Nick For Congress

During the 2022 midterm election cycle, I joined a U.S. House of Representatives campaign seeking to elect a 31-year-old, Black, bisexual scientist to represent Utah.

Nick Mitchell, a first-time candidate, would have been a first in many ways; the first openly-queer federal representative from Utah, one of the youngest to ever represent the state, and potentially the first renter to represent the state. Upon joining the team, I refined the brand that had consisted of several logos and created a non-traditional visual identity for this non-traditional candidate.

Utah’s second congressional district has voters from a wide variety of backgrounds. I addressed this with two microbrands; one for Spanish-speaking populations and one for voters under 30.

Purple yard sign in grass with the text 'Nick for Congress'

Two logos. One says 'Nick for Congress' and the other says 'Nick para el Congreso'

Canvassing Materials

Utah’s second congressional district includes about half of the state’s land (48.7% to be exact), so we had many demographics with unique interests. It includes dense cities, rural farming towns, four colleges, four national parks, and many state parks and monuments.

In order to appeal to the varied audiences within the district, I created several standard campaign pieces (postcards, handouts, etc.), buttons (including for Hispanic heritage and Pride events), and other giveaways (shirts, stickers, and car magnets). To assist with fundraising, I also created two lines of print-on-demand merchandise that we advertised through social media and email.

In his final statement during the debate, Nick paraphrased Dr. Martin Luther King’s quote: “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” There was so much support on social media that we adopted “Audacity to Believe” as the closing message, using it in messaging, on shirts, and as a title for a tour of the district in the last weeks of the campaign.

Set of 14 buttons, each with a different, branded design

A man on the left wears a black shirt that says 'I have the Audacity to Believe'. A woman on the right wears a purple shirt that says 'Nick for Congress.'

Phone with two Nick for Congress stickers; one is purple, the other is rainbow

Image of the back of a truck with a purple 'Nick for Congress' sticker

Digital Presence

The main call-to-action for our marketing materials was the campaign website. Here, voters could learn about Nick, read short and long versions of his policy positions, find voting information, contact him directly, and link to our social media channels.

This election was the first following an extreme partisan gerrymander, and the Wasatch Front (where about 75% of the state’s population lives) was surgically carved up. Many voters were unaware of which district they were in, so I created a custom, interactive Google MyMap that allowed voters to enter their address and see if they were part of Nick’s district. Over 29,000 people viewed the map during the campaign.

Social media was an important way of reaching and motivating younger voters. I worked with a team to create the content for six channels (four for the main campaign and two for Team Nick, which focused on voters under 30). Among the most impactful posts were the policy positions we shared weekly, a series of “constituencies for Nick” posts that could be downloaded and shared, and the closing video, which I scripted and edited.