-Elect McPike with a targeted program to communicate with key voters, including independents and drop-off voters.

“For the third election in a row, we took on the gun lobby right in its own backyard and won. We congratulate Senator-Elect McPike on his election to the Virginia Senate. Senator-Elect McPike stood up to the gun lobby and stood with the vast majority of Virginians and Americans who support commonsense policies like background checks on all gun sales to help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. And once again, we saw that a candidate can run and win on their support for commonsense gun violence prevention policies like background checks,” said Hayley Zachary, Executive Director of Americans for Responsible Solutions. “We have no doubt Senator-Elect McPike will be a pragmatic, independent voice for Virginia’s families. We look forward to working with him to make Virginia a safer place to live.”

Key Takeaways From the McPike Victory:

1. For three elections in a row, candidates in Virginia have shown you can support commonsense gun violence prevention laws like background checks and beat the candidates who oppose them. Like Governor McAuliffe, Attorney General Mark Herring, and Lt. Governor Ralph Northam in 2013 and Senator Mark Warner in 2014, Senators-Elect McPike showed in 2015 you can run and win on a message of responsible gun violence prevention laws, even in a purple state with a strong culture of gun ownership. Candidates should adopt gun violence prevention positions and messages to reach and sway “the deciders,” eg: independent women and other key voting demographics;
2. Drop-off voters turnout in response to messaging about gun laws. Messaging on gun violence prevention policies like background checks for all gun sales is a critical turn-out tool for a targeted set of drop-off, low-propensity voters; and,
3. Voters see opposition to popular policies like background checks as extreme. Opposition to popular and effective policies like background checks on all gun sales allows ARS and other groups to brand candidates as extreme.

Public polling in Virginia also found that proposals to close loopholes in the gun background check system remain popular among likely voters in Virginia, with 77 percent of respondents saying they support proposals to make background checks for potential gun purchasers “more thorough.”

Highlights: 2015 ARS PAC Virginia Electoral Program in Support of Senator-Elect McPike

• Direct Mail: Four pieces of mail to a universe of 7,868 persuasion voters and three pieces of GOTV mail to a universe of 5,015 households.
• Digital: Robust digital persuasion program that included banner, mobile, Facebook and Twitter advertising, as well as video pre-roll advertising.SD29 was included in our GOTV digital program that included banner, Facebook, and pre-roll advertising encouraging Virginians to vote.
• Contributions to Coordinated Field Program: ARS PAC also contributed to the coordinated field program in SD 29, and collected 4,098 IDs at voters’ doors. ARS PAC staff also assisted with the GOTV canvass.