Josh Wolf managed his first race at age 19, spent 10 years on the road running top House, Governor, and Senate races before becoming a media consultant & partner at AL Media. He also is the founder of Warchest, the innovative campaign budgeting software that - in a few short years - has become omnipresent on Democratic campaigns. In this conversation, Josh talks managing races from Maryland to Massachussetts, Florida to California...as a media consultant, helping elect Governors Katie Hobbs and Dan McKee...plus his theories on effective campaign managers, impactful media, and smart campaign budgeting.
IN THIS EPISODE…
Josh’s path to politics at a very young age from Baltimore MD…
The story of Josh managing a competitive State Senate race at age 19…
How Josh become an itinerant campaign manager on the road for nearly a decade…
The 2012 Wisconsin Senate recalls become an inflection point for Josh…
Josh’s take on what makes an effective campaign manager…
The 3 types of errors on campaigns & 2 most important things for a manager…
Josh breaks down his work in campaigns in California, Massachusetts, and Florida…
Josh’s path into media consulting…
Josh goes deep on how his client Katie Hobbs beat Kari Lake to win the high-profile AZ Gov race in 2022…
Josh on the political trajectory of Arizona…
Josh tells the story of one of the more memorable, effective ads from the ’22 cycle in the Rhode Island Governor’s race…
Josh talks how and why he founded the innovative campaign budgeting software Warchest…
Josh’s best practices on how a campaign should decide to spend “early” or not…
Josh’s take on how traditional and digital media should integrate…
Josh explains one his most controversial, heterodox opinions…
Josh gives a travel hack and movie recommendation…
AND Eric Adelstein, Andover caucus meetings, Ami Bera, the best spreadsheet, Joe Biden, John Bivona, broken formulas, budget gaps, cable-news parents, the campaign’s fastest runner, James Carville, clusters of talent, Heather Colburn, comically early starts, Shelbi Dantic, Bob Dole, Dominican baseball prospects, Russ Feingold, friendly insiders, gas station TV ads, germaphobia, Steve Grossman, the Harvard Business Journal, high-leverage mistakes, important incubators, Conner Johnston, King Oscar, Kory Kozloski, Roger Lau, Kari Lake, Hannah Ledford, Ann Liston, living in the minutia, Dan Lungren, the MAGA brand, Dan McKee, Matt McKee, Andy Meyer, moments of self-reflection, Mike Muir, Patrick Murphy, the Newport Gulls, Trey Nix, Pikesville, Robert Redford, Harry Reid, roaming the halls in Annapolis, sardine-heads, Bill Scher, throwing shirts out the window, toxic work cultures, Bobby Zirkin & more!