From 35%
to 60%.
A public defender's second run for the New York State Assembly became a 21-point win. This is the full-service digital program behind it — and what the data taught us along the way.
Eli Northrup (D) defeated Stephanie Ruskay in the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary. Reported result via Ballotpedia. Vote share is an election result, not an attributed advertising effect.
After winning about 35% of the vote in his 2024 run, Eli Northrup returned in 2026. Consense served as his full-service digital agency, handling creative, copy testing, video, media buying, and reporting.
The task was never introduction. Voters in this small, high-information district already recognized him. The job was to consolidate that recognition, credential it with the right endorsements, and turn out a low-turnout June electorate — in twelve weeks, on a five-figure media budget.
The full program
Our idea, our script, our edit. Two neighborhood bubbies in a classic Upper West Side diner, talking about the nice public defender who moved into the empty storefront to run for office. Warm, real, and unmistakably local — the kind of thing you can't buy off a shelf.
Validator strategy
24 validators · 3 wavesWe turned a rolling wave of endorsements into a coordinated paid campaign — building creative for 24 validators, from U.S. Senators to neighborhood leaders, and putting them in front of the voters who needed to hear them. Endorsement creative generated the account’s lowest reported cost per tracked conversion.
Meta program performance · Apr 1 – Jun 23, 2026
What the data taught us
In a high-information district, voters didn't need a life story. They needed to know who vouched for him. Endorsement ads generated efficient tracked responses. That supports testing them earlier in the next program.
The high-volume creative group combined low frequency with a lower cost per click. That finding supports testing a broader creative mix earlier in the next program.
Our most-funded video line posted the account's lowest click-through rate — 0.94% against a 1.69% average. Video earns awareness; we budget it, and measure it, as exactly that. We keep this finding in because measuring honestly is the job.
No login, no meeting. Fifteen tabs, 36 embedded videos, 99 creative assets, and live performance data the client could open any time — updated continuously through Primary Day.
Have a race, an issue, or a growth problem measured against a real deadline? That's the work we do.